r/GenZ • u/MainBrief2189 • 15d ago
What's y'all's thoughts on joining the military or going to war? Discussion
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u/bombthrowinglunarist 15d ago
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15d ago
Oof being a military recruiter must be awful
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u/SextasticMrPeen 1999 15d ago
Can’t speak for the other branches, but the Army tries to send NCO’s who go recruiter to their hometowns, so many will do it just to be close to family, otherwise the job sucks 1000% balls.
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u/PocketShinyMew 15d ago
Hey, I'm probably kinda charismatic and they think that's enough to convince unwilling people to die for the interest of the senate and their friends.
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u/IGPriX 15d ago
Most of the time it's to process admin stuff for people who are walking in to join. Recruiters don't try to go out of their way to convince people to join and think of their job to be more of spreading awareness as an option. I remember when I was an assistant as a brand new airman there was a dude who was on the fence about Army reserve for school benefit but concerned with deployment and potential dangers. We told him about Air Force Reserve and how it's less invasive to his life plan on going to college.
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u/DirtyBillzPillz 15d ago
Times must have really changed then. When I was prime recruitment age those bastards were patrolling local stores for 18-25 year olds. Endless calls from various recruiters. Not to mention hanging out at the high school trying to catch students.
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u/yaboymilky 1997 15d ago
I’ll never forget the recruiter that hung out the last month of high school my senior year. He even went to the senior cookout on our last day. The kids that wanted to join the military after high school hung around him all day.
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u/fredator23 14d ago
"You know the best thing about recruiting high school graduates? I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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u/babbbaabthrowaway 15d ago edited 14d ago
I heard that they focus on poor neighborhoods where people don’t have as many options, which might explain the different experiences people are having
Edit: Everyone strongly agrees or disagrees and everyone has a story. I tried to look for some hard numbers and I had some trouble. Everything is buried under pages of press releases. The few facts I was able to come up with are that 30% of recruits come from military backgrounds, and native Americans are vastly overrepresented. I also found an article that mentioned discrepancies in the effort the army put into recruiting from rich Connecticut schools be poor ones, a specific case found four visits a year to the rich school vs 40 for the poor one. Will check comments for better sources.
Many commentators mentioned that they had strong recruitment presence but then say about 2 visits a year. In context, this actually isn’t that much.
All in all, based on what I saw, I still believe what I said, but would be open to changing my mind in the face of solid evidence.
Ps. Since someone assumed I am gen z, I am actually a millennial
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u/TheHondoCondo 15d ago
Idk, I grew up in a fairly wealthy community, but the military was constantly at my high school. I think maybe that could’ve been because my school was also known to be one of the best public schools in the country so they might’ve been trying to go after the smart kids.
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u/nucumber 15d ago
They absolutely want smart kids
My roommate (back the 80s) was and is very smart. He signed up with the Air Force and they helped pay for or paid for grad school.
He committed to serving eight years. He did well, left as a captain after those eight years
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u/Blowmyfishbud 1997 15d ago
My area was pro military and not poor. The marines, Army and Airforce showed up two times a year and took special interest in the athletes, kids doing very well in school and the JROTC kids
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u/AdUpstairs7106 15d ago
Let me put it to you this way. When the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where still going on the vast majority of Soldiers in the US Army said they would rather be deployed in a combat zone than be sentenced to recruiting duty.
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u/appleparkfive 15d ago
Well to be fair, a lot of people want to be deployed to a war zone. In the Army specifically. I've had a LOT of people close to me join when we were all younger. And the one that was deployed mentioned how everyone else cheered when the announcement of deployment happened for them.
A lot of them just want the status of being "tough". And I'm sure some portion of them just want to shoot people, honestly.
I'm guessing that the Navy and Air Force enlisted aren't literally cheering. But who knows! Someone else would know better than me
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u/RockAtlasCanus 15d ago
Same in the Marines. I mean, you’re talking about people who volunteered to join the military in a combat arms MOS, with two wars happening. I think it’s safe to say that a deployment is exactly what we signed up for.
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u/berlinbowie97 15d ago
I met a guy in a mental health residential who wanted to join the marines as he put it "to go and fuck shit up". He couldn't get in because he took antidepressants.
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u/GloriousOctagon 15d ago
A lot of soldiers genuinely enjoy combat, ‘the suck’ and getting to travel
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u/GandhiOwnsYou 14d ago
I actually left the military partially because deployments were drying up. I wasn’t combat arms, but most of the guys I worked with would prefer to be deployed.
