My 17 yr. old daugher joining army

What is the name of your state?
California
My 17 yr. old daugher graduates from high school in June and plans to join the army a week after graduation. She won't be 18 until Nov. and I am wondering how much say I have about her joining and where she will be sent. The recruiter has not answered my questions regarding education, how many years are required to inlist, etc. Does any one have any first hand knowledge of what I can expect?
Thanks, Worried Mom

she cant enlist untill she is 18 without your permission. and there is a two year enlistment. that would be the shortest amount of time she could enlist. as far as what i know about education, right now there is 100% tuituon assistance for AD personnal, but when i was in active duty, i couldnt go to school becasue we didnt have time. and dont believe anything that the recruiter tells you. if anythnig sounds like a really good deal, it probably has some sort of hitch. but thats the thing about these message boards. you can always come and check, and see if what the reruiter is telling you is the truth

She can't join without permission until she is 18. If you sign for her, you will have no say in where she goes for basic training etc...She sounds very eager to join; if I were you I would not let her go to MEPS and swear in until you both take a very close look at her contract because she is setting herself up to get screwed by the recruiter, who really needs his or her monthly quota so he won't get booted from recruiting duty. Don't be affraid to ask any question to the recruiter. Be creative about it; have a tape recorder in your jacket pocket and witness her entire enlistment so if the recruiter lies you can fight for her as a witness.

Your daughter can sign up before she turns 18 and can go to basic after she graduates, if you sign for her. What does she want to do? What MOS? Has she taken any test yet? Has she looked at all branches of the military? My son enlisted in California and did Basic at Ft. Lennard Wood MO and then to a different post for AIT, so what she signs ip for will determine where she trains. Whereever she goes, she will have limited time for communication, so it won't matter much. Now if you want to attend graduation it quite a trip. If she joins the USMC, then USMC has training at MCRD in San Diego, the parade grounds are opposite the airport and only a quick taxi ride from the airport.

BushSupporter said:

She can't join without permission until she is 18. If you sign for her, you will have no say in where she goes for basic training etc...She sounds very eager to join; if I were you I would not let her go to MEPS and swear in until you both take a very close look at her contract because she is setting herself up to get screwed by the recruiter, who really needs his or her monthly quota so he won't get booted from recruiting duty. Don't be affraid to ask any question to the recruiter. Be creative about it; have a tape recorder in your jacket pocket and witness her entire enlistment so if the recruiter lies you can fight for her as a witness.

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It might be illegal to tape record someone with out their knowledge.

Just tell the recruiter that you want everything i writting. and make sure that he knows that you will be involved with your daughters enlistment. that would make him less likely to lie to her.. some people say that recuiters dont lie. but im telling you that they may not actually be lying. but they do stretch the truth. i was told that i would be able to go to college during work hours, if i went a combat MOS. "because we dont fight wars everyday" quite the opposite, i couldnt go to school during off work hours. because we were in the field too much. So if anything seem to good to be true, it is. but good luck with your daughter, and if you have anymore questions. ask away.

You should start an anti-recruiter campaign. Just get on the internet and get as many videos and photos of the fighting and death going on across seas. Show them to your daughter and ask her if that's what the recruiter is showing her. I mean if she really believes in what this country is doing, and seriously wants to put herself into that, then thats her choice. But I think every parent should do their best to show their child what the military and the stuff the military is currently involved in, is really about.

well...

if she wants to sign up and she's under 18 you will have to sign something saying you will let her go to MEPS and make her own decisions. Then if she picks a job, she will sign a contract. The contract will promise everything she does up to the end of her training (basic training, then AIT). She can get out of it after signing the contract and everything though, as long as she does it before going to basic training. All she has to do is say tell the recruiter she wants out, she knows she can get out, and stick with that NO. However, I don't think she can get out so easily after she joins.

here are rumors that after you finish AIT, then they might make you do something completely different than what you signed up for, like if you signed up for a medical profession, they might train you as an optometrist or something, then after you finish your training, they might give you a gun and make youf ight in Iraq and call you an optometrist but your just an infantry man who didn't get the necessary AIT training the infantry got but instead you know how to take care of ppls eyes but you arent using that training. I'm looking into this since i joined as a mental health specialist and am worried about getting trained as it then being given a gun and sent to Iraq.

Signs

You will have to sign to authorize her enlistment if she is not 18. Generally, a person will not be allowed to go to the MEPS for anything (even testing) until the guardian has signed authorizing the person to enlist. In other words, be careful if the recruiter wants you to sign "just so she can go to the MEPS", because if you read the fine print that signature probably authorizes her to enlist as well. Of course, if she is turning 18 in a few months your refusal might just PO her.

