- 8,584
- 14,588
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2012
I care about a few individual troops but f the military. With the exception of WW2 and the Civil War this country hasn't fought a noble war
Anyone Else Not Give a **** About the Troops?
- 3,883
- 4,773
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2012
We have the biggest military because we learned during the rise of Nazi Germany how close we got to a world controlled by someone with a different world view.
I don’t think people truly grasp what had to happen. Literally, Ford, J.p. Morgan, all the tycoons had to step back from their rivalry and against their hate of Roosevelt (i think) who painted them as capitalistic scumbags and come together. We were hilariously outmatched and it took true innovation to push us to military superiority. The day that lived in infamy etc etc.
The reason we spend 20x everyone else is because we know the value of freedom. That is - the freedom to be America and never even be remotely close to the feeling of being under some other foreign regimes rule. We’ve internalized that freedom means bringing the proverbial gun to the knife fight.
That said we’ve lost our way quite a bit. Being in the military or serving your country should be an honor and there should be a sense of purpose to it. It’s quite hard to have that without actual real conflicts. Now it’s just a way for average joes to get a job and get benefits. Most people don’t join for some ulterior purpose reasons.
And let’s be real we don’t respect any of our fundamental infrastructure professions. Not military, not teachers, not police, not etc. The only people profession i can think of that gets respect consistently across demographics seems to be firemen. And it’s because they are in the unique position where it’s really black and white of what good and bad means and it’s not really subjective.
I don’t think people truly grasp what had to happen. Literally, Ford, J.p. Morgan, all the tycoons had to step back from their rivalry and against their hate of Roosevelt (i think) who painted them as capitalistic scumbags and come together. We were hilariously outmatched and it took true innovation to push us to military superiority. The day that lived in infamy etc etc.
The reason we spend 20x everyone else is because we know the value of freedom. That is - the freedom to be America and never even be remotely close to the feeling of being under some other foreign regimes rule. We’ve internalized that freedom means bringing the proverbial gun to the knife fight.
That said we’ve lost our way quite a bit. Being in the military or serving your country should be an honor and there should be a sense of purpose to it. It’s quite hard to have that without actual real conflicts. Now it’s just a way for average joes to get a job and get benefits. Most people don’t join for some ulterior purpose reasons.
And let’s be real we don’t respect any of our fundamental infrastructure professions. Not military, not teachers, not police, not etc. The only people profession i can think of that gets respect consistently across demographics seems to be firemen. And it’s because they are in the unique position where it’s really black and white of what good and bad means and it’s not really subjective.
- 156,304
- 135,807
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
Bingo.
- 22,462
- 45,426
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2014
Wait....people sign up for the military for reasons beyond the benefits and a hemi??
- 43,402
- 42,952
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2013
They’re also paid. Ain’t no “service” here acting as if they’re doing it for love. All that BS came about when they sent kids to die during the world wars and Vietnam.
- 21,241
- 18,188
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
I signed up for why I thought was a $12k bonus and an Integra after HS. It didn’t work out for me though
- 6,346
- 4,065
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2007
I thought about joining when i was 18 and putting in that 20 years and retiring at 38 but that's when the Iraqi war started and I knew I wasn't about that life. The movie Black Hawk down didn't help.
- 15,491
- 21,790
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
I signed up for why I thought was a $12k bonus and an Integra after HS. It didn’t work out for me though
Do tell.
- 3,164
- 7,581
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2016
When you can't find a career = military
./
./
- 68,000
- 103,149
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2010
Wow, there's more to life and your calling than these things. Like Da imported bimmer with the euro plates of course.
Last edited:
- 8,453
- 7,061
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
two things can be true, on a grand scale we owe our comfortable existence in this country to our military as an extension of our capitalism and our innovation
On the other hand at the individual level I don't have to thank anyone for their "service" I know countless vets who only work in corporate America due to the fact that they are bored. In other words, we take damn good care of our military members if they retire in good standing. Went to business school with a guy who turned down an offer with IBM, when I asked him why he essentially told me he could be picky and really didn't have to work another day in his life based on his military stipend (he was 35)
On the other hand at the individual level I don't have to thank anyone for their "service" I know countless vets who only work in corporate America due to the fact that they are bored. In other words, we take damn good care of our military members if they retire in good standing. Went to business school with a guy who turned down an offer with IBM, when I asked him why he essentially told me he could be picky and really didn't have to work another day in his life based on his military stipend (he was 35)
- 21,241
- 18,188
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
It’s a long read but I’ll throw it in spoilers.