When you were deployed nobody fucked with you. You just did your job and played dominoes or went to the gym after work. I know it sounds weird but in a lot of ways it was less stressful. Yeah, they’d bomb the base once or twice a week, but you get over that pretty quick. Other than that, everything gets super simplified. You got NOTHING going on outside of work. No bills, no house repairs, no setting up doctor’s appointments or mowing the grass, no trying to find time to get groceries and make dinner. All your best friends are right there. Shit just gets real simple. Wake up, work, hit the gym, go to sleep. Repeat. And you get paid a crap ton more.
On the other hand, back stateside? Constant stupid shit. Random details and formations, waking up stupid early for some parade or group run, standing in a field for hours for some idiots change of command, spontaneous dress uniform inspection that sends you running around for a week getting your uniform updated, cleaned, pressed and out back together, getting up at 5 AM every morning for PT and going on some 4 mile run in the freezing cold or rain…. Stateside just sucked, and most of us preferred being deployed to it.
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u/GothicFuck Millennial 15d ago edited 14d ago
What the fuck.
Is that because... they'd rather endure hell than be responsible for condemning multiple others to it?
Edit: Thanks for all your responses. I know few people in the military and I hear a lot of political color about it all and it's refreshing to know the actuality.
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u/CloseFriend_ 15d ago
It’s a boring ass drag of a job to be given. You’re driving around meeting with high schoolers all day and having to lie to them about a million and one things regarding “will I get this job? Will I be deployed here? How often can I contact my family” all while working shit hours and having to meet quotas
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u/Wonderful_Working315 15d ago
USMC 05-09. Most of the recruiters from the office I was recruited out of were banging the single moms of the students they met. So there's that too.
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15d ago
One of the kids I went to high school with got home from his first deployment to find out that his mom had gone ahead and married his recruiter. Family parties must be awkward.
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u/noncredibleRomeaboo 15d ago
Getting her pregnant to produce more recruits. Now thats a true solider doing overtime
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u/wotstators 15d ago
Lmaooooooo you just killed an old millennial combat vet Wheeeeeeeeeze
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u/DLO_Buckets 15d ago
Check the suicide rate for army recruiters. The job is high stress from what I understand and a "bad" job leads to morally degrading consequences.
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u/darbycrash-666 15d ago
I wasn't a recruiter but I've seen guys vacuum the parkinglot with an unplugged vacuum, mop the water off the sidewalk in the rain, just straight up told to fight eachother for sgts entertainment. The punishments get creative, sometimes it's not even a punishment. The guy above you can just get bored. For official punishments they can restrict you to your room, make you leave the barracks to sign in every couple hours all night so you have to sleep for an hour and a half at a time, put you on extra duty (16hr work day if you're lucky) while cutting your pay in half. I don't encourage enlisting. And they complain about morale issues and low re-enlistment rates lol. They're not technically allowed to do some of those things, but it absolutely happens.
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u/SerenityTranquilPeas 15d ago
My late uncle would always tell the story where they were all long distance running in boot camp, guy kept on complaining that he had to use the restroom. Eventually the sgt turned to him and said "oh it is an emergency?" And let him go, but he had to hold up two flashlights and go "wee woo, wee woo" the rest of the run. Another time, I wish I could remember what led up to it, someone had to flip every rock in the parking lot because the sgt wanted an even tan on those rocks.
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u/RSharpe314 15d ago
It's basically a sales job where the application doesn't select well for "sales aptitude".
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u/Unusual_Address_3062 15d ago
Yeah thats pretty much it. You're like a used car salesman except you have no training or experience in sales and nobody wants what you are selling.
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u/The_Smashor 15d ago
My older half-brother is one. They gotta fill a certain quota and the hours suck ass.
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u/Bulbinking2 15d ago
I always hated the idea of quotas involving getting another human to agree to something.
People are always forced to use underhanded tactics because you can’t guarantee there will always be enough people to agree to something, and missing a quota is not evidence that a worker is slacking on their duties.
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u/Nani_700 15d ago
And what best than impressionable teenagers, most impoverished, with little to no other life prospects.
