For some brief context I'm 20 going on 21. I'm trying to enlist, but had a ticket I had to take care of before I could go any further. My father has always been there and my mother has never been apart of my life, so he's filled both roles.

My dad has always been my best friend and will always be my best friend, but he's very much the "overprotective" type in terms of parenting. I've stated to him multiple times that I need to fight my own battles otherwise I never will and he agreed entirely with me, but since then he still acts like he's coming to my rescue whenever I need to stand up for myself. I just recently got a ticket for unreasonable speed with poor weather conditions (wrecked my car) and I had asked him for some advice and if he could come just so I know what I'm doing. It came time for me to go up and talk to the judge and DA to see if I couldn't get the ticket dismissed or bumped down so it wouldn't affect my time with enlisting. He asked if I wanted him to come up with me and I said yes, but let me do the talking I want you there as support (because yes he is very much who I look to if I get nervous or stumble) he agreed he wouldn't say anything. So the judge asked me if I wanted any documents explaining what unreasonable speed is due to it being a vague area. I was about to say no when my father starting viciously shaking his head yes, so I said yes. The judge said it may take up to 30 days for them to get some documentation from the State Trooper explaining, he asked me if there was a date I would prefer to come in on and just before I was about to explain my situation and that I didn't need the document I just need the whole court process over with so I could continue with the recruitment process my dad just started talking and explaining everything and said we could talk to the DA to lower the ticket. My dad then proceeded to not even let me talk to the DA and instead took complete control of the situation for me.

After we had left the court room I confronted him saying that was exactly what I didn't want him to do. He started going off about how I wasn't going to push the issue and I was already done talking that's why he took over. I just got quiet and didn't say anything and he just kept pushing the issue saying he doesn't understand why I'm upset. I was set off by this and told him that he always does this, he needs to step back and let me fight my own battles. He didn't understand this and got extremely upset with me over this, explained that he only wants to help me. I explained even further there is a difference between helping and doing it for me, I'm 20 and need to deal with things so I know how to.