Thinking of Joining

[lastpath]

I know, I know another thinking of joining post but I figured let me throw my questions into the mix. Here a brief history of myself.

I'm 28 years old, married & at the present time unemployed. I am a HS graduate (1995) and attended a catholic HS that was against joining the any branch of service. No branch of service was allowed to attend any career or college fairs we had. In my senior year of HS, I had talked to my guidance consular about joining the service. Unfortunately I let him and my father talk me out of joining. I didn't even speak to a recruiter, something I regret now. My father had been in the Navy, and was constantly reminding me that would never make it in the service. Back then I had a pretty bad stutter something I have managed to overcome.

Anyway fast forward to the present. I'm interested of joining but once again my family including my wife are against it. I've bounced around from job to job and I'm just getting tired of feeling lost. I figure the service would be good for me and help me get on track in terms of my life and career wise. However trying to tell them that is like speaking to a brick wall. Well I questions I have is:

Has anyone been in the same boat in terms of family against joining?
How did you convince them?
Any advice or stories from people around my age about joining?

Thanks for any info and for listening to my rant. I did sign up for more info, so hopefully I get some more answers.

[armygirl2007]

talk to a recruiter..its the best thing you can do.

[armygirl2007]

your still able to join. the cut off age is 42. talk to a recruiter. about convincing them i dont know. i wish i could give you something to go on but im only 17.

[VTguard]

I was already in the National Guard when I met my wife, so I haven't specifically been in your situation. However, in 2001 had to convince my wife that reenlisting was a good choice for our family. (we have 2 kids). She was dead against it, and begged me to get out so i wouldn't have to deploy. It was right after September 11th, and I had already told her I was getting out, but what I experienced on that day changed my mind. I knew I had to stay in and do what I could do to support our country. I explained to her how much it meant to serve my country, and how I couldn't imagine how an able bodied person could just sit around and watch terrorists attack our country and not want to help defend it. I firmly believe that we are living in the greatest country in the world. We are not perfect, but certainly the freedoms that we all enjoy and the security of preserving it is worth fighting for. Once I explained how compelled i felt to serve, and continue serving, she really had no choice but to be proud of my commitment and support my decision. Not everyone is willing to make the sacrifices that our soldiers make everyday. In return for our service, we enjoy the benefits of a large cash bonus, college tuition assistance, student loan repayment, military discounts all over the country, and the pride of knowing that your life is dedicated to something greater than yourself. I have reenlisted twice since I've been married, and now that I have over 12 years of service, my wife still doesn't love the fact that I could get deployed, but she is proud of my selfless service and when I retire in 8 years, we'll both enjoy my retirement check for the rest of our lives.