To join or not to join...

I think one of my dad's favorite suggestions for what I should do with my life is that I should join the military. I think just about every time we talk about my ongoing hunt for meaningful employment he asks if I've talked with the Air Force recruiter with whom I worked briefly applying to be an officer before I got the job with Chemonics. My answer remains the same, although each time he mentions it the idea seems more and more reasonable. I'm just not sure how committed I am to the idea and whether my motivations are the right ones.

I have to admit the primary driver is the financial one. I would love to be able to take all of my income and eliminate my debts and build my investment portfolio. Not to mention the prospect of potentially receiving a signing bonus, which has the potential to be many thousands of dollars. My current financial situation has given me an opportunity to really practice those good habits I blogged about a while ago. Especially considering that of the money coming in each month 90% is going to bills. From what I can glean, in the military the only bills I would be paying would be my car payments and insurance.

Secondary to that, and this is a bit hard to admit on the Internet to an unknown audience, is that I don't feel confident in my abilities to make the right decisions about what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. James' advice when I told him that I was fired was that I should figure out where I want to be in 5 years and map the path to get there. Good advice, except I have no idea where I want to be in 5 years. I have nothing in particular tying me here, on the other hand I feel like I am finally beginning to establish a circle of friends and potential male companions ;) But does wanting someone else to call the shots for me mean I'm copping out on putting my big girl panties on and facing the world?

The rest of my motivators fall into a tertiary category which captures the obvious benefits of serving in the military that any recruiter would tell you... how service looks on a resume, the potential for additional trainings that can be directly commuted to the "real world", the potential to go to the DLI and learn a language if I go enlisted, and the pride for serving your country.

I am confident that any of the downsides of the military are things that I can endure, and the benefits of joining the military might just be the fork I'm supposed to take in life that will lead me to where I'm supposed to be in 5 years, even if I can't see that it's where I am supposed to be. On the other hand, maybe it's just the cabin fever and job despair talking. Happy for any comments anyone has.