Quote Originally Posted by ahmonrah
all bullshit aside. my dad was for 10 years.

the pay? crappy at the bottom, of course.

the stress?? it was a stat for a while that most cops are dead within 10yrs of retirement.

the family life? hectic. it's hard to shoot an armed kid the same age as your own son, then come home and try to act like everythings good, and talk to your son at the same time. plus you may not see the fam too often, chasing cases.

but you have to feel that you are ready for that job, the responsibilities, good and bad, that come with the title.

how about this, give 4 years to the marines, come back and join a police force. you'll be 21-22 when you return. plus you'll be geared toward that profession w/experience when you get back.

or you'll say fuck it. and do something else.
Awesome advice. I have two friends who, in HS, wanted to be cops, and both of them decided to do military first. Jeff went to the marines for a few years, came back, and knew that law enforcement/govt work was his calling. Scotty, on the other hand, went to the army, and when he came back, he had decided that instead of doing law enforcement he wanted to do aviation mechanics as a profession (he was a heli mech). I definitely think the military is a good way to find yourself instead of doing what I did... throwing myself into college cause I felt pressured to, wandering around aimlessly with no clue what I wanted to do with my life, spending a LOT of my dad's money, finally withdrawing, and then taking another 2 years to finally come to what I wanted to do. Hell if I had known coming out of HS what I know now, I probably would have joined the navy out of HS... no joke.