No, you should not join the armed forces. I am a Marine Corps Veteran and here is my take on it. You are probably looking at the military because your current job prospects are bleak. What you have to remember is you stand a very good chance of going to war, especially now. You will not be defending our "freedom", you will be fighting, and possibly dying, for corporate business interests.
In the last 70 years the US has been is almost a constant state of war. There was WWII, then Korea and the Cold War.
Vietnam was interesting...communism as so evil that 58,000 Americans had to die so one backwater rice country couldn't adope that economic system, which they ended up adopting in the end anyway. At the time we were in a proxy war with the communist chinese. We had the same old support the troops thing until about 10 years later when trading with the evil Chinese suddenly became profitable and the veterans not so much. As soon as the Berlin wall fell, wall street was making big bucks in communist China.
After Vietnam it was more of the cold war then in 1991 the beginning of the Islamic war of which the current version was all about making profits for Haliburtin, which isn't even an American company anymore.
So what have we accomplished with 70 years of unrelenting war? How many have died? Is America a better safer place because of it? I think not. The US goes to war, even though it kills our young people and drains our resources, puts us further in debt, raises global animosity towards us, etc, all so a few powerful coroprations, which control our country and government can make money.
Isn't ironic that our current corporate puppet in the oval office, and nobel peace prize winner no less, just asked congress to approve a military budget of $708 billion, the largest in history. Do we really need to spend that much to chase a few shoe and underwear bombers? And who pays for this? And universal health care is evil? Is this the military you want to be part of?
no, i became disillusioned when i meet independent contractors that were being paid millions of dollars for one yr of duty? i mean i as a marine was barely clearing 15k a year in iraq while my government paid civilian companies to dress up like us and soldier up millions of dollars...
their was this ex marine that had bn a chief warrant officer he had a friend who was a general and somehow got awarded million dollars contract as an independent security company......... he gave a nigerian general who was a friend a portion of the money and was given a handful of nigerian soldiers who werent getting a single cut of the money...
i question the legality of somehow being awarded a contract when i had strong suspicion that his friend probably gave him a heads up on how much to charge compared to other firms and companies..
also how does some one get away with tricking the government of running his own company when the guy didnt have a company at the time but used the money won to get personal....
worse part is hearing him brag about it all day in and day out and being forced to help him.... also the guy didnt even leave the wire he and his people patrolled inside the base handing out speeding ticket and keeping people from reaching the chow hall if you didnt have ur military ID on ur cammies on base while walking with ur fellow marines and being american and speaking english like a cali surfer boy...you would be stopped from entering certain area..... really do i stand out as a hidden insurgent inside my own damn base?
Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
but wouldnt i get the chance the learn the truth about things like area 51, roswell. etc?
no, you would have to be an excellent soldier with a spotless record both military and civilian records like financial and criminal stuff.........
make sure you dont owe anyone money right down the cable company or you get the boot to a less secure MOS....
you would also have to meet certain height, weight and mental aptitude test...
the only thing you would discover is that the romatic idea of military core values are sweet but fall short b/c people are shady corrupt people no matter where you go.
their is no longer any honor, courage or commitment...
people officers/enlisted will lie to you, cheat you, and steal from you....
you will see and hear people telling you to keep ur mouth shut dont talk to reporters , dont tell truth and refuse to answer and any questions should be directed to ur command and only speak if given express permission..... their is no standing order for such a command but the military gets to choose how to enforce it regardless......
you will see politicians and bureaucrats presidents lie and say they did not know even though they were made aware or gave an order that caused an iraq villaged to be attacked and innocent people killed because of mercenaries/independent contractors went in and were paranoid while CIA operatives were present and even torturing people inside their homes for info.........
arriving in time to hear the vehicles leave but not be allowed to engage and watch them drive off and the people who u were trying and are their to protect are screaming at you b/c they think it was ur people who just attacked them and took the granfather or son....
ur C.O. yelling in the radio for permission to engage and detain the americans contractors and being denied b/c high ranking civilain government a$$holes sanctioned an illegal raid beating torture of ppl where some of the elders were kidnapped and some killed......
the people crying at you begging them to bring them back that they dont know anything and you trying to tell them they are not marines even though they are wearing similar digital uniforms but with no flag or names stitched on them....
reporters getting wind of this and then you are given an order that no one on base is to talk about the incident or speculate or repeat hear say and those reporters should be directed to your chain of command... then later watching a certain jackoff president on national tv while eating chow saying that the united states government does not hire or condone mercenaries..........