I pretty much have the same deal as 99% of people who enlist. Didn’t have much direction after graduating HS, but me and my boys used to use the recruiters at the local malls to get free meals and pretend we were interested in signing up. Then one summer night while we were watching races at Hunts Point, my boy said he actually signed up because they promised him a $16k signing bonus for joining. Thought to myself how I could get a race car with that money and ended up signing up the next day with my other boy
My boy who signed up had a year of college so that’s why he got $16k. Me and my other homie were only offered $12k since we were just out of High School. It was downhill from there. My boy I graduated with failed the physical so it was down to just two of us now. Then, on the night we were scheduled to leave, this guy fell in love with a chick he had met a week prior, so they ended up detaining him and they sent my *** all by myself to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri on 9/11/00.
I was so deflated that I said F it and didn’t care anymore and figured I’d just be a problem so they could just send me home too. I was getting punished that next morning for not listening to the drill Instructor and while I was doing flutter kicks on the floor, my boy walked by with the next days recruits and I remember we started laughing so hard while a bunch of Drill Instructors were yelling at us that they ended up having me jog around the formation of people
I don’t get bothered with people yelling and it’s not like they could touch you so all the theatrics they did, didn’t really fluster me. I started coming around a couple weeks later but everybody knew me and my boy were a packaged deal and he was doing everything he could to be sent home so I was always an automatic accomplice whenever he’d get accused and punished for doing stuff.
Fast forward a couple months later which included getting a Dear John letter, sleeping with a lieutenants daughter, and a ton of other shenanigans for another time, my boy and I got called by our Drill Sgt’s on the night before the last day of Basic Training to grab all of our stuff. It just happened out the blue and we did a complete inventory of uniforms and personal belongings, and got dropped off at the Base Greyhound with all our Entry-Level Seperation paperwork. We were so happy that we bought everything at Church’s chicken there for our bus ride home
So yeah, out of the hundreds of people I was at basic training with, I don’t think a single person was there for anything besides money because they didn’t have any direction either. Looking back, I know I had an immature outlook but I did make peace with fulfilling my four year commitment about a month in.
But then yeah, I was getting grouped in with my boy for all
his infractions and I didn’t really care to even deny it after a certain point so it is what it was. For my ~100 days there, I came home with about $6.5k and I dropped half of it on a white gold Jesus piece and just ended up going to community college that next month for Nursing.
My boy who signed up had a year of college so that’s why he got $16k. Me and my other homie were only offered $12k since we were just out of High School. It was downhill from there. My boy I graduated with failed the physical so it was down to just two of us now. Then, on the night we were scheduled to leave, this guy fell in love with a chick he had met a week prior, so they ended up detaining him and they sent my *** all by myself to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri on 9/11/00.
I was so deflated that I said F it and didn’t care anymore and figured I’d just be a problem so they could just send me home too. I was getting punished that next morning for not listening to the drill Instructor and while I was doing flutter kicks on the floor, my boy walked by with the next days recruits and I remember we started laughing so hard while a bunch of Drill Instructors were yelling at us that they ended up having me jog around the formation of people
I don’t get bothered with people yelling and it’s not like they could touch you so all the theatrics they did, didn’t really fluster me. I started coming around a couple weeks later but everybody knew me and my boy were a packaged deal and he was doing everything he could to be sent home so I was always an automatic accomplice whenever he’d get accused and punished for doing stuff.
