You already joined, so maximize resource extraction while you're still in. This goes for veterans too. You were born into a country that uses the lower classes as an expendable resource, so make sure you are using them back. These resources are all there being offered to you for the taking. I'll give you some of the most valuable examples off the top of my head.

1. Medical.

Go to medical about every little issue and about your mental health. Even if you don't think the military is affecting you that much physically, I promise that it is in more ways than you are aware of. And obviously the psychological toll is heavy, that's probably why you're reading this. Make sure you are getting everything documented and make sure to save your medical records. Apply for BDD with the VA when getting out.

1. Education.

The GI Bill is one of the best things you earned through your service. As cliche as it is, education is powerful and the passport to your future. Use MilTA as well. You can knock out an AA or some classes while on active duty and then transfer to a good university (I got into some of the best universities in the US after one enlistment). Put in genuine effort, challenge yourself, and get good grades. Don't finish your degree at WGU or University of Maryland Global or whatever, unless you're truly just trying to check a box and don't care. Grad schools love vets as well. Check out Service to School and the Warrior-Scholar Project. Also look into VR&E. Education is your biggest benefit--you can get like a $300,000 world-class education for FREE. They will PAY you to do it. Your GI Bill covers trade school or things like flight school as well if that's more your jam.

1. Certs.

These are kind of overrated but they can be a valuable bump to your resume or college apps. You can get some through COOL or AFCOOL or whatever the Navy version of that is. Just get a few that are relevant or that you find interesting.

1. Franchise fees.

I don't know much about this, but I know some companies offer significant discounts in initial fees to vets. If you've got an entrepreneurial spirit but don't know where to start this could be an option.

1. VA Home Loan.

Much easier to get a house and you'll save on some fees. Don't overlook this one. You can use this multiple times throughout your life (not sure what the exact rules are but it's not a one-and-done).

1. Little things and discounts.

I'm not talking about the 5% off at Olive Garden. Discounts like that on bigger purchases can help out. Apple and Home Depot/Lowes give 10% off to vets, and look into things like Armed Forces Vacation Club.

1. Waived credit card fees.

This only applies to active duty (I think) but if you're still in I recommend getting the Amex Platinum or other cards with a high annual fee and hefty sign-up bonus. Applying to a bunch of cards didn't wreck my credit and I got a bunch of free flights out of it, I do still have to close them though. I recommend not even using them, just keep them in a drawer so you aren't tempted to go into debt to buy dumb stuff.

I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting, but in essence: go to medical and go to school. As miserable as being in the military is, by joining you did unlock some pretty sweet benefits. If you apply yourself and put effort into your civilian future you are already ahead of 95% of military members. Don't drink the kool-aid and GTFO as soon as you can. And remember to use the resources available to you.

I just graduated basic training and finished ait school. Now I just arrived at my duty location 1 day ago. But I want to go back home and forget all this stuff. I am nearing my 180 days in what options do I have. I don't know the base yet and just got here.

I’ve been at my unit for a year now, due to my job and branch I have to get an additional clearance, which has taken a year, when almost everyone else got theirs within a week of arriving. The reason mine is taking so long is because my spouse is not a citizen, when speaking to my R&I 1SG a year ago about this he looked me in the eyes, laughed, and said “oh you’re never gonna do your job”. I’ve been stuck in HQ every day literally doing nothing. I already have an advanced degree, I’ve pursued some professional certificates but the constant nothingness is killing me and sending my mental health into a major spiral of depression. Thing is, I actually love military stuff, having competed in and won multiple quarterly year competitions, but that only ever lasts a day then it’s back to being forced to sit in the corner and do nothing. My PSG doesn’t let me go to the gym to occupy the free time, and I absolutely hate the culture of the unit I’m at. Everyone is so toxically positive, it feels like they all act like a caricature of the office is the only way to describe it. I want to think that things will change and I’ll get to do my job and actually be a soldier but every day I feel more and more hopeless and like I’m just wasting my life.
Idk what I’m even trying to say I’m just so tired.

After almost 2 months of visits with the Air Force’s behavioral health, I am finally getting an entry level separation. These last 6 months have been nothing short of garbage. I’m gonna miss my roommate and my teaching team, but that’s it. I thought that when the recruiter told me best quality of life in the military, that meant it would be good. I didn’t realize it simply meant we wouldn’t be treated as worthless as the Army. Goodbye Air Force, can’t wait to forget about you and never look back👋

I went to a VA clinic for an optometry appointment today. I saw an Army veteran who had a special made shirt with his Army rank and name on it and the words we the people on the back.

It was so silly & weird to me. I had to stop myself from laughing.