Everything "guaranteed" will be written out on the enlistment contract itself. It doesn't matter what the recruiter says, if it is not written on the contract then it ain't guaranteed. Procedures change, but there are safeguards. It used to be that at the MEPS every person reporting had an interview with a civilian administrator who would give a cautionary speech ( "Nothing you have been told matters. Only what is written on your contract. I will read the guarantee block to you now. Has your recruiter promised you anything else?")
The problem is not usually the guarantee itself, but the fact that people often have incorrect ideas of what it entails -- sometimes with sly assistance from the recruiter. "Ditching Equipment Operator" might well mean being handed a shovel!

The military can, if it wishes, train a person for a job and then have them do something completely different. It is not normal practice, however, as it is bad for morale and makes a mess of the manning/training system. In an emergency, however, anything can happen. After all, even your pay and benefits may be "altered or eliminated at any time without your permission or even notification". Legally, we could just stop paying the military. Of course, then the fighting wouldn't be in Iraq..... ;-)

Take it from me

Give her my e-mail address so I can talk her out of it! The Army is good for some people and a lot of people enjoy it. My advice is only take a short enlistment, ie 2 or 3 years, and then she can decide if she likes it. At re-enlistment time, she can then bargain for the deals she wants. DO NOT let her join for money for college, bonuses, or any of that BS. Even if it is in her contract, in writing, the Army doesn't have to honor it. Once she is in, she's in. They will tell you like they told me, "Oh it's a contract. If it's breached she can just get out". Yeah right. I am in my third year of a 6 year enlistment and my student loans have not had a cent paid, and I did not even recieve the AIT schooling that was in my contract. And like the other guy said, the tuition assistance is a joke because I seriously doubt she will ever have time to go to college while in the military, especially with the Army's new plan for UAXs. It looks to me like after going to Iraq or wherever with your unit now, when you come home you will have to decide between going on leave like everyone else, or trying to go to classes, but she won't have time for both.

tacsatarmy said:

Give her my e-mail address so I can talk her out of it! The Army is good for some people and a lot of people enjoy it. My advice is only take a short enlistment, ie 2 or 3 years, and then she can decide if she likes it. At re-enlistment time, she can then bargain for the deals she wants. DO NOT let her join for money for college, bonuses, or any of that BS. Even if it is in her contract, in writing, the Army doesn't have to honor it. Once she is in, she's in. They will tell you like they told me, "Oh it's a contract. If it's breached she can just get out". Yeah right. I am in my third year of a 6 year enlistment and my student loans have not had a cent paid, and I did not even recieve the AIT schooling that was in my contract. And like the other guy said, the tuition assistance is a joke because I seriously doubt she will ever have time to go to college while in the military, especially with the Army's new plan for UAXs. It looks to me like after going to Iraq or wherever with your unit now, when you come home you will have to decide between going on leave like everyone else, or trying to go to classes, but she won't have time for both.

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Your reply was a waste of time since this thread is more than a MONTH old.

Way to go there Belize, you're just te kind of person we want making decisions in the Army! Yeah! Is it JUNE already? Must be in the states. I guess it's the time zone or something, or maybe I have just lost touch from being overseas for 2 and a half years straight. Thanks for your concern, but I am in the Army and have nothing but time.

Additional info

BTW, she can join up under 18 if she is an emancipated minor or if she is married and her husband signs.

Also, it’s not illegal to tape record (as long as one of the participants in the conversation knows), just bad manners.

Basically, until she is 18 she will need your signature to enlist. (If she *really* wants to and you won't sign, there may be legal ways around that, but it would be a chore).
You won't have much, if any, say in where she gets sent --- though current policy is not to "operationally deploy" anyone until they are 18 years old. So she wouldn't be going to Iraq/Afghanistan until at least her 18th birthday.

An enlistment contract, like any other contract, can be bargained over, and they vary considerably in their details. Normally a person will enlist for 4 years of active duty, but your "service obligation" is 8 years, you can be called back and/or kept well beyond your initial 4 years of active duty. As far as I know, the military has basically quit giving duty station guarantees in initial enlistment contracts, though they still might be possible.

This thread is over TWO YEARS old.

If she joins under a 2 yr contract make sure its really a 2 yr contract and not 2 yrs active and 6 yrs reserves becasue they could activate you for the entire 8 years anyhow. Make sure the contract indicates a clean break at 2 yrs.