but they dance around the fact that nowadays mercenaries are better known as independent contractors.........
i tell you it hurts realizing that ur not fighting for anything and ur core beliefs have bn trampled on by government that is suppose to uphold law and order......... i think one of my worse feelings i ever had was to realize i was the tyrant and i was protecting ppl that did not have my or the ppl's best interest at heart......if you take ur military oath
seriously you probably become depressed and heart broken i know i did
Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
Explain
civilians that work overseas inside a war zone or military base are allowed to wear cammies so long as they wear it appropriately...
so some regular none marines or army personal can blend in and look just like a marine or army soldier/warrior....
the difference is that our Uniforms has our name and U.S. marine stitched in above our breast pocket we also wear our rank on our collar.
http://www.armysurplusworld.com/product.asp?ProductID=16116
so some G14,15, 16 or whatever civilian rank these pricks want to have will wear a uniform that look just like our and be up to no good and people will think that it was a military unit that just went into town kicking an shooting causing mayhem........
the only reason we military guys can tell each other apart is that we pay attention to the little differences in the uniform like name, rank, branch and even our hidden marine logo that is dotted in our uniform.
also most importantly we shave and have clean hair cuts as well as our swagger to tell each other apart...
😉
Originally posted by Wild Shadowthis maybe a stupid question but can the women and men marines engage in sexual activity while over seas?
civilians that work overseas inside a war zone or military base are allowed to wear cammies so long as they wear it appropriately...so some regular none marines or army personal can blend in and look just like a marine or army soldier/warrior....
the difference is that our Uniforms has our name and U.S. marine stitched in above our breast pocket we also wear our rank on our collar.
http://www.armysurplusworld.com/product.asp?ProductID=16116
so some G14,15, 16 or whatever civilian rank these pricks want to have will wear a uniform that look just like our and be up to no good and people will think that it was a military unit that just went into town kicking an shooting causing mayhem........
the only reason we military guys can tell each other apart is that we pay attention to the little differences in the uniform like name, rank, branch and even our hidden marine logo that is dotted in our uniform.
also most importantly we shave and have clean hair cuts as well as our swagger to tell each other apart...
😉
Originally posted by Colossus-Big C
this maybe a stupid question but can the women and men marines engage in sexual activity while over seas?
no. 😐 if u are stationed in a war zone like iraq or afganistan. but if ur in germany, japan in those type of bases yes. unless u work with them.
but, they do anyways.. and if ur caught you can lose ur rank or commission and get kicked the f@^$@ out....
we had three women marines on my base in iraq they were of various rank from sgt to lcpl........ i just remember and is one of my funnies memories b/c me and a fellow marine a sgt were in line at the PX/store..
i was buying shaving cream snack and was having a conversation about how if he had heard that three females had gotten pregnant and the dumb b6%^$# dont know who the fathers are dragged 5 male marines with them.. not that i dont think the men didnt have it coming b/c they did.... my friend was like hey man lower ur voice.. i was like why? and he kinda gave me a sign so i look in line and i see the three pregnant women with two escorts....
they had gotten pregnant while in iraq.... they were all escorted by security and was obvious the stupid b%&$# were pregnant.. t
i dont have pics of them b/c it would have bn just as inappropriate as them sleeping with their fellow marines and getting pregnant..
but if you want random sex pics of female marines/army women in iraq posing and whatnot cameltoe.com had a sweet collection of them or you can google them.
also marines overseas would trade pics of girlfriends and stupid military personal who would pose naked with each other. i had a vast collection till my com crashed. 🙁
but we had a female SSgt that was sleeping with her PFC and when they stop having inappropriate relations he stole her thumb drive with her pics and spread them around base.... b/c she was a ssgt their was an investigation and were trying to confiscate all the pics... but it was a hopeless...
she ended up being transferred to opposite end of our base and was living under security till they could get her back to the states for her hearing/court date which was obvious she would lose and get a dishonorable discharge and have all her benefits taken away which she deserved
she would walk around with her head lowered in shame avoiding eye contact and males fantaszing about her...hmm... donuts....gaaahh.....
i would have a smirk on my face when i would see her being excourted i hated sh$tbirds
Originally posted by Liberator
DarkCloud is this all true? What precisely did you serve in?
Is it true? Just look at history. Your country was no different when it was the dominant world power. Financial reasons have always been the primary motivation for war, this goes back to ancient times.
I was USMC infantry from 1981-84, which really has little do do with my understanding of it.