Stuttering and the Military

[DayDreamSlacker]

Hey, my name is Charles.I have been thinking for a long time to join the military but do to my speech issues i have been sort of slacking on that decision. Im going to the recruiter office though maybe on monday or tuesday so that is a huge and sort of scary step for me.I have a thing about meeting new people.Despite this fear i do take chances but i get terrified when deciding to take it.its out of my comfort zone.One huge step out of my comfort zone was when i was 16 and decided to get my first job working fast foods.It was a huge step cause had a fear of meeting new people and low self esteem.though i threw myself into a environment where i didint knew anyone at all and i had ...well my first actural job lol.I aced the interview and got hired.I was suppose to show up a few days earlier but during that time before that time came i was scared to death each day.its a bad feeling to be afraid of what to come because you know that situation may become chaos because of the fact you stutter.This ties into me going to the recruiter.its like a week away but im afraid of what might actually happen. Like will i get stuck on a word and look like a fool.There may be some words in the military that you may be required to repeat or say but some words i cant say at all ...:( So im just looking for any type of support to help me feel confident and try not to worry myself to death. So thanks for reading this and have a nice day ...:)

[Geoff]

Alright Charles, I'm in the Army myself I've been in a year now. Infact a few years back I made a topic similar to yours about the whole issue as I was pretty worried. But everything turned out fine. I have a stutter block which can be pretty bad, and it's unaffected me up to now really.

You can't think about it too much. Just throw yourself in there and crack on, what's the worse that can happen? They'll decide if you're capable or not, so there's nothing to loose. Infact, during basic training you'll have so much else to be thinking about that you'll practically forget about your stutter.

It's only now that I'm starting to worry again as I have a leadership course coming up to see if I'm good enough for promotion. But again, I'm just going to throw myself in there, keep my head down and fly through it. The majority of the time you come out fine. You'll never know unless you go for it.

Which area of the Military are you looking at joining?

[DayDreamSlacker]

Thanks so much for the response Geoff. I am interested in the Air Force.im going to the recruiter sometime next month to take the ASVAB test. Then i can see what jobs i can qualify for.