text: i need advice picking a military career? i'm 24 years old, and i really don't want to have to shoot anyone. i don't have a high school diploma, only a ged. that most likely disqualifies me from the airforce, and the coast guard. they accept them but rarely from what i have gathered. i have looked at the army as a last resort throughout my life. even though i know that i would do very well within it. i want to be in a intelligence or medical mos since it would help me when i'm done with my term. i want to know if there is any way to go active, but not be in a combat deployable position? i'm just trying to make sure i make a wise decision and not a foolish one to my own personal morals. i want to join, but love my job... not hate it. i understand about wanting to go into the service. it looks like it might be a way to pay the bills and get some education and a way up. for some of us it was. i was a chemical staff specialist. my job started out being in radiation protection. that was great. it eventually got me where i am today. i teach the stuff in a nuclear power plant.  but wait.  the army decided that they needed me to make and drop napalm, agent orange, white phosphorus, and other stuff like that. i got sent to vietnam. i was a good soldier. did what they told me. even got tortured in training without talking (south koreans broke my knee in a training exercise). i dropped napalm on people, dude. burned them to death. sprayed agent orange that we later found out caused all sorts of genetic defects and liver problems in the vietnamese and in our troops. i watch a helicopter blade take off my pilot's head when we crashed once.  did not seem much like radiation protection somehow.   and then when i got back people spit on me. they called us baby killers. the sentiment about the war had changed. there was no money much to treat vets either (a lot like it is now, btw) and my buddies were very screwed up. i hear that us soldiers coming back now 1 in every three are seeking help about ptsd. yeah, good idea to seek help. i still have it. fourth of july is hell for me. hate unexpected fire crackers.  the job of the military is to meet with and kill the enemy. the recruiters will try to tell you there are lots of other things to do, but that is the number one job. right now we are not at war, we are occupying a country that does not want us there. the iraqi president and vp have both asked for us to leave, have talked about granting amnesty to those who have only killed americans. the troops on the ground there are tired. they are there to protect the contractors who are raking in the dough on fat no-bid contracts.   are you sure you want to do this?  how about something like americorps or peace corps?   if you still are intent on the army, get everything in writing. when they try to weasel out, show them the paper and leave. seriously. recruiters lie and cheat.