•Students who sign the enlistment contract may leave the program and forfeit the bonus any time before shipping out for basic training.
•While enrolled in deferred enlistment, the Army asks students to participate in regular training sessions that give them potential to increase their rank.
•Recruits receive bonus pay after they complete basic and advanced individual training.
SOURCE: U.S. Army
I thought about joining the army a lot when I was a senior in high school two years ago. This type of program would have got me to join. Who wouldn’t want to sign up for this in September or October and then pocket $1000 until graduation each month?
I was initially thinking of joining to do something for my country I could be proud of and share with my children and grandchildren until the day I die. I was looking to join so that it would look good on paper and give me stories to share. But I didn’t ever think about the monetary aspect of it at least until now.
One thousand dollars a month could have meant I could be the most popular kid in high school. I could have bought a girlfriend with that money. And not just any girlfriend---a girlfriend from the cheerleading squad or even one of those girls that date those football jocks and were off limits to regular high school boys like me.
One thousand dollars a month could have meant that I could have after three or four months bought me the best set of wheels. Plenty of used cars were for sale at $4,000 that would make me a chick magnet and also inspire awe. I mean, just think of the subs and rims I could put on that with all that money. I would have been big pimpin’.
One thousand dollars a month could have meant that I could have the money to buy drugs and alcohol for illicit high school parties that we all know are thrown but wish weren’t. It’s the kind of party where virginity and innocence go to die. And these are the kind of parties that give you a reputation in high school for being “cool”.
I decided against going into the military (thankfully). I was more into authenticity and not popularity. While army recruiters do talk a good gameand are very persistent, nothing could break down my desire to be a filmmaker.
That desire has since merged with my desire to learn as much as I can about politics, human nature, history, literature, film, etc.
And from that desire I have learned this bit from Henry David Thoreau’s Resistance to Civil Government:
Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects, and obtains them for him; and it was certainly no great virtue to obtain it. It puts to rest many questions which he would otherwise be taxed to answer; while the only new question which it puts is the hard but superfluous one, how to spend it. Thus his moral ground is taken from under his feet.
Sadly, this program will only lead to more young Americans becoming mentally disturbed. It will only create more people who will lead or abide by the corporate crime that occurs in this country. It will only mean that more students are entering careers as greedy Americans craving riches for some American Dream. It will only mean more will be afraid to go against the grain of America. It will only mean more ignorance and more failure to ask questions of the world around them. It will mean more Enrons, Worldcoms, Tycos, and Peregrines. It will also mean, dare I say it, more closeted gay Republicans. And it will mean more politicians and policymakers who have suffered the militarization of America and who do not know the values of appreciating humanity, diversity, and life.
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