Fast forward a couple months later which included getting a Dear John letter, sleeping with a lieutenants daughter, and a ton of other shenanigans for another time, my boy and I got called by our Drill Sgt’s on the night before the last day of Basic Training to grab all of our stuff. It just happened out the blue and we did a complete inventory of uniforms and personal belongings, and got dropped off at the Base Greyhound with all our Entry-Level Seperation paperwork. We were so happy that we bought everything at Church’s chicken there for our bus ride home
So yeah, out of the hundreds of people I was at basic training with, I don’t think a single person was there for anything besides money because they didn’t have any direction either. Looking back, I know I had an immature outlook but I did make peace with fulfilling my four year commitment about a month in.
But then yeah, I was getting grouped in with my boy for all
his infractions and I didn’t really care to even deny it after a certain point so it is what it was. For my ~100 days there, I came home with about $6.5k and I dropped half of it on a white gold Jesus piece and just ended up going to community college that next month for Nursing.
I never became a nurse either but that’s another story
- 43,402
- 42,952
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2013
I keep hearing this. When was the last time our military fought for our freedom? When was our right to live in question? My governor fights against me every day. I feel those effects daily. Our last president did the same. Should the military take them out?
- 22,462
- 45,426
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2014
We're talking military here. Can't show up to the gym in anything that's not AMERICAN BUILT.
Besides where else would they put the rear window American flag decal?
It’s a long read but I’ll throw it in spoilers.
I pretty much have the same deal as 99% of people who enlist. Didn’t have much direction after graduating HS, but me and my boys used to use the recruiters at the local malls to get free meals and pretend we were interested in signing up. Then one summer night while we were watching races at Hunts Point, my boy said he actually signed up because they promised him a $16k signing bonus for joining. Thought to myself how I could get a race car with that money and ended up signing up the next day with my other boy
My boy who signed up had a year of college so that’s why he got $16k. Me and my other homie were only offered $12k since we were just out of High School. It was downhill from there. My boy I graduated with failed the physical so it was down to just two of us now. Then, on the night we were scheduled to leave, this guy fell in love with a chick he had met a week prior, so they ended up detaining him and they sent my *** all by myself to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri on 9/11/00.
I was so deflated that I said F it and didn’t care anymore and figured I’d just be a problem so they could just send me home too. I was getting punished that next morning for not listening to the drill Instructor and while I was doing flutter kicks on the floor, my boy walked by with the next days recruits and I remember we started laughing so hard while a bunch of Drill Instructors were yelling at us that they ended up having me jog around the formation of people
I don’t get bothered with people yelling and it’s not like they could touch you so all the theatrics they did, didn’t really fluster me. I started coming around a couple weeks later but everybody knew me and my boy were a packaged deal and he was doing everything he could to be sent home so I was always an automatic accomplice whenever he’d get accused and punished for doing stuff.
Fast forward a couple months later which included getting a Dear John letter, sleeping with a lieutenants daughter, and a ton of other shenanigans for another time, my boy and I got called by our Drill Sgt’s on the night before the last day of Basic Training to grab all of our stuff. It just happened out the blue and we did a complete inventory of uniforms and personal belongings, and got dropped off at the Base Greyhound with all our Entry-Level Seperation paperwork. We were so happy that we bought everything at Church’s chicken there for our bus ride home
So yeah, out of the hundreds of people I was at basic training with, I don’t think a single person was there for anything besides money because they didn’t have any direction either. Looking back, I know I had an immature outlook but I did make peace with fulfilling my four year commitment about a month in.
But then yeah, I was getting grouped in with my boy for all
his infractions and I didn’t really care to even deny it after a certain point so it is what it was. For my ~100 days there, I came home with about $6.5k and I dropped half of it on a white gold Jesus piece and just ended up going to community college that next month for Nursing.
I never became a nurse either but that’s another story
"Uncharacterized Discharge" always sounded funny to me in my head.
- 10,486
- 7,202
- Joined
- May 8, 2012
I have respect for members of the military, but I don't respect how our gov't uses our troops as pawns to their twisted agendas.
Even Vietnam was a futile war fueled by personal agendas. They got our boys out there fighting this war on "terror". Miss me with that BS.
