> TOM, did the military tell you that you, too, were too smart for them to use right off? Are you sure that the needs of the U.S. military are the same as they were when your teacher told that story? Are you sure that your skills are the same as those of the person in your teacher's story? You have to be sure of all these things to assume that your country can best use you in the same manner. If we are to entertain the notion that our primary responsibility with respect to our careers is to do whatever benefits the U.S. military (or intelligence, or whatever) the most, we should be going down and asking.
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> The only thing *either one of you* can determine for yourselves before you actually solicit the opinion of an enlistment dude is what the best choices are FOR YOURSELVES. And, ultimately, is that not a choice made in self-service, rather than in service of your country? If serving your country is your priority, then you're both wrong to assume that, hey, I will serve best by being an FBI agent, or, hey, I will serve best by being a grunt.
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> I submit, though, that serving one's country should be *a* priority but not *the* priority -- for a number of reasons but, most compellingly, because serving your own life needs, in general, *is* the best you can do for your country.


I guess I didn't make something clear. See, my primary interest, academically, is history. I love history. There are, essentially, two things you can do with a history degree that I am even remotely interested in: teaching and intelligence. I want to do both. I will do both, or at least try to.

The *primary* reason that I want to go into intelligence is not because it is the best way to serve my country, but simply because it interests me greatly, and is a job that is well suited to my skills. I'm not going to sit here and explain how, lest I get chastised again for doing so. This is something I have indeed put a ton of thought into, more thought than I do into most anything else I bother to actually think about, and solicited the advice of a lot of people on, not the least of which being my history teacher, who has served in the military, and has taught me for two years (he was also our "mentor" for the online AP Gov't course/disaster this year, and there were only 6 of us in that class, so he got to know us all pretty well,) and thusly his advice receives a great deal of weight.

But yes, direct service to my country was indeed a consideration in my decision, but it was *not* the primary one. However, when the question changes from "What are you doing with your life?" to "How do you plan on serving your country, and why?", it may appear that way.

The Other Matthew