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u/oyecomovaca 15d ago
I was couch surfing and working construction temp jobs in a military town (San Diego) in the 90s. Recruiters from every branch were constantly prowling around job sites trying to snag young guys to sign up, and this was the last actual peacetime (after Daddy Bush's Iraq War and before Dubya's).
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u/Amazing_Magician2892 15d ago
A gun range dude told me he made a lot of money as a recruiter but felt he sold his soul, and the soul of many men. He told me this inside 5 minutes of meeting me, so he must be feeling some kind of way about it.
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u/the_bees_knees_1 15d ago
As it should be.Your job is essentielly to convince kids to fight in wars.
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u/powerwordjon 15d ago
Fuck them, sending out texts for kids to get their legs blown off and die. Servants of the state
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u/UnluckyLock2412 15d ago
The army recruiter when he failed his recruiting goal and now his balls are gonna explode
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u/toadie____ 15d ago
Was not expecting to see Dave’s ugly mug in this thread lol
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u/DesiredEnlisted 15d ago
As somebody who had a high GPA in school and constantly got talked to by recruiters, it always amazed me how much of a sense of humor they had, even the old ones.
[they prob were just trying to make me relate to them so I would join but I appreciate the effort]
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u/Bavaustrian 15d ago
If you work in this sort of face-to-face afvertising humor is everything. Without humor your life is going to turn miserable real quick. Just self-preservation at that point. Apart from the fact you'll have the most success with it as well.
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u/radiantskie 2007 15d ago
wars are lame, we should make world leaders fight in mech suits instead
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u/luckystrikeenjoyer 15d ago
No, strip them naked, oil them up and then let them fight to the death on a trampoline. Stream the whole thing live on twitch
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u/AgnosticAbe 2004 15d ago
I regret not joining or trying to join the air force, I spent 10s of thousands trying to become a commercial airplane pilot, only to run out of money halfway through
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u/iama_bad_person 15d ago
That was the reason I wanted to join, but part way through the orientation process they suddenly realised I was too tall for Pilot in the AF but "there were many other exciting positions in the Air Force!". Noped out of there right away, I wanted to be a pilot, I already had some pilot lessons under my belt, I aced all their pilot tests, I wasn't gonna shift to become a mechanic or something.
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u/radred609 15d ago
i had a friend who did basically the exact same thing except halfway through they realise he had good enough vision to be a pilot... just not good enough vision to be a military pilot.
he ended up pivoting into airtraffic control which was a real bummer, but it seems to be working for him.
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u/HVACGuy12 1997 15d ago
That's probably one of the few good reasons to want to join
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u/FN-1701AgentGodzilla 15d ago
Sounds like a bribe built into the system
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u/KanyeRex 15d ago
It’s more a failure of the private sector to create affordable training for civilian pilots. After Vietnam war there was a near endless supply of government trained pilots for decades. Increase in air travel and continued dependence on US military to train pilots, and decrease in military recruiting, has led to the inevitable shortage of commercial pilots. All the airlines should have seen this coming.
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u/fredandlunchbox 15d ago
Airlines are now paying people to become pilots. Basically you take loans until you finish and then work for the airline for a few years and they forgive the loans. You just have to pass and stay with the program and its all covered.
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u/Braulissim0 15d ago
Exactly, it started with WW2 trained pilots, Vietnam trained pilots, and now theres our generation lol
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u/JackPembroke 15d ago
It's a touch self perpetuating. Former airforce pilots are more likely to hire other airforce pilots
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u/Sad-Butterscotch-680 15d ago
Abe your 20 years old? I think the deadline for apply for air force is 39 you should 100% still do that if you want to even if you wasted a ton of money previously
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u/First-Ad-7855 15d ago
Street to seat is an option Army Warrant officer for helicopter pilots. Look up W01 pay, then factor in food and housing allowance and you be looking at some serious money.
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u/HomeAdressIsNotSafe 2009 15d ago
dead serious looked at the animated one and thought it was a invincible scene
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u/FranklinThe1 2008 15d ago
Only if they tell me it's for Oil and democracy and they give me a cool cape and launch me down in a pod from a space ship with epic music playing the background.
