T1B

I think that the military has always been a place where people can go who may not have a better option. Does that mean that the poor are overly represented? Probably.

The question we need to keep asking is...Is that a bad thing?

Instead of just vomiting out statistics on what neighborhood did what...I have a couple of examples who are real people.

I have two nephews who are now about 40 years old who enlisted right out of high school because their families were in turmoil and had no better options. One went to Korea and set up portable air control stuff, came back and got into the FAA school for air traffic control and is now making about 100k per year as an air traffic controller in a major city. The other one went to the first desert war, spent a lot of time deploying Patriot missles, and came back with a training bonus from the Army and set up his own martial arts school. He's now a successful entreprenour in New Mexico with his school going full time.

At OSU-OKC where I teach, a small community college in the OSU system..I have two ex military guys in my classes. One is career Army, the other spent a few years in the Air Force...and both are still on the GI bill for school. They have that benefit for time served to go and get their degree in what they want to do. And both already have jobs in the field, but just want the degree to make it better for advancement...after serving their country.

I don't think that anyone in this argument ever thought that folks born with a silver spoon in their mouths were lining up to go in the military. I think if you look at even the short history of our country...the rich folks are not on the front lines. But, what I see in my limited experience is that the military continues to be a really good opportunity for young people who are not afraid of the danger and can appreciate the opportunities.

Key thing is...it's dangerous. Especially now.

Ang wrote:Key thing is...it's dangerous. Especially now.

The military is the only occupation in America that is spending the kind of money our government spends to get people to take the jobs they are offering. Think about it? That Army car you see spinning around on the NASCAR track ain't there because Bush is trying to sell the war to NASCAR fans. Its there because they want NASCAR fans to see that car and think about joining up.

But the trouble is, they don't tell the full story. And they don't want to tell the full story because they know if kids saw the caskets and body bags their recruitment numbers would go through the floor.

(this is the part where pmscal starts screaming "STFU! You don't know what you're talking about!" Don't worry, just try to hear me out over the noise.)

Ever see a recruiting commercial that shows troops at Camp Eagle? Hell no. But you see plenty of PC based war games on GoArmy.com. They'll tell you how you can complete your education. But find something about post traumatic stress syndrome or how to adjust to life as an amputee on their site? I don't think so.

But yes, we all know that the military can offer plenty of benefits for those lucky enough to survive Chimpy's foreign policy blunders. Nice to see that in some ways we are still working on the same economic model as medieval Europe.

I'm not at all surprised they run video games on the army website. That's the generation playing them right now. I wonder how many kids who excel at games like operation flashpoint sign up thinking they be kicking ass in the same way?

You don't actually expect the Government or the military to be honest about what they're being recruited for, do you?

Certainly there are those who enlist with full knowledge that they'll be going there and are willing to die for the cause, but there are also those who get the "There a chance you'll go, but it's unlikely" speech or like my neighbors kid got "No, You'll be assigned base duty", of course that base duty changed 8 months in.

At least during WWII it was made clear that it was a sacrifice for the country, and they were told they might not come back.

And yeah I know mvscal will be posting soon something about reading the fine print, but fighting for your country should not be like buying a used car from a shady dealer.

Here's a great game the Army should offer as a download:

Wheel Your Legless, Colostomy Bag-Leaking Ass To The VA Only To Get The Door Slammed In Your Face


...of course, it will enjoy a resurgance in interest months later when the "Hot Coffee Mod"
is released.

Heh. Reminds me of a story. My friends father was in Vietnam, two tours. During a patrol on the second tour, the boat was hit with an RPG, or whatever they used back then. John (friends dad) was thrown 30 feet in the air and landed on the deck, next to a guy who had his head blown off.

He suffered shrapnel wounds in his leg and arm, his ear drum got blown out, his eye was messed up, he knee was toast, but he lived. After many surgeries, he now has an artificial knee, some kind of spring in his left ear to help him hear, and less than 50% vision in his left eye, and shrapnel they never could remove.

He wrote to the VA several times in the 80's to see about benefits, but he was denied. They told him that he wasn't "disabled enough" It pissed him off, so he went down there, but after seeing all the guys who WERE much worse off than he was, he left, and he never applied again. He said "Better to let those poor guys have the money instead" We tried to tell him that wasn't how it worked, but ..

Couple of years later he had to have some more surgery to remove some shrapnel that was embedded in his bone and had caused an infection, and after he recovered out of the blue he received a letter from the VA approving his benefits ( I guess the doctor reported the surgery or something), because he was now injured enough to receive them.

How fucked up is that?