NationStates Jolt Archive

I am wondering if I am having a midlife crisis, or just a realization of where I always belonged all along.

I got out of the Army 14 years ago after a 5 year stint. Recently I have been tinking very seriously about signing up for the reserve.

My quandry is that I have a wife and two kids. My wife is supportive of this if I decide to go ahead with it.

I have a hard time stating why I want to go back in. The best I can do is say: the brotherhood that I was a part of made me a better person. Whether the fights we were in were right or wrong, I was serving my nation and my fellow citizens. There was a pupose to my life, not just working at a job to make money.

Any way, would love to hear what you folks think.

If you think the army was the right place for you, then why not? The training's good for health and if you're only in the army reserves, you shouldn't have too much fear for getting killed.

"A glorious death is his for who his country dies" said Homer. Bollocks it is. I'm not going to say it's a good idea, but you could do less useful things. Personally, I'm joining the British Army when I get to 18, and I'm going to try for 'Combat Medical Technician'. Just don't damn well get yourself shot.

So why the hesitation, Mortimus? If you're able and eligable, sign up!

"A glorious death is his for who his country dies" said Homer. Bollocks it is. I'm not going to say it's a good idea, but you could do less useful things. Personally, I'm joining the British Army when I get to 18, and I'm going to try for 'Combat Medical Technician'. Just don't damn well get yourself shot.
I'm trying to get to the artillery when I join the finnish army. Always about 30km behind the front-line is a quite safe place.

If it's want you want go for it!

I am wondering if I am having a midlife crisis, or just a realization of where I always belonged all along.

I got out of the Army 14 years ago after a 5 year stint. Recently I have been tinking very seriously about signing up for the reserve.

My quandry is that I have a wife and two kids. My wife is supportive of this if I decide to go ahead with it.

I have a hard time stating why I want to go back in. The best I can do is say: the brotherhood that I was a part of made me a better person. Whether the fights we were in were right or wrong, I was serving my nation and my fellow citizens. There was a pupose to my life, not just working at a job to make money.

Any way, would love to hear what you folks think.

If your wife is happy about you doing it then go for it.
I have a lot of friends and relatives both in the forces and ex forces.
Most of them have felt the way you do and most have gone back to the reserves.
It is hard for someone with that type of mentality (NOT meant as an insult in the least) to just up and leave and walk away full stop.
Hope this helps.

I'm trying to get to the artillery when I join the finnish army. Always about 30km behind the front-line is a quite safe place.


Nahh, Artillary placements get bombed..

Join the Army BAND! Musicians are needed to cheer up the guys, but are not sent to anywhere remotely close to the battlefield.

To Mortimus: If you want to do it, do it. No hesitations that you might regret. Besides, I bet that statistically, you have more chances of dying in a car accident than of being called to fight AND being killed, so don't worry that much.

PLUS: If you go into the frontline and comeback alive, you will have a shitload of exciting stories to tell your grandchildreen. And they love it.

I know because I had 4 uncles and a father that were in the army when we were at war. And my uncles got the coolest stories to tell. But not my dad. He was an army musician. :p

I would not say my wife is happy about it, only that she will support me.

I hesitate because of my two kids. One is 15 and one is 4. Should I be making a commitment that may get me killed?

I would not say my wife is happy about it, only that she will support me.

I hesitate because of my two kids. One is 15 and one is 4. Should I be making a commitment that may get me killed?

How about making a commitment that is very unlikely to get you killed? Drive trucks, helicopters or things. Join an artillery unit like that Finnish bloke.

Oh, and artillery units do not get bombed (At least not in the British Army), they fire off a few rounds at their target, then get airlifted to a new firing position. They do this all day.

I think I will go by and talk with a recruiter today. See what options are open to me.

Thank you all for your input, it was greatly appreciated.

I think I will go by and talk with a recruiter today. See what options are open to me.

Thank you all for your input, it was greatly appreciated.

Best idea and have a good long chat with ALL your family.
I think in the end they should realise that a happy Dad is far better than a unhappy unfulfilled one.

Good luck

I am wondering if I am having a midlife crisis, or just a realization of where I always belonged all along.

I got out of the Army 14 years ago after a 5 year stint. Recently I have been tinking very seriously about signing up for the reserve.

My quandry is that I have a wife and two kids. My wife is supportive of this if I decide to go ahead with it.

I have a hard time stating why I want to go back in. The best I can do is say: the brotherhood that I was a part of made me a better person. Whether the fights we were in were right or wrong, I was serving my nation and my fellow citizens. There was a pupose to my life, not just working at a job to make money.