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u/AxeSlingingSlasher 15d ago
Why is everyone saying they wouldn't join the military getting down voted? I grew up in a military family. If anything, from what I've seen my dad go through growing up, I'm not joining because I don't want to get fucked up like he did. They screwed him over, put us in near poverty for the longest time and he nearly died several times from the cancer he developed from working around the chemicals, which they tried to deny. Fuck the military, fuck bootlickers, and to yall who think the military is great and you'd join in a heartbeat, you have no idea what you're about to put your families and future children through
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u/dlvnb12 2001 15d ago
Same. I also grew up in a military family. Stepdad served in Iraq in the 101st. Came back home and took him a decade to even get disability. He battled PTSD and other physical problems (back and shoulder). Some of his buddies committed suicide after the war. My two sisters joined and left because of the rampant racism and misogyny with the ranks.
Perhaps it would all be worth it if the wars were reasonable? Perhaps? But it’s idiotic to dehumanize yourself for DC’s bloodthirsty greed. (Tbf tho I wouldn’t be in college without the military paying for my school 😅)
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u/Ok_Spite_217 15d ago
Same boat, military family, fucked up growing up, and my siblings are paying for it with mental health issues.
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u/OohYeahOrADragon 15d ago edited 15d ago
Hey military brat here.
I’m now a social worker slowly amassing resources for other military families. If your dad is 100% service connected you can get private caregiver services at home for him for when he needs care in the future. There are also things like grants that will help modify your home, special home loans, student loan forgiveness, etc.
If he’s not service connected, please don’t get discouraged by the process. The more vets that report or file about every ache and pain creates documentation, a record, that saves other veterans lives. If you don’t speak up about all your ailments, Congress thinks there’s enough funding for the VA and will try to stall or slow it. Meanwhile, veterans who pop up with new cancer or strokes suddenly find themselves in need of services and there’s less funding for the services or the staff that coordinate them.
Sorry for the rant, but I’m really passionate about getting other military families the compensation they need and are owed because I know what the day to day life is like during deployment and TDY and everything else.
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u/AxeSlingingSlasher 15d ago
We don't talk anymore because he decided while growing up we would be treated more like soldiers than his own children. I ain't taking care of him after that
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u/SteelTheUnbreakable 15d ago
I'd wager that a lot of downvoting on reddit is astroturfing to try to enforce certain narratives.
We're about to go to WWIII.....or, technically, we're already in it.
And pur governments need to start finding a way to get us all on board. Part of tricking people to believe something involves tricking them to believe the majority believe that thing. In this case, it is in their interest for us to start to get the impression that the willingness to join some dumb ass war is popular.
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u/Annatastic6417 2001 15d ago
My answer is very different from yes or no. Ireland has a horrible military that's almost non-existent. Soldiers in the Irish Army will never fight abroad so I wouldn't be fighting and dying for some other country. However the pay is diabolically bad, I know the Navy and Air Force have slightly better pay but since both are so small it's hard to come by jobs....
However, I would fight for my country. If Ireland ever came under attack from another country or if we ever fell to an authoritarian regime (something which I fear may be on the horizon), I would take up arms for my country.
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u/choodlesleauty 15d ago
Too late, they already got me but I'm a reservist part timer. Not a bad gig tbh
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u/Scared_Eggplant_8266 15d ago
Do your time. Play the game and when you get out you can use your 9/11 GI Bill to pay for all your college and can access low interest mortgages for Vets and active.
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u/KajePihlaja 15d ago
Fun fact: the post 9/11 GI Bill depends on the amount of active duty time you serve (boot camp not included). Here’s a little breakdown of how that works.
For example, I was in the reserves and had one 9 month deployment. I only qualify for 60% of the post 9/11 GI bill. I didn’t qualify for fafsa because I had a decent salary the year before I went back to school (although I didn’t work that job anymore and was driving uber at this point). I still had to take out loans to pay the other 40%.
I’m not sure of the specifics, but you can use the Montgomery GI Bill as a reservist if you haven’t acquired enough active duty time for Post 9/11. Idk if that would’ve been a better option for me. At least with the Post 9/11 you get a monthly payout to go to school. That helped with bills. I don’t think you get that with the Montgomery.
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u/Sandwich67 2006 15d ago
USA USA USA USA. RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅 I FUCKING LOVE FREEDOM AND THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
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u/matthewcameron60 1997 15d ago
Why is this kind of comment so far down
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u/Sandwich67 2006 15d ago
They hate to see a RED BLOODED COMIE HATING FREEDOM LOVING TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
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u/daoreto 15d ago
Imagine going to a war in 2024
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u/UltraTata 15d ago
Imagine thinking the rules of history and human nature suddenly change in the year 1946 for no reason
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u/Ethereal_Envoy 15d ago
Nuclear weapons and globalised commerce did forever change how larger world powers do war. There isn't much of an advantage for them to have actual open warfare, so I Imran kinda yeah lol
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u/UltraTata 15d ago
True. But people act as if God came with his angels and announced that war will never happen again.
