Two Plus Two Newer Archives - Should I quit college?

I graduated high school in June 2001. 3 days later I left home for Army Basic Training, not knowing when I would see my family again. Four months later I finally came home.

I started college in January 2002 as a criminology major.

January 2003 I found out I was getting deployed to Kosovo. I left home in March 2003 not knowing when I would be home. Luckily, I got a trip home in April and then again in June. June 10th, 2003 was the last time I would see my family until I came home from the deployment. July 11th, 2003 I hit the ground in Kosovo.

February 20, 2004, we left Kosovo to fly to Ft. Dix, New Jersey. March 2, 2004 I finally saw my family again. Throughout this deployment I missed 3 semesters of college.

Summer of 2004 I took 3 online summer classes.

Finally went back to college during the Fall Semester of 2004 and changed my major to Finance. Now I just lost a whole semester of credits because of the requirements of the business college. Then I finished the Spring semester of 2005 with a 4.0 GPA.

Started college again in the Fall of 2005. Hurricane Katrina just ripped through the Gulf Coast. 3 days later into the semester, I was getting deployed to Louisiana. I had to withdraw from the semester. Now I have: Started a semester late and missed 4 semesters.

I finally get back a month later from Louisiana and live in my Apt. where I was going to live when I started college.

I see a Police Academy is going to start in January, 2006 and decide that I will take another semester off to do what I have dreamt of doing. I was following a dream that I could no longer wait to accomplish. So now I have: I started 1 semester late because of basic training and missed 5 semesters of college.

Now I have 2 weeks left in my Police Academy and summer is coming. I'm taking 2 online summer classes starting in July. I am getting out of the Army National Guard in July of this year, and I have already scheduled to go back to college in the Fall. My predicted graduation date is May, 2008. Seems so far off, but I plan on finishing every last bit of that.

If you would have asked me about my future plans when I first joined the military, you would have never received the timeline that I just laid out.

Don't take everything for granted. Finish your college degree and don't regret it. You never know when life will take you in different directions and make your original plans go down the drain. Have something to fall back on. It may be tough to look forward to what you have to do, but take it one day at a time and you'll be alright. Trust me, I've made it!