I have the sense that people who are or have been in the military are over represented on the SDMB. Seems to go for Canadians as well.
I could be wrong.
For interests sake could you please announce your rank and unit and what ever else you wish to volunteer about your service.
Be proud. You should be.
I have never gotten that feeling at all. Having served in the military is pretty common in the U.S. across all kinds of socio-economic and racial lines. There are plenty of female vets these days as well. I never “served” in the military but I was in officer training in college before I dropped out simply because I didn’t want to commit to anything at that point in my life. Almost everyone in the U.S. knows someone who is/was in the military. It doesn’t tend to raise an eyebrow because there are so many.
I’ve also never had the impression that the military is over-represented on the SDMB. If anything, I’d have thought it was under-represented.
Nor can I count myself, unfortunately (except in the vaguest, fourth-class kind of sense that I grew up on Army bases and graduated from a Department of Defense high school).
Okay, I’ll be first:
US Navy Seabees (ret). 23 years service, highest rank Chief Petty Officer, Vietnam veteran.
US Army, 1971-1985 Started in the Womens Army Corps
U.S. Army Military Police, 1966-1969
I thnk vets are about as prevalent here as they are in real life. We seem to talk about it a bit more here than in real life, and as a result vets are more obvious.
When I was in the USAF in the 80s, the DOD totalled about 2 million people in uniform out of a population of about 250 million. In other words, at that moment, about 1% of the total population was on active duty.
I was in eight years, and can expect to live about 80 years. So if everything stayed the same for decades and the 1980s were were typical, you’d expect something like 10% of the total population to be either in the service or be a vet. That’s a real crude thumbnail guess, but based on that I’d be pretty confident the actual percentage of vets in the US population is between 5 & 15%. Or somewhere between 1 in 20 and one in 7.
USAF 2004-2005 Airman 1’st class. Early discharge due to phasing out of my guaranteed position.
USN. Petty Officer. OIF, this’n’that.
MSgt, USAF, Ret. Served from just before the fall of Saigon to a couple of years after the first Gulf War. Specialty was electronic intelligence.
US Marine Corps 83-87 4th battalion 2nd Marine Division in Camp Lejeune NC. I was an E-4 (corporal).
As shagnasty said I don’t think there is a larger amount of military people on this message board compared to others.
Many civilians think that people in the military are nothing more than mindless robots. So when ex military people show up on a message board like this and show some ability to type complete sentences, they are surprised.
Not to say that there aren’t plenty of idiots in the military.
U.S.A.F. 1988-1992
Edit: For some reason, the board insisted on decapping the acronym.
USAF 1987-1997
Radio and Television Broadcast Specialist
Made SSgt, Twice!
Duty stations, Yongsan AIN, Seoul, Comiso AB Sicily, Lowry AFB Denver, Yokota AB Tokyo, Seoul again, USAF Academy, and Seoul for the last time.
Seaman SharkB8
USCG Reserve
April 2008 - Present
Integrated Support Command Boston Medical
Corpsman School June '09
Semper Paratus!
USAF 1971-1975
TAC (Tactical Air Command)
SGT (E-4) (When USAF E-4’s were Sergeants)
AFSC 64750 Material Facilities Specialist
US Navy, Active Duty, Lieutenant Commander.
Fly Navy.
PA ARNG. 2002-present. SGT. OIF vet. Formerly known as IntelSoldier.
US Army, active duty 1978-1981
And then US Army Reserves 1989-1996
SSG when my contract ended.
USMC 1988-1992, 3D LAAM Bn and 2D LAAD Bn, MACG-28, 2D MAW, MCAS Cherry Point, NC. Left active duty as a 1st Lt, got up to Major in the USMCR.
Spent Gulf War, Episode I in Direct Support of the 2D Mar Div.
USAF TSGT 1985 - 1999. Crypto Maintenance