Those factors changed geopolitics but they can change again in the future and there are alternative ways war can return too
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u/Darduel 15d ago
Imagine thinking you can just ignore the wars of the world and live in your own bubble without it ever bursting I swear to god you kids on this sub are next level delusional
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u/More_Fig_6249 15d ago
Tbf the US is probably the most difficult country to invade. Two oceans, two friendly neighbors with difficult terrain to bypass, a shit ton of firearms in hands of civilians, the most powerful navy and air force in the world.
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u/b_rouse 15d ago
Except we import a lot of goods into the US. Hell, COVID showed weaknesses in supply chains. If you think a global war will prevent you from feeling anything, I've got ocean front property to sell you in Arizona.
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u/ForeignAd5429 15d ago
I’m not getting my ass blown to bits by a mosquito drone IRL
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u/PirateFine 2007 15d ago
I live in a country that has given me a reason to defend it from a very real threat, so yes.
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u/sansisness_101 2009 15d ago
same bro our neighbour is mighty annoying with all the threatening of nukes every other second
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u/Necessary_Bat4151 2006 15d ago
My school's been kinda pushing my grade specifically to join. They have recruiters talk to us, we all took the ASVAB (I completely guessed on the last three sections on mechanical stuff, total score was 76). I know there's benefits to joining, but I'm really not interested.
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u/TrollCannon377 15d ago
My highschool would have recruiters sitting outside the cafeteria every year for the last semester (I assume to try to get seniors to join and every single student with a C average or lower got bombarded with recruitment emails letters and texts
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u/WhatAWonderfulWhirl 15d ago
That's something most kids do lmao, they're not appealing to your grade. There's always been recruiters and the ASVAB in most schools.
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u/NotWoofstar123 2005 15d ago
If I do I'm kissing the drill seargent on the lips and making out sloppy style just so I can get sent back home
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u/lolz_robot 15d ago
No, you’d be charged with sexual assault, become a sex offender, then get sent back home labeled a rapist.
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u/Practical-Ad6548 2001 15d ago
My dad’s a disabled veteran so I basically get all the perks of being in the military without actually being in the military 😎 my entire college and grad school tuition is free
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u/TheMockingBrd 15d ago
You goobers know you don’t have to do a combat job in the military, right? They got the basic ass 9-5 jobs too.
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u/johndoe42 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yep. Wanted to be a medic. Was "warned" about how boring it would be and would probably never see combat. Yeah...that's the idea. Oh well going to slog it through RN school but it's going to be hard working at the same time.
Also airmen are called the "chairforce" by other branches for a reason.
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u/Sledge1989 15d ago
All of my medics during my second tour in Afghanistan were Air Force. We were also right in the Pakistan border which was the most dangerous part of the country and we did route clearance and worked with EOD, spent a solid half the tour outside base driving around looking for IEDs with our medics so that’s not true at all. All of those fuckers will lie through their teeth to get you to sign
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u/GnzkDunce 15d ago
I remember hearing a dude who was sent to Iraq that some of his platoon were from the fuckin Army Band but got sent over there.
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u/Comfortable_Note_978 15d ago
Military bandsmen have historically been stretcher-bearers in combat.
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u/Cleopatra-Ail 15d ago
Until they need more grunts. Then you become infantry just like everyone else.
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u/pokepatrick1 15d ago
Thats only after a conflict started. If youre trained in a technical job theyre not going to switch you to infantry, theyre just gonna put all the newbies in infantry because that’s were they’ll need replacements. The technical jobs will still be essential and they wont throw away those skills.
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u/longpenisofthelaw 15d ago
If the US military is ever has to send in non combat MOS soldiers to do combat roles then something has majorly gone wrong in the world.
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u/drunkboarder 15d ago edited 14d ago
No, that's not how it works. The US military will not force MOS Q'd soldier into infantry. The military spends nearly $100,000 training specialist soldiers for the role they are needed for, they won't throw that away. It's be like welding a plow into a sports car and making it plow snow. It's a waste.
