In his case, he signed up because of pressure from our mother. He was in denial about actually having to go and figured he could just ignore it and they would leave him alone. Every time they would give him a date, he pushed it off (I am not sure how that works). Finally, the Marines enough and called our mother and told her that he was going into the Marines right away or he was going to be tried and punished by the military. She worked out a plan in which MP’s came to our house fairly early one morning. My brother was still asleep. They gave him 5 minutes to grab some stuff and he was on a plane that night.
From what you describe, he wasn’t forced into the Marines. He enlisted voluntarily for his own reasons. You also describe the Delayed Entry Program, a program in which one enlists into the military but does not report for up to one year later.
Or in the case of some offenders, they are given the options of jail or military service. Again, there are worse things than being imprisoned.
I know neither of us will change each other’s minds at all, but this is just the phrasing. Ultimately “defending our country” may mean killing people and those in the military must have come to terms with that and accepted it as doable. I don’t mean they are *looking to * kill or destroy but ultimately they may need to do it and they have justified it to themselves.
Or not?? You tell me.
I’m pretty sure that many people would rather die than be imprisoned or oppressed. That is, in part, what the American revolution was about.
I think anyone can kill, given the right set of circumstances. I would certainly defend my child to the death.
Does that make me capable of doing harm? Absolutely.
Does that make me a killing machine? No.
I wouldn’t want to live in a police state that is ruled by the military, however I am very thankful for the freedoms I enjoy as a result of having a military (despite its recent cuddly peackeeping image).
As for the peacekeepers, I just wish they enjoyed some more enforcement powers. It seems silly to me to send a force to a country at war and then chop it off at the knees.
Missed this one.
I was in basic with some openly lesbian women. I don’t know if any of the men were, although odds are there were a few.
I don’t have a problem with it, anyone that wants to serve is welcome in my book and I would happily share a trench.
It’s possible to serve in the Navy for quite a while without being on a boat. One of my sons spent 5 years in the Navy as a corpsman. He was stationed at Newport, RI, where his on-base apartment had a view of Narragansett Bay, and then in Catania, Sicily. When he was transferred to Sicily, he traveled by airplane.
I have not served in the military, but three of my sons have, and it has had a positive influence on all three.
Naval Air Station Sigonella. I spent two years there myself. Of course, after that I did go to a ship.
While once true, this is certainly no longer the case. Any offense that would warrant jail would be disqualifying to military service.
With a served sentence like that on a criminal record, a waiver would have to be obtained to enlist, and enlistment could not be undertaken without it. And while this is often done, there is no possible way an enlistment would be undertaken as an alternative to criminal sentencing.
Pretty neat trick, that, nowadays, wouldn’t it be? After all, there’s a bit of a background check for the military.
I served on active duty in the Navy for nearly 11 years as a submarine officer following 4 years in an NROTC unit. I have no regrets.
For starters, the Navy paid for my tuition at the university of my choice. I came out with no college loans. I could have gone to the Naval Academy, but was unsure at the time if it was the right thing for me. IMHO, this was the right decision for me as well.
The Navy gave me a tremendous amount of training followed by a tremendous amount of responsibility. Going through my initial training (Nuclear Power School, Nuclear Power Prototype, and Submarine School) took over 18 months, and I was paid my full salary the entire time.
At 24 years old, I was assigned to be the Electrical Officer on a submarine, responsible for millions of dollars of equipment, and had 12 people working for me. I stood watch as the Engineering Officer of the Watch/Engineering Duty Officer, completely responsible (while on duty) for the operation of a nuclear reactor! Later I qualified as the Officer of the Deck/Ship’s Duty Officer, responsible for the entire submarine.
The Navy helped me mature and gave me tremendous leadership skills. In addition, the pay was excellent. Four years out of the Navy, I still haven’t caught up to what I was making.
There are drawbacks of course, which is ultimately why I got out. When assigned to a ship or submarine, you’re gone a lot. When I was single, I wasn’t too bothered by the 6-month deployments, interspersed with shorter ops (e.g. at sea for a week or two, or sometimes for as much as 6 weeks at a shot.). That changed when I got married and had a child. Even when we were in port, the work hours stunk. Every 3-4 days (including weekends) you had the duty, which meant you couldn’t leave the sub for the 24 hours you had the watch. During the week, this meant you couldn’t leave at the end of the workday; on weekends, it meant you came in to work on a Saturday or Sunday. I typically worked 60-80 hours a week even in port. At sea, I was working just about every waking hour, which was most of the time. I once went 6 weeks without getting more than 3 hours of sleep in a row. After 3 years of this, I’d just about had it, but decided to stay in long enough to complete my shore rotation.
With shore tours, you have a different job, and are not assigned to a ship or sub. You generally have a more normal work schedule. I was assigned as a chemistry (and later physics) instructor at the Naval Academy Prep School. I loved that job, and got several extensions, which is why I stayed in as long as I did.
All in all, it’s a hard, demanding life, but you can get a lot out of it.
I know I was never in danger of having to kill anyone during my service. The only way this could have been an issue was if my Carrier with 5000 other on board got boarded and I was forced to defend an engineering space. This is not in the realm of probability.
My primary battle job would actually have been to save lives. In case of fires do to combat, I was to help stop the fire and secure electrical circuits. My other job would have been to help launch and possibly be on a rescue boat.
You could use the argument that I helped enabled the pilots to launch for combat missions and you would be correct, but I am comfortable with being 1/5000th a part of the support for our 80 or so combat jets.
So no, I really did not have a realistic concern of having to take a fellow humans life and I was able to fulfill a duty and service to my country as a volunteer during the conclusion of the Cold War.
Jim
Kent Brockman: Just miles from your doorstep, hundreds of men are given weapons and trained to kill. The government calls it the Army, but a more alarmist name would be… The Killbot Factory.
I don’t know about the regular Army, but my acquaintance with people in the Army Reserves made quite an impression on me. At least this was true during the Clinton administration. It looked like it was acceptable to be a de facto out lesbian in the Reserves if my former supervisor was any indication.
She was promoted to colonel while I was working with her. She was tough as nails, she held herself very stiffly, and she spoke in a gruff monotone. She also wore lace-trimmed blouses and pretty earrings. Her hair was short, a military cut. She was openly genderqueer in the Defense Department and it was cool. I met her partner at company parties, a very nice woman with even shorter hair, pretty eyes, and a soft voice, who was also in the Reserves. The last I heard of my former supervisor, she wasn’t going to Iraq, she’d gotten a high-ranking job in Washington DC. That means her work is really appreciated here.
I was favorably impressed by these women, their combination of warrior ethic with lesbian bonding, like Spartan Amazons, how they were succeeding in a system that was hostile to them. Amazing women. As for myself, personally, I’m glad to have been a lifelong civilian. No regrets there.
P.S. Girls say yes to boys who say no. 