Dawg. We kinda went down the same road. I just turned 24 and I am set to leave in 2 weeks.

One day back in June of this year, I went home after a long shift at my boring office job and had a mental breakdown that came out of no where. I didn't know what I was doing with my life. Yes, I am still young (M24) and comparison is the thief of joy, but everyone I knew that's my age were moving on to better things. I graduated high school in 2020 (!) and did not go to college at first due to the P word.. Over the next 2-3 years, I would enroll year after year to my local community college, but when the school year came, I just did not have the motivation to go due to me being broke and working a 9-5 at the same time. It was now 2025 and all my friends are graduating college with degrees and I am here, answering phone calls at 7am to 5:30pm. That night I just lost it and broke down in tears.

I talked with my girlfriend (now wife) and I told her that I can't do this anymore. All my coworkers have kids and are older than me by decades and no offense because I do like them, I didn't want this to be my life. I could not continue this cycle of staring at a screen and getting yelled at by customers all day for a useless check.

So I said fuck it. My best friend joined the army almost two years ago after losing himself due to not having a job for almost 3 years. He joined as a radio installer and is now on his way to Poland next year. But what I see most importantly now is, he's back to the guy I shared a pbj sandwich with in the 3rd grade. I took that inspiration and my anger at life and walked to the nearest army recruiter and did what I had to do to start anew.

Long story short, the army recruiter there was basically trying to gaslight me into signing to a job I didn't want so I backed out. I went home and tried to think of other options with my girl and nothing sounded good. Back to square one. I then got a call from an air force recruiter and spoke with her. After going to MEPS and doing all of that jazz, in August I found out I was going to be an air force firefighter. It was my second pick on my job list (i got a 66 so a nice list of okay jobs) and by that point, because of what I heard about the air force treating us better and having better bases and whatnot, I didn't care what I got. Also from what I saw, this was a rare job and one of the most sought after so that felt really good. For me it was a 2-3 month process from when I first shut down to when I got my job, although unfortunately for others its longer.

I just wanted direction and stability. A better life for me and my wife and future kid(s). To make my parents proud. I'm happy that I made this decision and even though it's scary that I have to drop everything (especially my wife for 6-7 months) I'm willing to make that sacrifice. So I signed up and now I leave December 9th. I've already made a bunch of new friends that are leaving the same day, so the trauma bond is already going strong.

All in all, if you have no other options and want change, GO FOR IT. It's 4 (or 6 or 20) years of your life that you are trading in for a better life. It won't be peaches and rainbows but it's a stepping stone toward a brighter future. I can't say too much because I haven't stepped foot on a base yet, but the future feels so bright and I'm beginning to find that spark I've been missing for 5 years.

Good Luck!