# Have you served in the military? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888 "2018-11-21T12:39:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/1 "2018-11-21T12:39:46Z")
This poll is a headcount of those who have served, or are still serving in, the military. U.S.A.F. for four years. ---
**Author:** ![catflea12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@catflea12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catflea12)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/2 "2018-11-21T12:44:06Z")
US Army, 1971-1985 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/3 "2018-11-21T13:06:21Z")
IDF, 1993-1996. I’ve been in the reserves since then; I have what should be my final deployment this coming January (just a few weeks - NBD). ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/4 "2018-11-21T13:16:54Z")
Usaf, 1991 - 2014 ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/5 "2018-11-21T13:18:05Z")
Hey, why can’t I put USAF in all-caps? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/6 "2018-11-21T13:20:43Z")
Because you needed to have other letters or it was an all-caps post. I did not serve, by reason of not being allowed to due to gender. Middlebro did his military service, Littlebro went civil service. ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/7 "2018-11-21T13:49:09Z")
US Army, 1966-1969 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/8 "2018-11-21T14:15:51Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Because you needed to have other letters or it was an all-caps post. > I did not serve, by reason of not being allowed to due to gender. Middlebro did his military service, Littlebro went civil service. The Spanish military doesn’t recruit women? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/9 "2018-11-21T14:17:57Z")
They didn’t want me. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/10 "2018-11-21T14:20:51Z")
I need a fourth choice; other - please explain. I did ROTC but stopped at that point. I never took any money from them so I didn’t even have to go Reserves at the end; Uncle Sugar and I could part as friends. I saw enough from my brothers service (he was a Major by then) to know what it was all about, learned enough about myself and my lack of desire to be a leader of men, and Carter was POTUS. If the excrement had entered the oscillation device I would have happily served but probably more as an enlistee of Non-Com. My talents fell more along those lines. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/11 "2018-11-21T14:26:40Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > usaf, 1991 - 2014 USAF l991-2014 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/12 "2018-11-21T14:30:05Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I have what should be my final deployment this coming January (just a few weeks - NBD). Let’s hope ISIS, HAMAS, et al aren’t listening. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/13 "2018-11-21T14:35:07Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Let’s hope ISIS, HAMAS, et al aren’t listening. > [@](#): > > Ted: My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We’re bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We’re coming in from the north, below their radar. > Elaine: When will you be back? > Ted: I can’t tell you that. It’s classified. Did not serve myself but did receive a draft card, classified 1-H but never reclassified due to draft winding down. Very glad I didn’t serve, not sure that I would have come out of it the way I would want to be. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/14 "2018-11-21T14:37:03Z")
USAF 2002-2010, USAFR 2010 - Present I’d guess this poll is going to skew high though, there’s not much incentive for the “I have not serveds” to post. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/15 "2018-11-21T14:38:03Z")
Nope. Back in my senior year of high school (1988), recruiters were all over campus, day in and day out, making grandiose promises of what a life in the military would be like. And for reasons that elude me, somehow they all collectively decided that this ill-behaved, long-haired outcast with a chip on his shoulder was just what the U.S. military needed. They _would not_ leave me alone. Two Army recruiters even showed up at my house one night, Mom let them in. They proceeded to give me their sales pitch, and lacking any better idea, I simply stood up, walked away, got into my truck, and drove off to get something to eat. Mom gave me an earful about that. All of this is to say that I never wanted to join the military (and I wouldn’t have lasted an hour, anyway), and after my experiences with recruiters, I was even less inclined. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/16 "2018-11-21T14:39:09Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > USAF l991-2014 You were in the exact same years as me? Inconceivable! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/17 "2018-11-21T14:43:17Z")
Called a USAF recruitment office in college, as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after graduation. He asked my major. I said, “English.” He couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. And thus ended my experience with the military. My dad, Vietnam vet, couldn’t have been happier. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/18 "2018-11-21T14:46:51Z")
Civilian, never served. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/19 "2018-11-21T14:50:01Z")
From childhood I’d planned to become a Naval aviator. Then I destroyed my knees in high school, and that was the end of that. The closest I got to being in the military was Sea Cadets as a child, and Civil Air Patrol as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888/20 "2018-11-21T14:51:22Z")
They didn’t want me. What I wanted was very selective, and they didn’t like me. I didn’t want to be in for in’s sake, so I passed on it all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-served-in-the-military/824888.md?page=2)