Poll: Ever Served In The Military?
- Thread starter FrostyV3
- Start date
It'll be a cold day in hell before I sign up for the military. My condition is worse than that of an asthmatic person in a room full of smoking people and I tend to be a huge coward. Besides, actually killing people is not really my thing.
Not only that, but all the conflicts these days are moot and could and should have been avoided. I'm not going to get killed in some petty war.
Not only that, but all the conflicts these days are moot and could and should have been avoided. I'm not going to get killed in some petty war.
I've lost one or two friends by telling them that I want to join the army, it suffers from a real image problem among people over here (the UK). I think people often don't comprehend the reasons for military intervention, when there are good reasons for an active foreign policy.
I'm not an idealist; I like to think I keep a healthy balance between optimism and cynicism. I don't buy into a lot of the crap people say either for or against the army. I certainly don't think that honour has anything to do with military service, but I also don't think that disregarding the entire military ethic is a smart thing either. Having met many soldiers, plenty have been utter ****s, but certainly not all of them.
There are opportunities in the army for a guy like me that I wouldn't get anywhere else. I want to join the Intelligence Corps and after that perhaps move in to one of the civilian intelligence agencies. Course, there's also good wages for officers (£24k in training, very small living costs etc.), after training £30k, within two years most are earning closer to £40k. The army will let me see places I would never consider visiting otherwise (regular deployments to Scandinavia, North America, the Tropics, and of course, the Middle East) and someone with my qualifications would otherwise be doomed to a career as an office supplies salesman.
I'm not an idealist; I like to think I keep a healthy balance between optimism and cynicism. I don't buy into a lot of the crap people say either for or against the army. I certainly don't think that honour has anything to do with military service, but I also don't think that disregarding the entire military ethic is a smart thing either. Having met many soldiers, plenty have been utter ****s, but certainly not all of them.
There are opportunities in the army for a guy like me that I wouldn't get anywhere else. I want to join the Intelligence Corps and after that perhaps move in to one of the civilian intelligence agencies. Course, there's also good wages for officers (£24k in training, very small living costs etc.), after training £30k, within two years most are earning closer to £40k. The army will let me see places I would never consider visiting otherwise (regular deployments to Scandinavia, North America, the Tropics, and of course, the Middle East) and someone with my qualifications would otherwise be doomed to a career as an office supplies salesman.
It's interesting to me that people find the idea of not joining the military unusual.FrostyV3 said:
You join an organisation which has huge power over you, which you cannot leave for years, which can force you to kill people even if you don't agree that it's justified, and which can jail you for refusing.
The phrase "serve my country" has been soured for me, since for most of my adult life, the people who ran my country (and therefore its military) were total snakes whose decisions I disagreed with on nearly every issue. We currently have military personnel serving in Afghanistan and Iraq that I know of, and as far as I can see neither of those campaigns "serve my country". Justified or not, they're military occupations of foreign lands halfway around the world who presented no threat to us. I want no part of that.
I'll be signing a contract with the defense forces in about 2 years. Will probably end up protecting the PRT in Afghanistan. At least, i don't think we'll be done reconstructing that shithole any time soon.
I cut your post down a bit for space.MaxTheReaper said:
I have to whole heartedly disagree with you. I only really have a problem with "There is nothing worth dying for" its a blanket statement, should have been more along the lines of "I have nothing I would consider worth dying for" there are things I would die for.
I do not however advocate joining the military for the reasons I did, as a job and a way to pay for collage. You really need to know what your getting yourself into first. It was great for a while, went to South Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany, some states in the US (Washington, Texas, Georgia, Wyoming, Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, etc.), a couple of other locations I am not allowed to say.
Very excruciatingly long story short. I did things I was not proud of. A guy who is my life long best friend now saved my life. He got a bronze star, I got shipped back to the states, a long time in the hospital and longer with rehab, and eventually discharged.
No, not really. I once applied for an intern ship in the army, but they didn't need mathematicians apparently. I wouldn't like to work there for long I think, I don't see to many prospects for the future.
No, primarily because I'm weak and I don't believe that there's any cause worth dieing for. Don't get me wrong, any servicemen on this site has my thanks, even the Brits, you do the shit I'm to scared to do.
Although I do believe there is a member of this forum who is still in Afghanistan serving for the British army. I can't recall his name but his avatar is an xbox live avatar, he's also more than one person(literally, several people use the account).
Although I do believe there is a member of this forum who is still in Afghanistan serving for the British army. I can't recall his name but his avatar is an xbox live avatar, he's also more than one person(literally, several people use the account).
Damn, your family history must be interesting. Mine isn't. >.>FrostyV3 said:
Anyways, No, I don't, because I don't like the idea of death, call me a pussy, whatever, but If I had to join the military I think I would go Air Force.
Served in the NZ Airforce, wasn't that fun, as New Zealand don't really have an airforce.
Haha
-Joe
Haha
-Joe