OT Navy son

While in the service he will gain some real world expereience and perspective. I myself am a USN trained person and never regretted my time. I left for San Diego bootcamp in 1981. Only did 1 tour and got out in 1985.

Got to see the good and bad of the world and came back home to sweet ol's USA although there was a time I was strongly considering New Zealand as new home.

Best time of comradrie & brotherhood I have ever had and learned a great deal. Worked as Electronics and Software Engineer with USN Weapons/Avionics both as Gov't staff and major contractors (Lockheed, CRC etc) until 1992 when Arkansas man took over the White House and cut Defense spending to the bone.

Workwise my 1st love is still aviation but the skills learned in USN and as a consultant to the DoD have served me quite well. I am now managing a team of 145 folks both here and abroad.

If you really want to join, don't give up. Althugh if they documented the "asthma" it might be a little tough. I didn't B/S them when I went into basic and told them about my asthma (well that's what the doctor finally decided it was) when I was an infant and how I hadn't experienced anything like it or resembled anything like asthma since before I was 9 years old. That was in 1985 and I just re-enlisted this past Friday for another 3 years. Depending on your job it's possible that they won't accept you or will put you in a non-deployable position which would mean that you might not be in very long. At the same time, you may turn out like me and haven't had one bit of a problem. In '98 when I was at Lakenheath a person in the shop I worked in was diagnosed with asthma and taken off deployment status. He PCS'd to a chopper squadron less than a year later. I've always been forward with them on the subject and except for a lot of questions have never had any type of medical hold because of it. Good luck with anything that you plan for the future, whether it involves the military or not.

Jim