By 
People join the military for a multitude of reasons, some of them are looking for adventure, others are looking to jumpstart their careers with real world experience in a professional field. As a grunt, preparing your resume after you get out is one of the hardest things to do, if you don’t already know what you want to do.
In my case, I knew I was going to use my GI Bill and go to school (which all of you should do anyway).
However, it would seem that the infantry isn’t exactly a marketable skill unless you plan on being a cop or some such. In reality, that is selling the experience a little short. The infantry itself teaches you a lot, and if you deployed to a combat zone, you have experience that is deeper than bullet notes on a sheet of nice paper. Still, it’s hard for grunts to quantify it accurately and give themselves credit for the things that they did learn. Infantry Marines make great leaders in any industry, you just have to know how to sell yourself.
As for TAPS itself, I didn’t find it particularly helpful in my specific case. I knew I was going to be an artist. TAPS and the Marine Corps itself doesn’t exactly cater itself to that idea, but the Post 9/11 GI Bill is a godsend. Even if you’re not like me and you have no idea what to do, just go to school for free until you figure it out. It buys you another 4 years of free rent while you figure your shit out, at the very least.
On a side note, this strip was previously published in the Marine Corps Times newspaper, so apologies if you’ve seen it before.
On another side note, I want to also give a shout out to VeerOut Dynamics for doing such a great job with the Terminal Lance official store over the last 6 months or so. The business is owned and operated by a Marine, and recently launched a Kickstarter to help provide shirts to under privileged kids. Check it out!
Comments