I just recently got out and am dealing with the fallout of all the crap I dealt with. All the fake people the false promises of advancement and opportunities. The people who I thought were my friends but were really just actors taking advantage of my generosity and assistance.

I may be out but seeing all the people I watch die from deployment stick with me. The opportunities that I was promised ripped away from my hands and the smiling people I considered to be my friends that I could trusted turned out to be two faces opportunists looking taking advantage of my kindness.

It's been a barely a couple of months and my nervous system is still struggling to decompress and the psychological impact of people pleasing to not get punished by NCOs is a cognitive issue that I will have to work harder at to overcome and return back to normal.

One of the hardest things about getting out of the military is breaking free from the fear based psychological prison that they put you into in basic training to act obediently to avoid punishment. The us military runs off fear.

My mind and my nervous system are going to take a longer to go back to normal and to feel free to challenge authority without fear of prison because your 1st Amendment rights go away when you join the military and the psychological impacts of that are you basically turning into a skitish battered house wife afraid of challenging authority.

This is where I ask you from the bottom of my heart please do not join the military. Your are disposable to them and when you get out the VA will label your ptsd as a moral injury as if it's your fault that you feel bad for invading a country without justification and killing a bunch of people just trying to defend their homes and families but the US media propaganda will label them as terrorists instead of just people trying to fight for their society and culture like america society claims the same before building 20+ bases in occupied foreign territory steal oil, poppy plants stolen from Afghanistan shipped back to the US that created an opioid crisis across small town America and all the children that paid the price via execution by Marine ala "Haditha Massacre".

When you take the red white and blue beer googles off your head you realize who the real instigators of terror are just put on the ocp uniform on and look in the mirror.

As of May 22, 2026 I am officially out. Life feels better!!

I was in the cult almost 20 years ago and created this subreddit about 10 years ago. I can’t recall ever seeing someone that posted here because they hated being a Seabee except me. Seems odd to me because the Seabees are terrible even by US military standards. From what I’ve heard, a lot of other parts of America’s military hate the Seabees for being morons.

While I have never seen that, I have seen multiple people talk about how horrible Shepard Airforce Base is. That is where I truly realized how terrible of a mistake I made back then. I even remember people posting about the same instructor I had back then being awful (fuck you Mr Roster).

Hey guys I’m currently debating whether I should quit while in AIT or not and I brought up the discussion with my family and some of them are giving me a hard time about it. For people that quit during BCT or AIT how did you family members react?

I am coming up on my 180 days of service. I was told that it would get better after boot camp, but I will it got worse since I got to A school. My dad had a heart surgery, and every day I feel worse and worse. I am afraid to reach out to medical for mental health but I feel that is the only route that I can go. Is it possible that I can separate? Also if I tell my instructor I am afraid that they will pull me out of classes

Thank you in advance! I am just very overwhelmed on what to do at the moment. I just wanted to go home

Hey so I’ve been going to BH for the past 3 weeks and they have recommended me for separation my provider said that a 3822 was sent 2 weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything from any cadre member I’m wondering if you guys know how long it will take for me to get a response from them also I’ve been on buddy watch for the past 3 weeks as well and I hear that if your on for 30 days that it’s failure to adapt please any feedback would be greatly appreciated thanks

This seems to be the only subreddit that will actually help me as opposed to shaming me.

Anyways im 18M, a few months ago i decided I wanted to join. Im still in high school so I had to wait until I graduated to ship out. Basically close to mt graduation date my school told me I didnt complete credit recovery for a math class (I did) and I was going to fail my current math class (I was going to DEFINITELY fail)

So i told my recruiter about this and told him I planned to drop out and go to the community college and finish my diploma he said "Okay just keep me updated". When the station commander heard I stopped going he called me and basically the call went like this "MOTHERFUCKER WE NEED TO TALK, why havent you been going to school? Youre a fucking moron, youre a kid you dont get to make these decisions, you think you know everything and you dont. Just sit your ass down and let me handle this and go back to that school"

I was firm on not attending this school anymore because no way around it I wouldnt be able to ship out on time and he failed to understand that. I started ghosting him and he sent recruiters to my house so they could put him on the phone with me and further insult me and try to make me go back.

Eventually I got tired of the shit and was firm on finishing my education my way and told them Im no longer interested in shipping out and not to return to my house.

3 weeks went by of the station commander trying to call me after telling him im not interested anymore and he called the police and told them I have a history of depression and may be a threat. And they sent THREE fucking cops and did a welfare check. I wasnt home and just talked to them over the phone and in 2 minutes they were gone

(When I was 14 I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and my psychologist misinterpreted something I said and wrote that I would hit my head on shit out of rage. I feel like he's using this against me. He would often poke fun at this and ask me if I was fucking crazy in the past)

The next day two other recruiters came to my house and apologized for the unprofessional attitude of the station commander and want me to complete something called sophia I think so I can still ship out. They want me to come in today and talk. What do I do man I feel like they wont give me peace.

