[jatx]

You have received some good advice here.

IMHO, you need to stop being such a stubborn, linear thinker. I.e., fixating on how you can get from A to B as quickly as possible. Life is more about managing multiple, sometimes interdependent, contingencies and this is your first major lesson to that effect.

I know that it is difficult, but always try to focus on three horizons of personal action simultaneously.

1. Things which you want to do and can reasonably expect to achieve using your current skills and resources in the immediate future

2. Things which you may want to do, but which will require additional learning, growth, maturity, etc. to achieve and which are only likely to occur over the 1-3 year timeframe

3. Things which could possibly represent attractive achievements, but about which you must learn more before making a committment

To be successful in life, you must always be executing against all three of these horizons at the same time. Failure to do so is a critical personal failure. However, attending to each horizon requires a different set of actions, some of which are more burdensome than others.

In your case, I think your horizon 1 goals should be to rehab that knee as well as possible, even it it means foregoing competitive sports for a season, and focusing on your academics. Focus your full intensity on these things. Execute aggressively and diligently. Do not fail. Nobody cares about your excuses or alibis. To put it another way, your immediate task is to become a balanced man. Do not confuse that with an egocentric desire for high school glory.

Horizon 2 is up to you, but you probably have an intuitive sense as to what it entails. In any case, you should begin actively preparing for success in these things. Gather information. Forge relationships. Identify critical personal weaknesses and attack them vigorously. Take specific actions today and tomorrow to turn mere possibilities into options. Do you understand the difference?

Horizon 3 is where the military is for you right now. You shouldn't be actively executing against or preparing for it. Your task is to seed future options, which you will begin harvesting as time goes by and events unfold in your life. Some you will choose to exercise, and some you will let die after today's uncertainty is resolved. E.g., uncertainty about the future strength of your knee, your level of academic achievement, etc. When you are seeding options in this horizon, useful actions include:

1. Actions which extend the amount of time for which the desired option will be available to you
2. Actions which prevent your option from losing its value or decaying before you can exercise it
3. Actions which increase the potential payoff of an option

The more uncertainty you face, the more valuable these actions are to your future. Can you think of any steps you could take over the next few years that would fit into these categories? How would an immediate return to team sports affect your most important options in horizons 2 & 3?

The QPs here have been generous with advice and counsel. Show them that your brain is flexible, even if your knee isn't.

Good luck.