Should I leave the military early?
Answer:
Sounds as if you should seek mental health and career counselling.
One thing you can do is decide to be active in resolving your situation. Doing anything is preferable to doing nothing when it comes to depression. You just have to think clearly, what is it that you want to accomplish, and what are your options?
What is your MOS? Is there a chance you can get re-assigned to a place where you'll be able to serve honorably? Might you consider reclass to medic or hospital tech, where you could serve your country while not committing any violence? By doing this, you might be able to salvage your honor and come out of this with much higher self-esteem.
Just an idea.
If you need help being a conscientious objector, contact the Quakers (Friends).
Whatever you do, do NOT go AWOL. This will only complicate your life. Start the action to get mental health counselling, and be prepared to take a lot of flak, questioning, comments that you're a coward, etc. But it's better you get out than that you go overseas and become a mental health casualty or burden to your unit.
If you think you can handle the work load, and help out your buddies, then talk to your chaplain. I would still get counsellling. You might just be able to deal with this in a way that will help you get over and through this much better. See? You have choices to make. You can let go of at least some of that depression.
I'll pray for you, if you don't mind. At the very least, you have the well wishes and prayers of many people and angels. You have to have faith, and with faith you will overcome all obstacles.
Get out if you can. To put yourself through more stress is unnecessary.
If you want out, you should be able to leave! So my answer is yes.
just make sure it is an honorable discharge cause otherwise you will be haunted forever.
Hell yeah, get out while you're still alive. You are putting yourself in harms way for no good reason. As long as you stay in you're a "Bush Boy". Get out and live free.
its all good=) u have a choice.so dont' be depressed=)
Step 1: choose your goals in life.
Step 2: Decide how that deciscion is going to affect your goals.
I wouldn't worry about the "honorable" part of being a soldier. Unless one of your goals in life are to be an honorable soldier I suppose. And no I don't think you're being dishonest, it's your life, not theirs.
Well if you enlisted for longer than 4 years that is your fault. You probably got a big bonus for enlisting for 6 years. When l went in the Army l hated it and got out then l came back in and now l am here. Man up if you been in for 4 years then then you joined when the Army was already at war and you knew you had a chance of getting deployed. Do your time and get out don't abuse the system because you hate it.
what are you going to do for employment as a civilian?
if you can make it as a civilian i say get out now and get on with living a real life. dont feel guilty about leaving because i was in iraq and there is something about watching 20 soldiers change one tire that makes you wonder what exactly you are contributing in the first place.
id get the hell out. youll probably feel better about leaving in a few years.
yeah just leave.claim depression and anxiety.
or you could just tell them you're homosexual and don't want to hide it anymore. You'll get an honorable d/c
NO WAY! If you leave early you do not get 100% of benefits. I left early.and I was not able to use ANY of my GI Bill for education. I got screwed!
Tough it out. It's tough, but face it.most people who go there come back. Plus what is your job? If you wimp out you are gonna lose a lot of respect and face with others. And it will be something that will be with you for the rest of your life. I was cared shitless going to Vietnam, but I went. And i know one guy in our AIT class who did not go.I still feel sorry for him. He abandoned us..we were all together until he weakened.
Tallspot,
Unfortunately for you, You don't OWN your body. The army DOES.
Getting out on a mental health condition in today's need is going to be HARD. You might get a medical on General discharge, big might.
Suggest you get some info from ThinkRightNow.com
you need to change your mind set - now. Depressed solders do dumb things and get them self or others killed.
Take control of your mind before it gets you FUBR.
Take all legal and ethical options you have to do what you want but accept the results. Don't spend your time on what you can't or couldn't change. Focus on what you can control - your mind is you choice. And your Best weapon.
Go with God speed.
Please don't. I speak from expeirence here, I got out for "mental health" reasons because I felt I was more of a liability as a soldier than an asset and because I didn't like how I was treated by my recruiter and by my chain of command and "battle buddies" (both in and out of IET). It has been almost five years since I was discharged and I still sometimes have feelings of being a quitter, and feeling as though I should have finished what I started. I was an embarassment to my whole family when I was discharged "for medical reasons".
I don't want to see you make the same mistake I did. You only have two years left, and I know that sounds like a lot, but you're 2/3 done with your enlistment term already. At least do the honorable thing and finish what you signed up for. I am now married to a career military man and I can tell you that even though his three deployments were rough on him, he got through it. He knows he is going back next year sometime, but he also knows he can and will do it. Attitude makes a huge difference. Try not to focus so much on the negatives and look at the positives. I have struggled with depression as well in my life and I know it is easier said than done, but there is such a thing as getting yourself too fixated on the negatives. Perhaps try seeing your ETS date as a goal to reach, one day/week at a time.
In the meantime, do remember that your job is an extremely important one. An awful lot of people appreciate what you do and are praying for you too. Try to focus on doing everything you do to the best of your ability. Focus your mental energy on being the best soldier you can be now, and when you ETS out you can apply that same singleness of mind to whatever you choose to do.
I wish I had applied those principles to my own military service instead of taking the easy way out. Sometimes I wonder if I will feel like a loser for the rest of my life.
The single most important thing you can do, though, is keep faith in God. There is a Bible verse that says "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me". Even a job you hate with people you can't stand. God is so much greater than all of these problems and circumstances. Nothing is too big for God to handle. God promises to bear your burdens if only you give them over to Him. If you can find a chaplain (or a civilian clergyman) that you are willing to talk to, I am sure he will be quite willing to answer any questions you have about God and he can also offer you words of wisdom and comfort for your situation. I would encourage you to read the bible and pray when you are feeling low. If it wasn't for God, I wouldn't have even got through the part of my military service that I did complete. It all boiled down in the end to my not having enough faith and trust in God to help me to change and cope. My faith was very weak and I just gave up. I wasn't living right or anything at all. There were many things then about God that I did not understand.
Please don't give up like I did. It will feel good in the beginning to be "finally out", but a little later the shame, regret, and low self esteem will come back to haunt you.
I'll be praying for you. Good luck, no matter what you decide. I know how you feel and I know it's a hard place to be in.
If you enlisted for six years, you need to suck it up and finish your time like a man. You aren't the only one depressed, away from family, deployed, etc., you need to finish it up with honor.
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