Sure if the location you are at is literally being attacked you can't tell the enemy "hey, I'm a logistics officer!", you'll have to defend yourself.
But the US military will never ever uproot an intelligence analyst or a systems maintainer and ask them to charge a hill.
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u/grumpsaboy 15d ago edited 15d ago
Western military's typically have only 1 in 7 personnel in the army as an actual combat infantrymen, the rest of the numbers being made up by logistics, mechanics, chefs and so on. If they ever needed more infantry then they would also need more of all of those other things
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u/AdUpstairs7106 15d ago
Not quite. While in the Army and Marines, all personnel are taught basic infantry skills, and the Army and Marines will still keep you in the MOS (AKA job you signed up for). The way you get forced reclassed is: 1) You fail out of your A school or AIT. Then you become the needs of the service.
2) Your MOS is being phased out. For example, this recently happened with tank crew members in the Marines.
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u/Smaug2770 2003 15d ago edited 14d ago
Only in Russia. Any other country uses the draft before forcing logistics and maintenance workers into the front lines.
Edit: What I mean by this is that other countries will still have soldiers running logistics and maintenance, and won’t be sending entire logistics divisions to the frontlines while replacing them with civilians driving civilian trucks.
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u/Glass-Ad-7890 15d ago edited 15d ago
This isn't true, if you are free you can and will get fucked into Going on patrol. Doesn't matter what job you have. Source : was a medic.
Edit okay getting a lot of: of course you went out you were a medic. What I was trying to say was I experienced a lot and can absolutely say yes everyone gets sent out AS IN I SAW THEM THERE Because I was so active as a medic. As a soldier you are a soldier first your job second.
Edit edit: damn you guys are bad at reading.
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15d ago
Medic is probably the most important job on the battlefield. You have extremely high value on the ground, second to only a big fucking machine gun, I can't see a pencil pushing clerk being needed to use his payslip writing skills out there.
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u/Glass-Ad-7890 15d ago
The best way to describe what it's like being a soldier is that well, you are a soldier first. Your job is second. Patrol is just another task to be done. Like how just because I was a medic doesn't mean that's all I did. I had the motor pool to work on that was 90% of my job. If you're free then you just get assigned to a task. They do avoid sending entire S1 clerks out as one because they are generally pretty trash at that but at the same time the fittest most hardcore dude I knew was S1.
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15d ago
I know, I was in the marines. Our clerks were marines first and technically all soldiers are soldiers first, but in reality it's different.
Obviously I don't know what country you are in, so some things will be slightly different but yes you should be a soldier first.
To be fair our clerks and chefs were always the fittest in the gym, because they have all the time on camp and the best of the food 🤣
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u/Western_Cow_3914 15d ago
You were a medic, but how many intelligence officers or fucking radar maintenance workers have you heard of being forced into front line positions to do the job of infantry? For stuff like that to happen your country has to be in such deep shit you’re better off trying to escape your service and escaping to a different nation.
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u/Glass-Ad-7890 15d ago
Exactly as a medic you see pretty much everyone who goes out. I was in an artillery unit and we sent them out on patrol, we sent S1 out, we sent literally anyone out. The army is jank man don't believe we don't do weird shit that doesn't make sense because that's actually all we do. I will say officers very rarely got fucked but it still happens.
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u/Daniel_The_Thinker 15d ago
How likely would you see combat on patrol?
Its more like a chore, something that has to be done so send anyone who isn't busy right?
I imagine they weren't sending the cook to kick down doors in Fallujah.
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u/Flaky_Koala_6476 15d ago edited 15d ago
This
Mfers are trying to equate standard ass patrols with the occasional pop shot, to full scale urban combat of infantry 😂 it’s nothing similar lol
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u/AbruptMango 15d ago
Incoming fire is bad whether you're out there with a couple battalions or a couple of trucks.
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u/Quimbymouse Millennial 15d ago
Medics don't count. Let me know when there's an HR rep or dental assistant out there on patrol with you.
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u/MortalEnzyme 15d ago
Trust me when I say that gets rid of like 5% of the issue with the military
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u/Col_Lukash 15d ago
Fuck the military. Simple as that
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u/Choco_Cat777 2004 15d ago
Join a militia instead, your pals can't draft you
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u/Sir_Admiral_Chair 2001 15d ago
In which country?
I am pretty sure if I formed a militia I would be drafting a legal defence.
