Monday, December 04, 2017

Why I Recommend the Military

Boys, wish my old man told me to join.  I didn't.  Consider it.  And this cartoon, though from the 50's, is no less pertinent today.


10 comments:

liberranter said...

No, the U.S. military today is NOT a place for any self-respecting heterosexual man with a sense of human decency. Take it from one who has served (retired 20 years ago right at the point when things were in an accelerated state of collapse. I cannot imagine how intolerable conditions are now).

Paul, Dammit! said...

My oldest nephew did his 4 years, picked up a trade (electronics repair), and came back after enjoying shore leave all over the world, to find that university was boring and his peers immature and ignorant. He went to plumbing school and makes more as an apprentice than most people do mid-career.

Another nephew came out with me as deckhand on merchant ships. He's leaving after 2 years to study mechanical engineering. At age 20 he owns an Audi bought for cash, and has enough money saved to pay for all 4 years at a state school. He's been through storms, emergencies, a major engine room fire, conflicts and resolutions, and after two years in an all-male environment, he stands apart strongly from his peers. College for him IS a trade school, and I think he might survive it.

There are multiple opportunities to learn the skills and masculinity needed to thrive, so long as we're isolated, pushed and given a meritocratic form of advancement. The military is the best and most available of these, although given the forced femininization going on there, for how much longer is a big question.

Unknown said...

Over 40 members of current family has served or serving. My mom did 26 years and two times in kuwait. Majority of male cousins have gone on to be police officers or engineer related fields/high level manufacturing. Its been great all go in for like 4 years, pay for college, get VA loan and enjoy life. Many people can see the difference in my 26 year old cousins vs college frat guys who cant read a map or defend themselves.

Connor Brenda said...

Dont join the Navy, it's becoming 50-50 male female ratio. Most women are pressure testing the buttons on their uniforms, it's a disgrace. Wearing the uniform used to be a privledge, now their is no standard.. the army is your best bet for masculinity, but even they are opening it up to the pussy pass and lowering the standard. Feminism is contagious and the military is not immune. If you want to do it still. Go national guard because it's the best risk reward and you can always go active later on. Look into the flight warrant program--high school to flight school. Best bang for your buck. There are 19 year olds flying Attack helos. Again DONT JOIN THE NAVY. I don't regret joining, just joining the navy. But as time goes on it will continue to get more feminized and regulated. Trade schools/apprenticeships + nat guard helo pilot = setting yourself up.

Anonymous said...

Risk my life and limb for Halliburton shareholders? No thanks!

The military is just welfare for "Conservatives"

"There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation, and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors, that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot, but in well-defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army." Thomas Jefferson

Medal of Honor recipient Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler says...

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during 
that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big 
Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a
 gangster for capitalism.

I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico 
safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a 
decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I 
helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the 
benefit of Wall Street.

I helped purify Nicaragua for the International 
Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the 
Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped 
make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903.

In China 
in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.
Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best 
he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on 
three continents.

Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service."

Yeah, yeah, I know..."We'd all be speaking Vietnamese right now..."

Tucanae Services said...

To those who have served a heart felt thanks, not because you were in the military but because you had to put up with the BS that is part of the military apparatus today. The DoD is not what is used to be.

Steamship Trooper said...

What you get out of it is what you put into it. Like anything else, the military is an opportunity. Fortunately, those opportunities are far more transparent in the service than outside the service. I took some opportunities, and regret not taking the ones I turned down.

Two ways of looking at it, though, for anybody willing to join-

1) There are only two branches of the military- the Army and the Navy. The Air Force is a corporation, the Marine Corps is a cult.

2) Want a decent standard of living, where you can learn skills desired on the outside, where a deployment means Japan and not Iraq, and where they send the officers off to get shot at? Go Air Force. Want to kill things and break stuff? Go Marine Corps.

Truth be, while it is not perfect, the military is a hell of a lot closer to an American meritocracy than you will find anywhere else.

Steamship Trooper

Anonymous said...

Here's the thing, Clarey. Back when you had your radio show you were asked about this, and said you were to good to be a loggie.

Anonymous said...

In a perfect world, these benefits would be what every cooperation was competing with.

Anonymous said...

Oh My GOD !!!

5:26 I'll pick Guided Missiles
I want to go back into the 1950's en enlist directly in Nike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiWbylKsYfU&t=471s

From camp Desert Rock nuclear testing to Nike Hercules, 1950's America was AWESOME !!!
A day of endless triumphalism, scientific and technological breakthrough and a vast world to conquer.

The thrill of bomb drills, having to worry about a soviet bomber strike. There is something awesome in living during the cold war. I want to go BACK !!!