- 43,402
- 42,952
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2013
I’m not anti military but I’m not going to throw blanket statements of praise towards anyone. They chose that job. Why would I praise all of the military when the have bases in Texas that routinely have colored people killed with no consequences? Rape, murder, everything.
- 25,260
- 45,002
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2010
Yo this would be a decent movie thoIt’s a long read but I’ll throw it in spoilers.
I pretty much have the same deal as 99% of people who enlist. Didn’t have much direction after graduating HS, but me and my boys used to use the recruiters at the local malls to get free meals and pretend we were interested in signing up. Then one summer night while we were watching races at Hunts Point, my boy said he actually signed up because they promised him a $16k signing bonus for joining. Thought to myself how I could get a race car with that money and ended up signing up the next day with my other boy
My boy who signed up had a year of college so that’s why he got $16k. Me and my other homie were only offered $12k since we were just out of High School. It was downhill from there. My boy I graduated with failed the physical so it was down to just two of us now. Then, on the night we were scheduled to leave, this guy fell in love with a chick he had met a week prior, so they ended up detaining him and they sent my *** all by myself to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri on 9/11/00.
I was so deflated that I said F it and didn’t care anymore and figured I’d just be a problem so they could just send me home too. I was getting punished that next morning for not listening to the drill Instructor and while I was doing flutter kicks on the floor, my boy walked by with the next days recruits and I remember we started laughing so hard while a bunch of Drill Instructors were yelling at us that they ended up having me jog around the formation of people
I don’t get bothered with people yelling and it’s not like they could touch you so all the theatrics they did, didn’t really fluster me. I started coming around a couple weeks later but everybody knew me and my boy were a packaged deal and he was doing everything he could to be sent home so I was always an automatic accomplice whenever he’d get accused and punished for doing stuff.
Fast forward a couple months later which included getting a Dear John letter, sleeping with a lieutenants daughter, and a ton of other shenanigans for another time, my boy and I got called by our Drill Sgt’s on the night before the last day of Basic Training to grab all of our stuff. It just happened out the blue and we did a complete inventory of uniforms and personal belongings, and got dropped off at the Base Greyhound with all our Entry-Level Seperation paperwork. We were so happy that we bought everything at Church’s chicken there for our bus ride home
So yeah, out of the hundreds of people I was at basic training with, I don’t think a single person was there for anything besides money because they didn’t have any direction either. Looking back, I know I had an immature outlook but I did make peace with fulfilling my four year commitment about a month in.
But then yeah, I was getting grouped in with my boy for all
his infractions and I didn’t really care to even deny it after a certain point so it is what it was. For my ~100 days there, I came home with about $6.5k and I dropped half of it on a white gold Jesus piece and just ended up going to community college that next month for Nursing.
I never became a nurse either but that’s another story
- 19,637
- 12,645
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2008
- 8,453
- 7,061
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
It was never in question because of our military
$tacy
formerly willchamberlain
- 26,166
- 24,940
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2012
I would be so heart broken if my son became a cop or enlisted.
- 17,303
- 26,736
- Joined
- May 11, 2017
First Rapper to Sign Chet Hanks
First Rapper To Beef Against the entire United States Army
- 43,402
- 42,952
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2013
Don’t think so, at least not in the way they’re being used. Having a military is one thing, but dropping them off in countries like Afghanistan and accomplishing nothing after 20 years isn’t protecting my freedom. You also didn’t address anything else I said
Last edited:
- 22,932
- 27,582
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2012
- 14,279
- 34,515
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2011
Nah.
We owe our global position to a hell of a headstart in that between 1945 and 1970, the US was the only industrialized country with working factories and we're the de facto world supplier of goods. Let's also recognize that we've been poaching talent from other places for at least a century; just go down the list of American Nobel prizes and take a look at how many were born and educated elsewhere.
Now, the military did play a significant role in American innovation, as it has been and continues to be one of the few domains where the government strives to stay ahead of its competitors, but in terms of making Americans comfortable with a higher quality of life, better access to education and healthcare, the creation and sustenance of a middle class, and more rights for those not belonging to the socioeconomic elite, more credit should go to labor movements and civil society organizations of the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century.
