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The National Guard offers numerous opportunities that will be quite beneficial for a young individual. For example, continuing education is completely, 100% free regardless of your major! Moreover, the South Dakota Army National Guard offers something called the “GI Bill”. This is meant to cover additional costs while a soldier is in college such as rent, grocery costs, fuel and more. Which in my opinion, is a major benefit when it comes to college. The Army is all about furthering your education. When you talk to your recruiter about a job, more commonly referred to as your ‘MOS’ a.k.a. Military Occupational Specialty. Here, you will get to choose virtually any job you are interested in. This goes from nursing, dental hygienist, military police officer, heavy equipment operators, construction, or even a doctor, (these occupations make the big bucks!). Depending on which job the Army needs soldiers in the most, they might offer a large bonus. These bonuses are typically around $20,000! I chose a MOS that came with a sign on bonus of $20,000. In my opinion I feel like this is a very smart thing to do especially if you're going into college. Not to mention just how great this looks on a resume. Employers see this and know immediately that this applicant is a hard and dedicated worker and will notice your additional experiences. While in high school, this also looks great when applying for scholarships. Which is a phenomenal decision to partake in. Although insurance isn’t something to worry about at this particular time in your life, the army offers super cheap insurance when the time is right to get off of your parents’ insurance plan! You don’t even have to technically ‘pay’ for it, because, if you choose to do so, the army will automatically take this out of your monthly paycheck. In my mind I feel like this is basically a win any way you look at it. Which leads me to my next and final point, you get paid for the job you do, even while in training. I've taken full advantage of this by basically, ranking up as fast as possible before I leave for basic training so that way I can get the maximum pay that a person could receive. A new recruit typically starts out as an E-1 and remains at this rank for around 7 months. By taking advantage of the training that has been offered I have been able to rank up to an E-3 which would normally take longer. Being an E-3 will allow me to start at a higher wage than other new recruits. The army offers such a wide variety of benefits that will improve your financial well-being, discipline, and experiences throughout your whole enlistment time. I've made so many lifelong friends already and I've only been in the National Guard for about 10 months.