best military branch for engineering--military pays for college

Man, where to start. The military is a great way to pay for college, and there is lots of money to be made there, believe it or not.

You have a couple options. First is ROTC, second is Student Loan Repayment option, and third is Green to Gold.

First option, ROTC. The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) is an entry level military program that will train you to lead soldiers on and off the field. As an officer you will learn to deal with things like logistics, personnel, and financial management, on top of the duties that you are trained it. You will spend 4 years in college as an ROTC student and when you graduate you are committed to four years in the military. As a 2LT (second lieutenant) you will be given control of a platoon, approximately 20-40 experienced soldiers who will work with you as you further your leadership abilities. You will also make about twice as much as them, and still get 100% health and dental along with $500K in life insurance. Many officers spend an long time in the service, and I will cover that at the end.

The second option is the Student Loan Repayment option. You enlist in the Military after you have completed college and you forgo an enlistment bonus to have the US Government pay off your student loans. You will again be obligated to four years of service, but after this you are free to leave.

Green to Gold is another option, however it will not cover your student loans. You will instead go from becoming an enlisted soldier to being an officer. You will have earned the respect of your fellow soldiers when you gain your commission. This will obligate you to at least an additional four years, after you have already served about four years. This doesn't really help cover your college costs, but you can use your GI bill to pay for your Green To Gold schooling.

If you are young, please listen to what I am about to say. I can make you rich by serving in the Army. I am 30 years old, and if someone had showed me this when I was your age, I would be a lot better off right now.

Lets say you go to college for 4 years. You come out with $50k in student loans. You enlist into the Army and get no signing bonus, but since you went to college you are an officer. A first year officer makes $2600 a month, before additional allotments are added in. So per month, just out of college you are making around $3k, for a total of $36 a year. Not bad, not great either. Now in order for this to work you need to do twenty years of service. I know that's a lot but you will be 42 years old (18+4yrs college+20 years Army=42) An officer that has been in for 20 years should be a Lt. Col or above by that time. Base pay for a LTC with 20 years in is, $8000 a month, plus additional allotments and inflation, figure around $10k per month in twenty years.

That comes out to $120k a year at 42 years old. Ask around, that is really good money.

Now get out of the Army. After twenty years in you get to retire with half your pay for the rest of your life. That is $60k a year, guaranteed, for the rest of your life, and that's not even including any 401k that you may have setup. You are 42 years old. Get another job for 20 years. You'll be 62 this time. You will retire again, and get a second retirement package. Lets say you were getting $60k before, plus $40k a year from your retirement package. You are now making $100K a year, retired earlier than all your friends.

$100k a year, retired. That is fantastic money. I can go on and on about the Army, as I am serving right now, but if you join, you will see the other perks firsthand. People will respect you. Friends will always be there for you. You will be a member of a time honored corp. This things are priceless. People literally kill for them, and you get them for free. All you have to do is give a little time to the country.

As for getting deployed, there is another long and glorious speech that goes with that, but I am late for lunch and a movie.

Seriously, think about what I said. Older adults, look at these numbers and tell this kid that this is a lot of money.