OK, RMC cadets, listen up: I'm about to dispense some hard-won wisdom that I wish to GOD somebody had given me back in the day.
When I was at CMR, most of our talk about degree programs, just like yours, was "what would we be able to do with it once our hitch was up". The focus was on getting a degree, doing our service to pay the degree off, and then going to work civvie-side and making the big bucks - and it sounds like this has not changed.
That's not a suprise; the way most of us were recruited was with the idea of subsidised education.
But here is the cold hard fact of the matter: THE PURPOSE OF RMC IS TO PREPARE YOU FOR A LIFETIME CAREER IN THE FORCES AS AN OFFICER. The Powers That Be, for whatever reason, go out of their way to avoid ever putting it that bluntly, but that AND NO OTHER REASON, is the purpose behind this institution.
If you are evaluating your education at RMC in terms of what you will do once your hitch is up, you have completely and utterly missed the point - which, sadly, places you in good company, given how poorly this has been communicated over the years.
Well, I'm telling you now: attending RMC is what builds the base for your future military career. You need to be taking advantage of all that this incredible institution offers you with an eye towards becoming the best possible officer, and with the foreknowledge that you are in for the long haul here. If you are thinking in terms of a free degree, a term of service, and then a civvie life, you are categorically in the wrong place.
I fell into the "free degree and a civvie job" trap, and it very nearly ruined me. I stuck with a trade I didn't really want (Pilot, then Signals) instead of the one that had been calling me (Armour) because my friends kept talking me out of the transfer with horror stories about combat arms officers being unable to find employment, as all that experience was useless civvie side. I stuck with a degree program I didn't like (Computer Science) instead of the one that I loved (MilStud) for the same reason - computer experts get employment, where Mil Studs do not - COMPLETELY and FOOLISHLY overlooking what should have been the primary goal all along; to become a career Armoured officer. Civvie-side employment isn't an issue if you never become a civvie - and having been one, let me tell you unequivocally that being a civvie sucks golf balls through garden hose.
I have very, very few regrets in life, but the one that haunts me regularly was how utterly STUPID I was to not transfer into Armour and MilStud the second I realized that that's what I really wanted to do. Everything else that has happened to me since has been a direct consequence of that impossibly poor decision, based 100% on forcasting my employment potential civvie-side.
(Although, the irony of it is that my employment civvie-side for the past dozen years has been built on all the computer science work I did at CMR; proving that the Universe has a sick and twisted sense of humour)
Do what you love, and the money will take care of itself. If you don't love the military, then you are in the wrong place.
DG
CMR '87-'91 18145