Any way, would love to hear what you folks think.
I had a wife and five children! If your wife is supportive and you can live with the possible consequences, go for it, bro! :)

The 4 year old needs Dad in the US, US needs Dad. Reserves are a way to stay in the US. But by military standards...you're damn old. Folks you're age are looking at 20 year retirement already. You'd be older than all the NCOs training you in basic. Stay home and devote the time you would spend in basic and play with the 4 year old.

I thought about enlisting in 2003 but with a small business operated by 1 person I kinda can't set it on the shelf for a year deployment and default on $200,000 of business and property loans/investments so I found another way to help. Organized a group to send stuff to deployed personnel overseas. Very rewarding year and it feeled that feeling of needing to help.

Operation Sidekick (http://www.operationsidekick.org)

It got started talking one day at Pizza Inn at lunch. You can do the same thing.

I say you should definitely go for it. It sounds like you've got the support; now all you need is your own mental compliance.

The Marines are the ones calling me. :D And everyone laughs because I'm a 16 year old girl. That gets really old. So I kick their feet out from under them. heh

The 4 year old needs Dad in the US, US needs Dad. Reserves are a way to stay in the US. But by military standards...you're damn old. Folks you're age are looking at 20 year retirement already. You'd be older than all the NCOs training you in basic. Stay home and devote the time you would spend in basic and play with the 4 year old.

I thought about enlisting in 2003 but with a small business operated by 1 person I kinda can't set it on the shelf for a year deployment and default on $200,000 of business and property loans/investments so I found another way to help. Organized a group to send stuff to deployed personnel overseas. Very rewarding year and it feeled that feeling of needing to help.

Operation Sidekick (http://www.operationsidekick.org)

It got started talking one day at Pizza Inn at lunch. You can do the same thing.
Hey! U talkin' 'bout age, punk??? :D

Your circumstances are a special case. Age has little if anything to do with what you can or cannot do. At 53 I was still in the Reserves and jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. And before you start in about my accident, that could have happened to anyone at any age ... it had nothing to do with the fact that I was 53! :p

EDIT: On my 53rd b/day, I leg-pressed 986 lbs in an attempt to reach 1,000 lbs, by working my way up from 800 lbs with sets of ten reps, adding 20 lbs each time! My 62nd b/day is the 27th of this month and I'm starting back to work on my Ph.D. So there! :D

Hey! U talkin' 'bout age, punk??? :D

Your circumstances are a special case. Age has little if anything to do with what you can or cannot do. At 53 I was still in the Reserves and jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. And before you start in about my accident, that could have happened to anyone at any age ... it had nothing to do with the fact that I was 53! :p

EDIT: On my 53rd b/day, I leg-pressed 986 lbs in an attempt to reach 1,000 lbs, by working my way up from 800 by sets of ten! My 62nd b/day is the 27th of this month and I'm starting back to work on my Ph.D. So there! :D

You go, Cap'n Horn!

I know a 63 year old man, a fifth Dan black belt in karate, who can put his hand through a side of pork up to his wrist.

I say you should definitely go for it. It sounds like you've got the support; now all you need is your own mental compliance.

The Marines are the ones calling me. :D And everyone laughs because I'm a 16 year old girl. That gets really old. So I kick their feet out from under them. heh

Keep kicking the feet out from under them. Wether it is Marines, Army, Navy or even Air Force, they are all good. I wish my 15 year old had his head on as straight as you do.

I am wondering if I am having a midlife crisis, or just a realization of where I always belonged all along.

I got out of the Army 14 years ago after a 5 year stint. Recently I have been tinking very seriously about signing up for the reserve.

My quandry is that I have a wife and two kids. My wife is supportive of this if I decide to go ahead with it.

I have a hard time stating why I want to go back in. The best I can do is say: the brotherhood that I was a part of made me a better person. Whether the fights we were in were right or wrong, I was serving my nation and my fellow citizens. There was a pupose to my life, not just working at a job to make money.

Any way, would love to hear what you folks think.

If it's what you want to do, go for it. I did the same thing a few months back. I've been back in for 5 months and am in better shape than I have been for years. I'm also picking up a little extra money and am once again enjoying the "brotherhood" as you so well put it.

Good luck.

Nah, it is better not to become a dog, or evangelion for that matter, of the state. You are better off not joining the military.

I am wondering if I am having a midlife crisis, or just a realization of where I always belonged all along.

I got out of the Army 14 years ago after a 5 year stint. Recently I have been tinking very seriously about signing up for the reserve.

My quandry is that I have a wife and two kids. My wife is supportive of this if I decide to go ahead with it.

