I am a seventeen-year-old high school senior. I will not be voting in the 2012 election because I will not be eighteen years old by the time that I could receive an absentee ballot, as my birthday is in in early November, 2012 (before November 6, I'd prefer to conceal some identifying information about myself).
Why do I need an absentee ballot? I will for the same reason that many other recent high school graduates: I will be receiving tertiary education. I will be attending the New Mexico Military Institute for a year for their Service Academy Prep program. During that year, I will be applying to the United States Naval Academy, Virginia Military Institute, Norwich University, and The Citadel.
Why do I want to go to one of those four schools? One reason, obviously, would be that I want to be an officer in the United States Navy. I don't know how long I'd like to stay in the military, but the connections that I would make, especially if I get a position in the Pentagon, would ensure that I'd never be involuntarily unemployed (although that is not the primary reason that I want to be in the Navy). Even if I went to one of the latter three universities and chose not to commission, their alumni networks are so strong that I would have very little trouble finding employment.
So, why do I want to go to a military school instead of doing ROTC at a civilian school with a strong alumni network? The answer is simple. I like the disciplined lifestyle of such places. If left to my own devices, my schedule ends up mostly being me sitting around doing nothing. One of the things that I've identified as a need is time management skills; that and another need, physical fitness, are more easily acquired at a military school than a civilian school.