Starting College

Well I've finally and officially started college. I'm registered with the American Military University pursuing a BA in Human Relations. The university is all on-line and geared towards the military. I chose this degree because one thing I think I'll enjoy this type of work once I'm a civilian. I feel that it's close enough to the First Sergeant and Flight Chief work I've been doing that I should enjoy it very much. I've done my first essay, here's what I wrote: ___________________________________________________________________ Why did I decide to attend college now? I’ve done a lot of thinking about this question and have come up with several answers; broadening myself as a senior NCO leading to a possible promotion, preparing myself for my upcoming return to the civilian job market, being a positive role model for my college age children, and lastly, to rid myself of this feeling of incompleteness since I haven’t gotten my degree. There are a myriad of other reasons but these are the ones I feel are most important to me. Let me take a closer look into each of these reasons to better explain my motivation. There are many responsibilities associated with being a senior NCO but none are more important than being a positive role model and mentor. We are expected to give career planning guidance to the young the NCOs to include education expectations regarding promotions. The Air Force has recently changed their promotion criteria for the top two enlisted ranks to include a CCAF degree requirement. Without this degree Master Sergeants (like me) will receive such a low promotion score that it takes them out of the running. Some folks don’t care about getting promoted but the point is to be able to show the folks that are working for you how they can be successful in the Air Force. The “do as I say and not as I do” mentality doesn’t work very well and doesn’t make successful Airmen. Another door a degree will open for me is that certain jobs within my career path are offered only to the most promotion eligible NCOs. Jobs such as Chief Instructor, Chief Evaluator, and Flight Chief don’t open up too often and when they do you need to look good on paper in order to be considered. So as you can see not only will the degree make me more competitive for promotion, but it also bolsters my credibility when I’m counseling one of my young Airmen about their education goals. There are several other advantages to having a degree while in the military but the military is only a short phase of my life. Let’s take a look at what college will do for me after my military career is over. The civilian job market isn’t anything new to me; I didn’t join the Air Force until I was 25 years old so I had a lot of experience prior to my military enlistment; but that was several years ago and I’m a much older man now. Knowing that I’m soon going to have to complete a resume to search for a job, I need to make myself look better on paper in order for me to get an edge for a job that pays well enough to support my current lifestyle. If I hadn’t joined the service, more than likely, I would have worked my way up through a company towards a middle management position similar to job I have in the military now. Unfortunately I don’t have the luxury of working my way up the corporate ladder; I need to start in the middle. With a degree and my military experience, I should be able to start at a job as a manager or some type of supervisor at a higher than normal pay grade. Without it, I’d be lucky to start at an entry level position at the lowest pay bracket; a position that would put a lot of pressure on me and my family. This would also put me closer in line with my civilian peers in my age group and life experience level rather than having to start at the bottom. For me though, the most important thing having a degree will give me is allowing me to actually do something that I enjoy rather than just getting whatever job I can get. I’ve gone 22 years now doing something I really enjoy and I don’t want to have to go back to doing something just because it’s the only thing I could find. Work and career is only one aspect of why a degree is important to me. As you can probably figure out I’m not a very young person, In fact I’m 47 years old and have three children. Andrew, my oldest, is a senior at Denver University studying Computer Science, Isabella is 19 years old and pursuing a Political Science degree at West Texas A&M, and Krystina is graduating high school this year and will be attending Angelo State University this fall in pursuit of a teaching degree. I mentioned earlier how important it is for me to be a positive role model to those that work for me and I also feel this is important when it comes to parenthood. I don’t think I’m going to beat Andrew to a degree but he doesn’t need any motivation, my daughters on the other hand look to me leadership in all aspect of their life so I want to show them that attaining a degree is important and achievable. They’ve heard me talk about going to college and how important I feel it is, but I’ve not demonstrated this to them with my actions. This is a problem I need to fix. I mentioned several reasons why I’ve decided to start college mostly pertaining to my career or my family, but what about my internal reasons? What inside me finally motivated me enough to take this step? The answer is simple; I’m tired of procrastinating. I need to get this monkey off my back and get it done. It sounds so simple but I know how difficult it’s going to be, which is why I procrastinated so long; I was dreading the work. I have successfully put up a roadblock to my advancement; I’m not talking about promotion in the military but advancing me as a person. For a long time I was comfortable with who I was but I’ve reevaluated my purpose in life and found that this roadblock has to go. No longer am I going to sit around and blame other people for my inadequacies. This is just the first of many steps I’m taking to make myself an even more successful person. Why did I decide to attend college now? Very simple; I’ve reached a point in my life both professionally and privately that the reasons to start, outweigh the reasons to wait. Having a degree will help me professionally, help my family, and help me during my transition to civilian life. The most important reason however is because it’s something I’ve been putting off for a long time and I want to finish it so I can work on the next challenge life throws at me. We all have to find our own motivation to overcome the roadblocks in our lives, hopefully now you better understand mine.