I have a hard time stating why I want to go back in. The best I can do is say: the brotherhood that I was a part of made me a better person. Whether the fights we were in were right or wrong, I was serving my nation and my fellow citizens. There was a pupose to my life, not just working at a job to make money.

Any way, would love to hear what you folks think.


If I didn't have massive house payments, I would also. The other problem is that I'm 44. Although I'm in great shape, they seem to have a problem with putting me back in an infantry unit at my age.

I have friends who went back in, either as Army or as private security contractors.

Make sure you come back home alive. That's all that counts, really.

If you think it's right for you, do so.

I say you should definitely go for it. It sounds like you've got the support; now all you need is your own mental compliance.

The Marines are the ones calling me. :D And everyone laughs because I'm a 16 year old girl. That gets really old. So I kick their feet out from under them. heh
a friend of mine was a shy teenaged girl back in 1990. she went to basic training in the summer before her senior year. she did indeed kick the crap out of the first boy who gave her a hard time when she got back to school.

I had a wife and five children! If your wife is supportive and you can live with the possible consequences, go for it, bro! :)like Eutrusca says:
Just do it !
--NIKE All rigths reserved

http://2bizzare.no-ip.com/wtc/anti/NIKE_Just_DO_IT.jpg

My left eye, my left ear, and half my face were buried in the Mekong Delta 34 years ago. You've probably eaten some rice that they fertilized.

If you think your brothers in arms actually miss you too, join back up...iIf you're lucky, maybe you can get plots side-by-side in Arlington.

But then, what do I know?

go to a miltary college to become an lientent. this would delay active duty and could spare you from deployment in Iraq. My brother still has 3 more years at west point

Hey Punk

sounds like Grandma's gettin feisty!

go to a miltary college to become an lientent. this would delay active duty and could spare you from deployment in Iraq. My brother still has 3 more years at west point
If you're thinking the world will be at peace three years from now, you need to have more than your spelling checked.

Ha ha. Screw the AR, they have no combat units anymore. Join the National Guard! Join HHC 2/137 IN in Kansas City and go to the sandbox with us this January! We need some more old guys, they provide better targets than us younger, faster ones.

I am wondering if I am having a midlife crisis, or just a realization of where I always belonged all along.

I got out of the Army 14 years ago after a 5 year stint. Recently I have been tinking very seriously about signing up for the reserve.

My quandry is that I have a wife and two kids. My wife is supportive of this if I decide to go ahead with it.

I have a hard time stating why I want to go back in. The best I can do is say: the brotherhood that I was a part of made me a better person. Whether the fights we were in were right or wrong, I was serving my nation and my fellow citizens. There was a pupose to my life, not just working at a job to make money.

Any way, would love to hear what you folks think.
The experience of a tight-knit peergroup and a sense of responsibility is damn addictive, I agree. I spent some time in an occupation where my team was more like my family, and our work was incredibly emotionally demanding and usually not very rewarding. It wasn't the armed services, but it was a respected occupation - the number of times people looked at me dumstruck and attributed all these nice characteristics like "courage" and "patience" and "strength" to me was a bit strange, as I wouldn't consider myself any of those things as an individual, but being in a group greatly facillitated those qualities.

Now that I don't work there, I miss it. I still dream about it years afterwards, and I want to finish my degree and get back into a similar job asap, though experiences since them have made me doubt whether I could take the same amount of middle-management bulls**t.

Does your family approve of your joining the Reserves? Are you confident that you won't get sent off to some as-of-yet unforseen conflict?

The father of a very dear friend of mine once faced a similar situation, where he finished his service in the army after several years, and when back with his family, things in his home country had changed so significantly that he ended up migrating to Australia. He didn't go back into the armed services, or even the Reserves, but I know that even as a civilian in a new country his life was never the same.

The Reserves might be just what you need to balance your familiy responsibilities. Then again, if intense comeraderie is what you're craving, there may be a number of fields of employment where you can meet your social needs, contribute your knowledge and experience to your community, and still be home for dinner.

For myself, as a Chinese-style thinker, family prevails.

Seems like everyone forgets that the reserve component gets deployed too. ALOT.

Seems like everyone forgets that the reserve component gets deployed too. ALOT.

People USED to forget that.

Anyone with a pulse in the Reserves has that idea in their heads now.

If I was to re-up, it would be with the knowledge that I would definitely be deployed.

I think with a 4 year old kid, they should come first.

Seems like everyone forgets that the reserve component gets deployed too. ALOT.Looks like mortimus needs the action :mp5: :sniper: :mp5: :sniper: :sniper: :mp5:

Looks like mortimus needs the action :mp5: :sniper: :mp5: :sniper: :sniper: :mp5:

Until you've done the action, don't knock it.