Even though you have less regard for me than I of you I'm going to add something to this post.
Not everyone is straights "A's", bright, articulate on the road to higher education and a megga bucks carrier. Me included.....could hardly read and write when I left school.
For folk like us quick thinking and brute strength or often the primary tools of our trade. Unless you attain a trade or a skill you'll be competing with many in the same boat. To clarify that it's manual or menial work at the lower end of the pay scale.
So whats this to do with being a kick arse Marine? Not everyone becomes a carrier soldier. Some do and it may be right up your street but the stats prove the majority come back to civilian life.....the everday work force.
Here's some examples of friends and relatives before my closing statement.
1) friend.. the second battalion Para's left as a Colour Seargent. (Falklands vet) Now a one man band self employed printer. Gets by but by no means "loaded"
2) friend..Royal Fusiliers was convinced he was going to be a helicopter pilot as a boy soldier. Did 2 terms (6 yrs). Now an unskilled worker in a factory.
3) Friend... Cold Stream Guards failed selection for the SAS (attitude problem) did years as a door to door salesman. Now a self employed block paver. That's laying fancy patten drive ways. Heavy graft and by no means loaded.
4) friend... Royal Fusiliers did 6 yrs. Has 6 kids (Catholic wife) and hasn't worked (officially) for 10 years. He earns more from state benefits than he could in the work force.
5) friend...Royal Engineers. now he's a trucker.
6) friend.. Royal Fusiliers qualified as a butcher. Hard to say what he does now. He's had more jobs than I've had hot dinners.
7) Cousin.. Royal Signals (Falklands vet) left as a Seargent. Is now a retired Police Seargent.
The Marins will kick the kid outta ya. You'll grow up quick. This won't necessarily make you a man but you will mature quicker than the kids you went to school with. However and this is what I consider the important bit. You'll get out of this life experience what you put in. Once you've passed out you'll find it ever so easy to settle into routines. Easy just to get in the rut for a quiet life within the forces. ......Don't.
Unskilled, uneducated people are ten a penny out here in the real world. Grab every opportunity. Push for those opportunities. Learn as much as you can. Motivate yourself and others around you. If your any good at it they'll promote you leading to other opportunities....grab em. Because you ain't educated you'll have to graft. After basic training the graft may be more mental than physical but you'll have to graft (work hard) to be recognised for these opportunities..... Do it.
Feel free to dismiss my words but pay attention to what others may say about this.
