Expert: William Payne - 12/27/2008

Question
i was wondering if you can help me out. i'm a junior right now in high school and my parents expect alot from me as every other parents do. its not suprising, but very stressful. and since i was young, i always loved cops. never seen them as the bad guys as everyone says, because tehy get busted for something they did wrong and i admire the work of a police officer. so my goal or you can say plan is to graduate from high school and option 1 go to college (but i'm not that great of a student. pretty lazy and you know the type, but not disrespectful or anything, just not motivated enough for the whole school policy of teaching) with a criminal justice, criminology, forensic science. or option 2 go to the army, sign up for a contract as an airborne ranger and get a degree in the list i said above while serving and after i get out, i want to apply for a job at the F.B.I. their requirements are pretty strict, and you need a degree obviously and an experience in many other things, but i want to go into military. or option 3 try out for the navy seals BUDS program. (i know it maybe impossible but i mean if you think you can do it then you can do it right?) so do you think any of these are any great from your point of view? or is this just a kids dream ? i just want to hear the truth of what you think and maybe even push me to the right direction and give me some advices. thank you for your time reading this. i appreciate it.

Answer
Mr. Jeong,

Thanks for the question.

You are partially right, school is not for everyone, but you will definitely need a college degree to get into Federal law enforcement.

The military is a good option at your age. Get some discipline, world experience, and some schooling to go along with it. I have never seen where military training has hurt a future police career.

The military has a lot of options to select from as far as military occupational specialties is concerned. Talk to a recruiter before you make a decision on what you want to do. Talk to someone in the military as well as a police officer in the area you live.


Good luck and best wishes!