re: HS aged son has expressed interest in joining the military

I've been in 32 years in the Air Force. His best route is to get into an academy. The next best route is to go ROTC and pick his college. If your son wants to make a difference the officer route is the best option. Do not let him enlist as a non officer that means he must have his college degree. Don't worry about the woke top brass. There are way more non woke officers and enlisted and we don't have to tiptoe around. We just have to take a bunch of classes and listen. As of now there is no way anyone in the enlisted ranks that would turn a gun on U.S. Citizen's. Do not let him join the Guard because they are state run and they can deploy in the US.