[aldaron327]

This is long:

Originally, I wanted to fly either jets in the Air Force or Attack Helicopters in the Army fresh out of high school. Unfortunately, that's when the big draw-down after the Gulf War started happening. The Air Force didn't want me because I didn't have a degree and the Army was cutting back on the "highschool to flightschool" program. Since that's all I wanted to do, I put it on the back burner and off to college I went. I went to a state school that was pretty close to home so I commuted for the first couple of years, but was really lost because what I REALLY wanted to do was fly. After changing majors 6 times and just spinning my wheels, I finally settled on an Exercise Science major. I graduated from College with a B.S. and went to work as a personal trainer/gym rat. It was okay but I found out that most of my clients lacked the dedication to stick to the program and would bail pretty quick when they didn't see results in the first two weeks.

Anyway, I got burned out from the 0500-2200 days and not getting paid what I thought I was worth and found work elsewhere. I felt trapped and got pretty depressed until one day I decided that I was still the master of my own destiny and got up, shaved, put on a suit, and went to a job fair. I saw an Army recruiter there who asked me, "What can the Army do for you?" I said, "Teach me to fly" and he said, "Done." One year later, I was humping a rucksack through the trails of Ft. Benning and shortly after I was at good 'ol Ft. Rucker in Warrant Officer Candidate School. Flight school was extremely challenging at times but the second the skids (and later, the wheels) left the ground, life was perfect. I went on to fly AH-64Ds and fell in love with my job. I got to live in Germany and see Europe. I've gotten to fly over several Countries and meet really cool people along the way. I've been deployed and seen and done some crazy stuff, but it was the time of my life. Sadly, my career got cut short because I suffered an injury early on and it caught up to me. Now I'm a vet who works as a contractor with all the same people that I used to work with as a green suiter, so I'm happy. My degree paid dividends for me well after I thought it was useless though, because without it, I'd never have gotten the job I've got. So I'm extremely thankful that my parents kept a boot in my butt about finishing my degree because I wanted to quit more times than I can count.

My story is one of providence or lucky coincidences depending on your beliefs. I did end up where I wanted to be despite the many costly and painful detours, but I started out with a goal. Now's the time to think about what you want for yourself and what you're passionate about. If you don't know right away, then really do take a little time off to figure it out, but be disciplined about it, unless you somehow find a job that you're happy with and you're making insane bucks doing it. Don't be that person that takes time off to "find themselves" and ends up with a kid, a car payment they can't make, and barely a roof over their head when that's not what you wanted in the first place because it's a very difficult row to hoe to get where you want to be when you have other obligations.

I don't know if your school had any sort of career counselors but that might be something else to look into. Anyway, best of luck with whatever you decide!

-Tim