I'm 41 wanna enlist

[linc]

Good evening Jocko and Echo from Queensland Australia

I'm 41 and I want to join the reserve forces here in Australia. Am I too old to be effective? Or will I be a liability ?

I have been ruled by fear for much of my life and suffered the consequences up to the last few years when I started my own business, got separated and getting divorced began training better got rid of my tv and begun learning everything i can etc. But I want to contribute to my country and inspire my children particularly my 13 year old son who is in my custody so want to join up and begin BJJ.

Also I want to get my son into BJJ and army cadets but after listening to you talk about the Russian Chechen conflict it made me think about whether I could ever let him go to a conflict like that?? I find it a dichotomy that I can't reconcile.

Thanks
Linc

[mynewunit]

The only way you will find out if you will be effective is to try. The 2 things you will have to understand is that, you will need to go where you are skilled and you have to go where they have a need. You could join up, train up and end up doing IT support, vehicle maintenance, revisions of technical manuals. Don't join so that you can be diving into rivers with a knife in your teeth. If you can enter with your mind open, humble, and willing to work, ready to help those around you, you will be a huge asset.

Feel free to get you kid into anything. Don't force him into what you want. Help him find things he connects with, then encourage him. We have no idea what the battle of tomorrow will look like. I can't tell you if it will be good or bad. I can tell you that if it isn't your son, it will be your neighbor's. Or it will be my daughter. So you cant judge the combatant by the conflict. Either you are ready to make war, or you aren't.

I like the thoughts. Stay on the path. Glory pays in gulps of greatness or daily drips. Don't discount the daily drips.

[shane]

Just my two cents here, we had two guys who joined my unit who were significantly older than the others. One thrived and one dropped out after a while, it's a matter of attitude, just remember that you'll be in an unfamiliar environment and it won't always be to your liking and you'll probably be getting bossed around by people younger than you. With us the older guy who dropped came in with this attitude of him deserving better treatment/more respect because he was older, whereas the other guy did what Jocko mentions a lot where he showed his worth, built trust and was eventually just given a lot of respect by superiors and fellow soldiers alike because he was damn good at what he did.

Martial arts is always good for kids, no matter where they go in life. I had a similar dilemma about exposing him to combat when my (significantly) younger brother wanted to join a combat unit because I had been in one. At the end it was his choice so I just gave him all the pros and cons as best I could and didn't really push in either direction, and when he did decide I gave him my full support.