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Hello all, I am a 19 year old American currently studying history in the UK, I am unsure if this is the right path for me and I am looking for some advice to help me make a more informed decision on my future. Apologies in advance if this might be long.
I have wanted to serve ever since I was 12 and did a ton of research and changed my mind on what I wanted to do for an MOS a million times while I was in school, I had never been able to make a firm decision on one.
In high school I met my first girlfriend and we were together for just over two years, about halfway through our senior year she was diagnosed with cancer and I decided to stay in the area to be with her and just go to my local community college, I didn’t enjoy my time at college for a number of reasons and dropped out after a little over a semester and worked two jobs to help support my girlfriend until she passed away.
After a year of having no direction I decided I just needed to leave and I ended up studying history in the United Kingdom, there is a lot I like about being here and I am doing much better than I was before, I have been able to work through my girlfriend’s passing and in doing so, I have also realized that I want to do something related to more “frontline” medicine. I also have a huge interest in history and education which is why I would still prefer to get a degree in that field rather than medicine despite my interest in medicine.
I am currently in the process of joining my local St. John Ambulance unit ( a charity that provides emergency medical support alongside the NHS throughout the UK and Commonwealth) as a volunteer first aider, with the potential to become an Emergency Transport Attendant (essentially an EMT but it is not a nationally recognized qualification under the National Health Service according to what my unit manager told me,) meaning I could only work as a part time volunteer on St. John Ambulances specifically, assuming I reached this position. I am also on the wait-list to become an Inshore Lifeboat Crewman for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (another charity that does maritime search and rescue throughout the UK and Ireland, somewhat similar to the USCG) but it is not a sure thing as openings at the local station are rare.
Despite this I still feel a strong desire to be a 68W in either the Active-Duty Army or potentially the Army National Guard. I feel like serving as a combat medic is something that I have to do before I die and I am unsure if I should give up university to pursue this.
The way I see it my options right now are to:
1. Finish out this year at University and return to the US to enlist in the active-duty Army. I could always pursue college in the US afterwards or return to the UK to study again as well.
2. Finish University here in the UK, and then return to the US to become a history teacher, and also serve as a medic in the Army National Guard.
Or 3. Finish University and use a graduate visa to find a sponsored job in the history field and continue volunteering with St. John Ambulance and potentially the RNLI, or transition to the paid full-time side of St. John Ambulance and be sponsored via them. I would be 29 by the time I would get citizenship and therefore be eligible to serve as a medic in the British Army or Royal Navy (unsure about Royal Air Force.) I understand I would be rather old by military standards but I would still be within the maximum age limit for this position with the UK Armed Forces.
I would be happy with any of these however a big factor in my indecision is that there is a lot I really like about living in the UK that I would be giving up, but at the same time I don’t know about having to wait 10 years to attempt this goal that I have for my life if I were to take advantage of my student path to citizenship. Both are equal sacrifices in my eyes at the moment.
I am more or less evenly split between all three options and I guess I am just looking for advice and information for me to take into consideration that would help me to choose the best path for myself. I can add more detail or try to clarify if that is too vague or if any of you have any other questions. Sorry again that this is so long, thank you all in advance for your help!
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