Hi askTRP, In two and a half months Ill be enlisting in the army in my country which is mandatory in here. I'm severely under-weight and therefore cannot serve in a combat role, but at least I passed some tests and will be joining one of the best roles a soldier (without a degree) can get as a programmer in the army but ill have to sign a contract binding me to serve for two extra years to make up for the training ill receive.

During the mandatory service ill get paid very little as do all the soldiers (especially the non - combat roles ones) and basically get around a 100$ a month although I do get food in the army a gym membership (as I heard the place ill serve in got some real nice gym donated to by someone) and can ride buses for free so I can pretty much live without spending any money at all, later on when ill serve the extra 2 years ill get about 10-11 times the pay i got during the previous years and still have the benefits I mentioned.

Now my dilemma - as far as I know it should be possible for me to study in some specific university where it is possible to study only at home (I don't know how its called in the USA or if it exists) and then I have 2 options, either I finish most or all of the degree from that university during my service and then after it I can jump straight into some job ill find, or I can take some specific 8-10 courses from that university, use the time I have to improve my grades so they are really high and then use those grades (as my current high school grades aren't good enough) as a way to get accepted to the best university in the country, that means though that ill have to study for 3-4 years after the army (Ill finish at age 28-9) in that university as I can't study in a university during that time. What do you think I should do?

A side note Ill be able to say where I served but as opposed to some of the other programming positions in the army Ill not be able to tell any future employer what I did during my service at all (but I still have some projects to show i think are pretty good that i used to get the position in the army)

Side note 2 - during my service I'm pretty sure ill have to do a polygraph test every some time and I'm pretty stressed about it, anyone got any tips regarding that?

What should I do regarding university? Anyone got any other tips regarding my service?