ISTR that JFK federalized units of the Mississippi National Guard in Sept. 1962 to quell rioting and keep the peace on the campus of Ole Miss, when James Meredith was enrolling as a student there. No?
I hasten to add that I think it’s exceedingly unlikely that any such action will be necessary here in the foreseeable future. Just not gonna happen.
i am, active duty, 15 years.
I havn’t seen anybody ask this question to the guy?
What are you looking to get out of enlisting? Whats your purpose?
See post 12.
Noooo! Talk to all the recruiters, then come back here and tell us what they said.
I walked into the local San Diego recruiting station in 1986. I wanted Air Force. That recruiter, once he stopped filiing his nails and put down his Cosmo magazine, asked me what I wanted. “I want to learn a foreign language. I heard there’s a school for that.”
“What language are you fluent in?”
“I’ve studied French and German, but I’m not fluent.”
“You have to be fluent. Go away.”
Then I went to the Navy guy. “Language? Sure! You can learn 20 languages, they only take a month each! Sign here!”
Bullshit.
I looked at the Marine office, but they kinda scared me.
I went to the Army guy, and he was the most normal, down-to-earth honest one of the bunch. He told me how it would be, tested me, was impressed and assured me I could get what I want, and he made it happen.
I got my language, a top secret SCI clearance, and have done things that are unbelievably cool, all around the world, and way beyond most young people’s dreams.
But, I still resent that AF recruiter. He was stuck-up, clueless, completely wrong, and I might have liked the AF, though I certainly wouldn’t trade my Army experience for anything in the world.
So talk to them, come back, and we can tell you whether you’re getting bullshitted.
Been there, done that. Endless “make work” duties while everyone else is on holiday. (Picking trash out of roadside bushes, painting the curbs on the base Navy Blue, polishing the brass on some old 5inch shell until I see my face, etc.)
Reported for boot camp 12 December, 1983. Didn’t actually get assigned to a recruit company until after the New Year.
EpicNonsense, I’m not in the service- I was too much of an asshole when I was younger and now I’m too physically broken down to pass MEPS.
But… all I can add to the discussion is this- if you really want to serve, then please do so.
My greatest regret from a lifetime of bad decisions is that I never did serve.
No matter what I may accomplish from this point forward, I’ll always know that I was a coward. Don’t let this happen to you.
Why?
My dad was enlisted Army and my mother was an officer (nurse). I was forbidden from joining the Army as enlisted, because enlisted people were treated like shit. Like beatings.
The Marines subjected their recruits to even worse beatings.
I was going in with information from the 50’s mind you. I’d had a girlfriend who was going to join the Army in the same field I was, and I’d had a male roommate who was ex-Army and told me how it really is.
I didn’t know anyone who’d been a Marine, so I still had those thoughts about beatings. I was joining to pay off college loans, learn a language, and see the world. I didn’t want beatings.
I did briefly consider the Marines while hanging out at the MEP station though. The Marine recruits thought I was one of them and immediately made me feel like part of the family, which was seductive.
But, I was operating under incorrect perceptions of what it is to be a Marine. I didn’t want “kill, kill, kill,” and didn’t know better. I figured the Army had changed, but the Marines hadn’t.
As I thought. Take a look at the third paragraph: 1962 - Oxford, Mississippi
People that don’t serve are not cowards, Some FNG, at least not all of them. Its unfair to say that, just as it is unfair to call everyone who does serve killers, and all the other stuff you see in any military thread.
I wanted to be a marine for awhile when i was in high school, but I was a bit too scared to commit. When the chance to go to college arose I took that instead. Still i wanted to serve in some way. I didn’t until after college. thats when i went into the NG. But i didn’t enjoy only doing 2 days a month after i got to my unit and i wantred the opportunity to see and do more so I went active. (there were other factors but thats the gist of it)
there are many reasons to serve or not serve. Don’t sell yourself short, bud. Only you know if you were just scared or you had other reasons that were inportant to you at the time.
Please don’t get me wrong Jolly Roger, I wasn’t calling out others that haven’t served as cowards, only myself. And I certainly don’t think of those that do serve as killers, either. My epithet applies only to me.
I call myself a coward for not doing a thing that I should have, not through fear of commitment or fear of danger, but rather a fear that I just might not like it.
Having these thoughts now, in later life, eats at me and causes me major regret.
All I wanted to say to EpicNonsense is take the opportunity while it is available.
It might not be there later.
Pardon the hijack; here’s more on federalizing the National Guard (President Kennedy cited both sections in his executive order, and they remain part of the U.S. Code). Again, I have no reason to think either section will be invoked any time soon, if ever:
*U.S. Code, Title 10, Chapt. 15, §332. Use of militia and armed forces to enforce Federal authority.
*
Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.
§ 333. Major public emergencies; interference with State and Federal law.
(a) Use of Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies.
(1) The President may employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in Federal service, to-
(A) restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that—
(i) domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order; and
(ii) such violence results in a condition described in paragraph (2); or
(B) suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy if such insurrection, violation, combination, or conspiracy results in a condition described in paragraph (2).
(2) A condition described in this paragraph is a condition that—
(A) so hinders the execution of the laws of a State or possession, as applicable, and of the United States within that State or possession, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State or possession are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or
(B) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.
(3) In any situation covered by paragraph (1)(B), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.