I was 8 and 1/2 years in the Navy, enlisted as a nuke. I signed up for 6 in 1980, then re-upped after 2 and 1/2 years of school (they dropped the remainder of my enlistment, and I restarted with a fresh 6). I allowed myself to be convinced to re-up and take the bonus because things, "will get much better once you're in the Fleet." That was a lie -- I tend to have authority issues and compulsively ask that most subversive of all questions, "Why?", which made my Navy experience the worst time of my life. I consider myself to be a very good computer programmer; I'm better than most at analyzing processes, sequencing events, then automating them to implement those processes efficiently. Those strengths in my current profession were weaknesses in an environment where people tell you what to do, when and how to do it, but almost never tell you why -- I resented nearly every minute.

My Navy time taught me that I will never allow ANY person or organization to have that level of control over my life again.