I came into the army as an 89D (EOD). I could claim I was not informed on the difficulty of the schooling and attempt to justify what I’m about to try and do but everything’s on the internet these days. I ended up failing out and ever since that day it’s been a non stop spiral of frustration and anxiety. I was told by anybody and everybody that the army wouldn’t waste potential, why would they reclass you to some shitty job when you had high enough scores to get EOD in the first place. This reclassification has destroyed any hope I had in the military. I want out of this god forsaken hell hole more than anything right now. Is it even possible? I’ve read about entry level separation being possible in the first 180 days of service. I’ve also seen it’s not guaranteed but realistically I don’t see a world where I’m told no and then they keep me around when I would do absolutely nothing they tell me to. If anybody has been through this type of situation or knows somebody that has and can give me some real information it would be incredibly helpful, thank you in advance.

I can't believe I ever thought this stupid country was worth fighting and dying for.

Americans are stupid enough to elect Trump president again for a third term.

This is my last post here, but really this seems to be my only option for help. I left a voicemail for BH cause it was after hours, my question is do they actually call back?

I made a post the other day about how I am struggling and I finally had a appointment with Chaps, and doesnt even show up.

So after all the shit I’ve done to get to this point, it’s finally here. You can even see some of my past posts on this subreddit.

Just wondering, what exactly does a condition-not-disability discharge look like? According to my SGTMAJ and apparently the CO, it’ll be honorable. If that’s true, what does that look like in terms of benefits, VA shit, and all that jazz?

Should I try to fight this and push for a MED board?

Hi , I decided to not continue with the navy and finish college instead , but was wondering all I have to is message the recruiter to release me from dep and that’s it? I heard from others they may ask you to go in person to do a final signature but I’m leaning into not doing that since I know they are going to try and convince me last second.

So I’m pretty sure I’m about to get a 3rd piece of paperwork in 5 months and I’ve only been in a year. My leadership keeps saying since I’m so early in my career that I could be adsep for failure to adapt. Has anyone been in a similar situation and got discharged? It won’t be the worst thing for me but I just need answers.

The Navy has absolutely destroyed every single aspect of my life and is actively deteriorating my mental state

My personal relationships with people I care about have gone to absolute shit, to the point where no recovery is genuinely possible

Every single fucking day I wake up and walk into that galley (CS) I want to blow my brains out. If I was any other rate, and stood watch, I would take that gun and shove it down my throat

When I say I Cannot anymore? I mean it

I cant work another week, I cant watch everything keep falling apart

I Need to get my life back, and I need it now

Talking to the HM's has resulted in absolutely nothing, it seems like itll be months before any sort of action comes and I just cant wait months

Like holy fuck

What at this point of time do I need to do? I looked into drug use and self reporting but that seems to be a months long process at minimum and I just cant

If I had a suicide attempt and was in a civilian hospital, would the navy be forced to react and actually fast track getting me out? Or lmfao, just end up right fucking back in that galley for another 6 months

In the navy right now and I just want out. I’m not sure what route to even take. I’m on deployment right now but I’ve wanted to get out for a while now. I’m thinking about just smoking and self reporting and just letting it ride. I don’t even care about the benefits anymore I just want out. 2.5 years in. was told once you get to the fleet it would be better. yea definitely not

I joined the ITBP two months ago after a year of hard preparation, but now I find myself completely conflicted. I always used to imagine that once I got a job, I’d be able to come home, enjoy my gaming setup, and go out for bike rides. But reality here is completely different. The strict military discipline leaves no room for those things. Even with leaves, out of the official 75 days, traveling eats up so much time that you only get about 50 actual days at home. Lately, I’ve been thinking that a 9-to-5 corporate job might have been better because at least you get your evenings and weekends to yourself. But then again, I don’t have a specialized degree or high-income skills yet—just basic computer knowledge. Plus, when I look at people working 9-to-5 jobs, most of them seem unhappy and stressed too. Right now, it feels like I’m trapped in a cage. The respect and the steady salary are definitely here, but the freedom to do the things I’ve dreamed of since childhood is completely missing. I feel lost and don't know what to do."

It's normal to think like this bcz it's my first job need some advice

Is there any other job in the world that tries to convince you to stay even if you want to leave??

Every time I tell someone I want to EAS, I always hear “Why” and “Let’s talk about this some more”

There’s no way jobs in the civilian world try to convince you to stay WHEN YOU WANT TO GET OUT