I don’t think I made the right choice joining the National Guard. I originally wanted to go into Intelligence, but since I’m only a junior, I couldn’t join the Air Force. The only option available at the time was the split option for the National Guard, and I rushed into it instead of waiting a year to explore other branches.
My recruiter told me that 11B was the only job open, which really disappointed me because it’s not the kind of work I wanted to do. I also realized afterward that I didn’t actually want to be in the reserves, I wanted to go active duty. Looking back, I was too quick to make this decision, which isn’t like me. I didn’t fully think it through.
I signed a six-year contract, partly because my recruiter said they would try to help me switch into something else later. I trusted that, but now I regret relying on that promise instead of sticking to what I actually wanted.
I’m mostly writing this to vent, but it’s been on my mind constantly and is starting to keep me up at night.