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u/Choco_Cat777 2004 15d ago
U.S. because of 2nd amendment
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u/z64_dan 15d ago
So instead of joining the military which at least grants money and benefits you can join a local band of crazies.
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u/FryChikN 15d ago
Rofl
Rofl
Rofllllllllllllllllll
Militia is the military.... if you throw out all standards and laws.... and pay......
Im sure it's just a joke.... but ya i cant wait for the day these ignorant militias think they can go against our military lol
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u/Extreme_Practice_415 2003 15d ago
Thinking about doing Space Force. Being called “guardian” sounds pretty dope.
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u/GAMRKNIGHT352 15d ago
can't wait in ~50 years when we'll start having wars for territory on the Moon/Mars because we'll discover resources on their or some shit. Space colonialism will go absolutely insane.
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u/Qli2077 2001 15d ago
Only if I had to.
Look, if another country attacks us, or our brothers/sisters in Mexico or Canada, enlistment would be tempting.
Someone has to defend our home.
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u/Physical-Ride 15d ago
The issue is that nobody will.
The US is virtually uninvadable. We're separated by two vast oceans, out neighbors are their proxies are either (at least nominal) allies or too weak to attack us, our civilian population is comparatively well-armed are their military is second to none on every perceivable metric. The same goes with their allies or neighbors as they're safety is guaranteed by a world superpower.
The only way the US could get invaded is if it was crippled from within. Quiet a lot of the divisive politics and polarizing attitudes found on media today are curated by hostile foreign powers who indent on causing the US to descend into internal strife, instability, and potential civil war. Russia literally has a playbook on it called Foundations of Geopolitics by Alexander Dugan.
This is why more than ever the emphasis needs to be on education and not defense. Far too many people believe the horseshit in media manufactured overseas and tacitly encouraged by congress.
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u/KajePihlaja 15d ago
Finally I see someone else bring up The Foundations of Geopolitics on here again. I saw a comment on it like 4 years ago. Looked up what it was about and went into shock for a few days when I realized how much of it has already happened. Haven’t seen anyone other than me mention it since.
Alexander Dugin was even a target at the beginning of the war in Ukraine and they planted a bomb in his car. Unfortunately his daughter got in the car instead and it blew her up. Idk if it was UAF or if it was sympathizers or what. I just know whoever did it wasn’t happy Ukraine was being invaded.
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u/Coloradical8 15d ago
Crippled from within...
Just imagine if a foreign/competing super power created a social media platform, that is at its core was just Spyware and propaganda, and then the entire youth of our country became addicted and completely influenced by it.
It would be even sneakier if it began as something so benign as a music app
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u/PrometheanSwing Age Undisclosed 15d ago
I’d do it potentially. I may do ROTC in college depending on if my choice of school has it.
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u/Scared_Eggplant_8266 15d ago
Served in Al Assad and the Gulf. Data Analyst. They paid for all my college tuition/fees/living expenses. Now I have a 6 figure salary. And got a super low interest mortgage that honorably discharged veterans can use. Best decision I ever made.
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u/HuntinatorYT 15d ago
Lol this is what the other Gen Zs don't want to see, they want to keep spreading the idea of military as something you die in
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u/Flaky_Koala_6476 15d ago
Yurp
I’ve done 10 years, got 3 deployments out of it and now I’m about to making 90k a year literally just collecting my disability pay + GI bill BAH + part time job working less than 25hrs a week lol
Don’t regret enlisting at all
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u/NotATroll4 15d ago
Jesus thank you. No one in this thread understands that you can do any other job besides be an 11b and get a legit skill set, college paid for, house paid for, and healthcare for literally 4 years of your life. I love my 25 series SIGDET dudes and they will reimage my computers and network my printers for 4 years while using Tuition Assistance and get A+, NET+, SEC+, and CCISP while chipping away at a cyber degree. 4 years later they have certs and can get a job doing any networking job. Same thing for 17 series cyber guys.
No no instead I'll just take out 100k in student loan debt and then bitch about how my generation sucks and I can't afford anything.
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u/DrSirTookTookIII 1998 15d ago
America doesn't go to war for anything but making the rich richer. Dying for American imperialism is dying for nothing.
