Enlisting with an HSED

[Sparky710]

Hey guys,

I've been presented with an opportunity to graduate high school a year early. I'm currently 16 (turning 17 in a couple weeks), and a junior in HS.

The program is called the Wisconsin Challenge Academy.

If I were to do this, I'd be able to finish school in 5.5months, and I would get an HSED from the program.

The first day is on the 19th (in under a week), and I'm still on the ropes about going. I intend on enlisting in the USMC (0311 planned) once I'm done with high school, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to if I completed this program.

It is my understanding that to enlist, you either need a diploma or a GED+15 college credits. I have looked everywhere online and cannot find anything that says if I can join with a HSED and no college credits.

Hopefully somebody here is a recruiter/knows one and could ask for me, since I have yet to get in touch with one myself, and don't think I'll be able to before I leave.

[Mongoose]

Sparky, I know times have changed since I was in the Corps. However, that being said, I can see where you are coming from. I myself got into a BWWT program when I turned about 15 years old. It was different, by far, than what I was used to, at that time. It was a real learning experience, I can tell you that. I really got into it...sometimes over doing what was normal. I did find out when I talked to a recruiter, that it was fairly common for Marine wanna-be's to be involved in the BWWT movement. When I finally got into the Corps....I found out, to my astonishment, that almost all of us had been involved in the BWWT. I have never regretted getting into beer, women, and wild times......good luck Sparky.

[irpat54]

originally posted by Sparky710
It is my understanding that to enlist, you either need a diploma or a GED+15 college credits. I have looked everywhere online and cannot find anything that says if I can join with a HSED and no college credits.

as long as the HSED is equal and accredited as a HSDPl. their should not be a problem, a GED is not equal to a HSDPL, and that is why it is no longer accepted without the 15+ college credits.. that was my understanding when talking to a recruiter, about my son wanting to join..
but a recruiter would know for sure. he or she could also contact your school to make sure.

[Tennessee Top]

Recruiters are not allowed to talk to 16 year-olds (guess there is some fear they would corrupt young/not yet fully developed brains). You'll be eligible to see a recruiter once you turn 17 in a couple weeks.

Good luck

[crazymjb]

Really? A friend of mine on his second enlistment I first met when he started going to the recruiting station at 13 years old when I was 16 to work out with us (he had a family lineage on the USMC).

My advice: Finish out high school, and finish it strong unless there is something in your home life you really need to get away from. Very few people do 20 years in the military, and even then many if not most go on to college. Keep doing what you can do to make yourself a strong candidate for whatever you may chose after the USMC. Hell, even enlisted commissioning programs will take into account your academics.

Basically, don't close any unnecessary doors. I couldn't wait to join the USMC from my freshmen year of HS onward. Right now I am in grad school and I can't wait to get back into the military... but it's worth the wait to see high school to completion. Plus, your senior year is a lot of fun, and that's coming from someone who hated high school.

Mike

[Tennessee Top]

It's a general rule. There are recruiters who ignore it obviously (just like myriad other rules they're supposed to be following).

[crazymjb]

Hmm. I don't think our recruiters were actively seeking younger guys out, but they didn't turn them away from PTing and so forth when they showed up. MOST guys who started showing up at 15-16 ended up joining, I've kept in touch with a few. Most of these kids parents would actually drop them off.

My HS and many in the area did not have JROTC, so it was nice that the recruiters at that time would go over drill and ceremony, customs and courtesies, and PT and so fourth. They even brought us to a local reserve unit range to watch some live fire. It gave me something to do my last couple years of high school.

Mike