Ex-Military Fastlaners: Why Did You Leave?

[GuestUser4aMPs1]

Hey Everyone,

Every once in a while I'll come across forum members who is / used to be in the Military.
For those who used to be in the Armed Forces (Air Force, Marines, Army, Navy, whatever)...

Why Did You Leave?
(And if you're still in, why?)

Reason asking is I have an older brother in the Air Force who I once tried to explain fastlane thinking to.
Although I don't waste effort trying to convince people anymore, I was genuinely perplexed.

This is what he told me:

"I get full benefits. I make X amount and I'll retire when I'm 40."

"I'll retire when I'm 40."

Now, I'm not buying it. Sure, retire when you're 40. But you're violating control.
You're at the mercy of the government to give you a job in the first place.
Not just your job, but your life.

From an outsider's perspective, this is what I see:

The Government Owns your House.
The Government Owns your Job.
The Government Owns your Decisions.
The Government Owns YOU.

What do you think?
I'm genuinely curious.

 

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[Charnell]

Former active duty Marine, 2009-2014

I got out because I didn't like the inefficiency I found in the things we did and how it was impossible to change because that's how it was always done.

It doesn't help that most of the people that reenlisted, as far as I saw, did it because they "had" to. Kids on the way, major debt ... that sort of thing.

You might not be buying his way of thinking, but don't get worked up when you can't break through someone else's indoctrination. He sees the end in sight.

Just yesterday you posted that you were going to start on Upwork again. How're the CENTS there? Are you on a path to retire by 40?

Not everyone wants a "fastlane" life.

That's okay.

 

[eliquid]

The Government Owns your House.
The Government Owns your Job.
The Government Owns your Decisions.
The Government Owns YOU.

If you're American this is true regardless if you're Military or not in the form of various taxes.

 

[mrarcher]

Hey Everyone,

Every once in a while I'll come across forum members who is / used to be in the Military.
For those who used to be in the Armed Forces (Air Force, Marines, Army, Navy, whatever)...

Why Did You Leave?
(And if you're still in, why?)

Reason asking is I have an older brother in the Air Force who I once tried to explain fastlane thinking to.
Although I don't waste effort trying to convince people anymore, I was genuinely perplexed.

This is what he told me:

"I get full benefits. I make X amount and I'll retire when I'm 40."

"I'll retire when I'm 40."

Now, I'm not buying it. Sure, retire when you're 40. But you're violating control.
You're at the mercy of the government to give you a job in the first place.
Not just your job, but your life.

From an outsider's perspective, this is what I see:

The Government Owns your House.
The Government Owns your Job.
The Government Owns your Decisions.
The Government Owns YOU.

What do you think?
I'm genuinely curious.

Much better than here. Our booties cant retire until 55!
On to your question though. The military is a life not just a job. You get to see and do things you wouldn't get to in a normal life. You make some of the best friends you'll ever meet. Push yourself past limits you never knew you had and learn a hell of a lot of skills transferable into many other things. For some people that is more important than having lots of money, even with the freedom to do whatever they want "civvy street" just seems to average for them.
Let me ask you. Lets say your fastlane explodes next year. You sell it for millions and never have to work a day in your life ever again. What will you do with your time? Why?

 

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[Scot]

Man, how did I miss this thread. @Charnell, rah.

I just got out a year ago. I had a really unique experience in the military. I was a reservist from start to finish. I definitely got exposed to a lot of the active-duty side through mutual connections, friends, and active duty time. But I also have the unique experience to have 1 foot in the civilian world and 1 foot in the military world.

When I was coming up on the and of my enlistment, I actually opted to take an early out package. What a truly came down to at the end of it was that I could either choose to be a good Marine, or to be good in my civilian career. There was no real way to do both. And I kind of thought about it, what did I get out of being a good marine when I was only a reservist? In order for me to retire I would've had to do more than 20 years. 20 years of a broken system, with broken leadership.

I don't want it to sound bitter. I really do miss the Marine Corps a lot of times. But whatever they come down to is I actually miss the Marines that I grew to love and respect. Like @Charnell said the military had a lot of inefficiencies and was really poorly run. Your destiny was not your own. Your career was controlled by politics, stupid rules, and the whims of a politicians.

It's funny, because occasionally I get phone calls from recruiters. And when I mentioned that I would be taking a severe pay cut, they try and talk around it about benefits and their pay structure. Oh well.

I guess the reason I got out, is because I did not get to do what I wanted to do in the military. I wanted to be a pilot. And for me I didn't really see a future in an organization that I saw was riddled with problems.

 

[AmericanSpartan]

Prior active duty Marine infantryman, 2012-2016. To all my brothers on the board reading this, SEMPER FI!

I just spent about the past 30 minutes writing a very winded response to your question, but as I was about to submit it, I noticed it was more of a bitch fest than providing a solid answer. So, to give you a TL;DR version of that here is why I got out:

-The focus of the Marine Corps (during my duration) as a whole was more centered toward instituting social policies than our actual job of training for combat. Too much 'check in the box' type activities so that someone, somewhere would look good on paper and make politicians happy.
-Gross disproportion of merit worthy work vs money paid (example: I was a 26 year old sergeant working 12+ hour days running non-stop to keep the machine running and a 19-20 year old junior Marine who was married could sit in his barracks all day playing xbox and make way more money than I did)
-Group punishments for the mistakes of one-f*cked up individual
-Being treated like a child and supervised like one (example: I couldn't even have a bottle of liquor in my barracks room because many Marines are irresponsible with alcohol)
-Reading TMF and confirming ideas that entrepreneurship can equal personal freedom
-Seeing the gross negligence and WASTE of time and resources of our government, and never wanting to work for them, or any other 'boss' ever again in a permanent capacity

I was frustrated in the inefficiencies I saw, and the terrible work/reward ratio. I accomplished everything I set out to do while in the Marines, and felt that I was seriously wasting my life if I were to stay in. I love being a Marine, I loved being a grunt, but it was time to move on to the next stage in my life.

Would I do it all over again? In a heartbeat.

***The Marine Corps is a "special place." You can talk to a soldier, airman, sailor, or coastie and pick up on a general trend of what being a service member is like, but the Marine Corps is like a special game preserve the DOD (department of defense) keeps separate from the normal people. Weird shit and weird experiences happen there that are outside the norm of regular military service. It's like joining a cult, in a good way.