Girl Wants to Join the Military and Now Her Parents Don’t Know Where She Is

People join the military for different reasons. One teenage girl was still trying to figure out if she should enlist when she left a tab open on the family computer, and her sibling saw it. They then told their parents, and they immediately refused to give her permission to enlist. However, soon after, she disappeared, and now they don't know where she is.

Is the military worth joining? For most people, the answer to this question is simple—the opportunity to serve your country and the added benefit of providing for your family is too good to pass up. Some also see it as a way to escape and build a new life for themselves.

However, it's not always that straightforward. Some parents would tell you that they don't want their kids to enlist because of the danger involved with military service. Parents would even go as far as forbidding their children to join. However, there are still people who want to enlist, even if it means going against their parents, and one Redditor's sister did exactly that.

Teenage Girl Leaves Everything behind to Join the Military

On one fateful day, Reddit user Sour-Cafe5230 noticed that their sister planned on joining the military after she graduated high school. She had mistakenly left tabs open on the family computer, and the Redditor saw them and immediately alerted their parents. When they found out, they were completely against the idea and thought they had dissuaded their daughter from joining the military, but she had other ideas.

The night the teenager turned 18, she disappeared. She had graduated early from high school by taking extra credit, and by the time they had figured out what happened, she had already left town. The Redditor's sister secretly finished boot camp and ended up joining the coast guard. The family then hired a "PI" to help them find her, but it turned out that the coast guard had sent her somewhere and would not disclose her location to her family. The Redditor also said,

"The only thing we got is an official let from a coast guard lawyer telling me to back off. He was not pleasant to deal with. Besides him, some of my friends also say I was on the wrong side and not my sister for disappearing on my parents. They are still upset."

Did the OP Share the Full Story?

Most of the top comments felt that the original poster left out key pieces of information. Nothing in the post explained why a teenage girl would go behind her family's back and disappear unless she was having problems at home. Reddit user i_declareathumbwar commented,

"There is a lot more to this story you are not telling us. This sort of thing took years to plan to be able to graduate high school early, enlisted, get out of the state and get away from you guys. People who have a nice home and love their families don't spend years planning how to disappear on the night they turn 18."

The Reddit community also felt that the coast guard hired a lawyer to protect the sister from her family. Most of them felt like she disappeared because she didn't want her family to find her for whatever reason. Reddit user EvocativeEnigma added,

"Firstly, this sounds like you're the golden child if your parents have YOU spying on your sister and if she was trying to get out of the house and away from people she no longer wanted in her life, then yeah... Your parents suck too, I hope your sister is happy and can get on her feet without people who are wanting to control and moderate her every move. Good for her for making a plan and getting out. She doesn't want to be found and the lawyers are there to protect her. You all should accept that and leave her alone."

Father Tells Son to Join the Military or Move Out

This story is a little different from the previous one. Reddit user Bouldering_opened up about how he tried to force his son to join the military. The Redditor believed that his son needed a push because he was 19 and didn't want to go to school or learn a professional skill.

The father then decided to give his son an ultimatum. He asked his teenage son to choose between moving out and finding another place to live, or he could enlist in the military. The father was adamant that he wouldn't raise a "freeloader" and told his son he needed to decide within a month. The Redditor then added,

"I will consider giving him up to 2 years while paying me rent before ultimately making him make the decision of if he wants to move out, go to school, or join the military."

Could Parents Force Their Children to Join the Military?

Most Redditors didn't agree with Bouldering_'s parenting techniques. They felt that he was forcing his son into a "potentially life-threatening" situation by pushing him to enlist. Redditors believed that the OP was being unreasonable by making his son choose between enlisting and moving out.

Other Redditors pointed out that the son was still a teenager. They agreed that most people don't know what they really want to do at that age, so expecting him to have everything figured out wasn't realistic from the OP. Instead, they insisted he gets his son to pay rent which he eventually agreed to, which led Bouldering_ to soften his stance on the military option.

When children go against their parent's wishes, it's usually because they have an unstable relationship. What we can learn from these stories is that parents need to develop a good relationship with their kids early on. What did you think about the stories from these Redditors? What advice would you give either of them? We would love to hear your opinions!