I've been thinking about this particular mistake and whether or not it was a mistake, especially since I am contemplating, to my friends' horror, making said mistake yet again. The act to which I'm referring? Enlisting. I made this first "mistake" almost seven years ago. At the time, my mother certainly thought it was a mistake. She couldn't figure out why I went enlisted instead of Officer. But, for me, it seemed the best way to learn a trade. I was hoping to become a linguist, but got assigned to be a computer techie instead. Either way, these jobs were only available to enlisted personnel, not officers. I also enlisted at this particular point in time in order to escape a bad point in my life - I was running away from something, rather than running to something. This is probably never a good idea, so in that light, I'd have to agree that it was a mistake. Then, I went ahead and made the mistake again, by re-enlisting. Again, it was for not the best of reasons: this time, inertia. It was just easier staying in than spending the time and effort needed to go out into the civilian work place and find a job. Also, I was deployed to the Gulf and thus my re-enlistment bonus was tax free. Since that point, I have become more and more unhappy with the restrictions placed on my ability to live my life as I choose. Now, here I am, back in the Gulf area, contemplating a second re-enlistment. A friend of mine who was a Marine for 4 years just finished her enlistment and is not looking back. She thinks I'm insane to even think about considering reenlistment as she knows exactly how much my real identity is being squashed by the military. Will I make the same mistake a third time? Not if I can find a civillian job...hint hint.