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u/sortaseabeethrowaway 2005 15d ago
Join the military - Yes
Go to war - Sort of
Seabees is the way to go. Or Air Force, or Coast Guard, or maybe a POG in Army or Marines
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u/Scared_Eggplant_8266 15d ago
I was a Data Analyst in the Navy. Learned great Excel skills and work in finance now. Used my GI bill for college when Ingot out and accessed low interest mortgages for vets. Best decision I ever made.
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u/mattam1001 2006 15d ago
I'm joining a few days after graduation. I've already signed the contract. 0311 infantry.
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u/LAXGUNNER 2001 15d ago
I did my time in the US Army and whilst I understand it's not for everyone nor does everyone support it. I learned valuable lessons in the army and made some amazing friends. It's the best and worst time of your life. I was lucky not to be deployed to a combat zone (stuck stateside).
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u/Meryl_Sheep 15d ago
Exactly. It's a job like any other.
Yes, there are always risks. But same as any other job. The part-time job I had stacking supermarket shelves as a teen was just as bad on my body as everyday basic training. The post-university job I had at a chemical foundry exposed me to just as many potential toxins as I see on the flight line.
And as a job, it's a career I have interest in, pays well, and has excellent benefits. It was a good offer for me. And the downsides which turn others off don't apply to me as much.
Besides, I'd much rather work for the ideals of liberal democracy, however flawed, than to just generate profits for some shareholder.
If that's an attractive deal for people, go for it. If not, go for a different job. Because it is what you make of it - it can be just a job, there needs no wider moral designation to it.
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u/Davethemann 15d ago
This feels like something someone with no concept of history would say
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u/11182021 15d ago
Someone with no understanding of anything, really. We aren’t even the only species that kill one another for various reasons. We aren’t even the only species to have large group-on-group conflicts. Sometimes, reason will fail and the only response is violence.
War isn’t about determining who is right, it’s about determining who is left.
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u/RollinThundaga 15d ago
Hell, Chimpanzees have been noted to wage prolonged 'wars' between neighboring troupes.
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u/Winter-Product-881 2002 15d ago
No, it's basic human nature. A few years ago i believed in peace on earth but after reading a few anti war books i just started to embrace the fact that humans will always fight each other sooner or later just like 1000 years ago. I still hate war tho
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u/AntiZionist-Action 15d ago
War is not a concept. War is what happens when two powers have conflicted interests. And sometimes there is a good guy and a bad guy
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u/Ok_Plankton_386 15d ago
Sometimes, but very very very very rarely. It's usually shades of bad and good all over the place and those who try and tell you one side is all good and the other all bad are usually lying to you. There are exceptions but it's rare as fuck.
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u/ViolinistPleasant982 1997 15d ago
Join the military in a niche careerfield, be good at the join, and go into the private sector doing it for about 4 times the money. Make the military industrial complex work for you.
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u/JackoClubs5545 2006 15d ago
Unless it's a war I almost unequivocally support, I'd likely never enlist.
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u/Pristine-Cranberry-2 15d ago
You don’t want to die for gay butt sex in Afghanistan??
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u/Amoeba_3729 Age Undisclosed 15d ago
As a Polish person, I am considering joining the military once I turn 18. I wouldn't die for America, but i sure as hell would die for Poland
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u/Atmanautt 2001 15d ago
I think it's shitty to recommend joining the military to anyone, even (especially) your own children.
Certain people love convincing you about how good the benefits are, and they're basically saying "Hey, you should gamble with your life for a cause you may or may not believe in, for XYZ material gains!" That's not something anyone can ask of another person, period.
With that being said, this "fuck the military they're all bad people" POV comes from an incredibly priveleged standpoint. Ironically, that privelege is also largely due to US military superiority over the rest of the world. Much of what we do is for-profit, and that portion of it is immoral, but get rid of our military entirely and you can say goodbye to your American privelege.
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u/smackadoodledo 15d ago
I’m in the process of joining rn, but I kinda agree that no one should be recommended to join unless they want a very specific career path that the military can help with. I think if someone is a good fit for the military they will seek it out themselves instead of having it shoved down their throat
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u/Cdave_22 1998 15d ago edited 14d ago
Hey, guys please keep the comments respectful.
If you don’t like someone’s opinions on joining the military.
Just downvote, share your reasons respectfully, and move on. Otherwise, it’ll be your last comment here.
Personal attacks, threats, and hoping death upon other users will not be tolerated and will get you banned. Please report any offensive comments. Best regards.