This life ain't for every body. Some can't handle it. The same people complaining or having issues could of possibly had issues anyway. Also I really dislike how people think PTSD has to be service related. A lot of us from the Hoods already had signs and symptoms of PTSD from friends and family members being shot or being shot at or raped or abused or whatever you may have...So I can't blame the military for these issues...
It also took me 17 years to realize this i would of told you otherwise at 3 years in. And this comes from reflection and time spent in combat, on staff in combat, planning for combat, training for combat, recruiting others, training others, figuring out what training others needed, and now advising.
Sadly some of us are more likely to have a traumatic or bad experiences right in their home town. Some people just aren't physically or mentally tough and some just lack empathy or a social conscious.
Ask yourself have you lost friends, seen a tragedy, been involved in a tragedy, caused the tragedy. Just sit back and reflect.
Without me serving i wouldn't probably be shyt.
i learmed the importance of work, learned to be reliable, do things on my own, be apart something bigger than myself. I had a tough ending but my benefits are straight. Getting paid thousands to get an education
in anything in life, shyt sometimes sucks, shyt is sometimes aight.
Overall it seems to be 50/50. Half the people who join love it, half of them are worse for it.....making a career outta something that 50% of those who join end up worse or hating doesn't sound great...
I got outta prison at 20, when I was 21 went to Army/Navy/Air Force/National Guard recruiters. This was 2010 or 2011, was rejected by them all. Same year, I was also rejected by JobCorps, all told me it was based on my record at that point...looking back on it i was willing to serve as a way to run up some quick legal cash and take me off the streets, and I think it could have worked for me. I was already built differently and stronger than most people my age---->but I seriously doubt I would have stayed more than 1-2 enlistments. So I'm 30 years old now, I'm 99% positive I would be out by now anyway. I have too many passions and avenues of life that I wanted to explore, I had way too much incentive to not want to be a career military man...
They don't accept people like me though, and that's cool. On the flip I'm also not sure that if I added military stress and trauma onto what was already there, that would have been the brightest thing...
Last frame of reference, both my parents were in the Army, dad did 23 years, mom did 22 total, like 8 in the Coast Guard and 14 in the Army...
They are 54 and 51 now and both miss it and look back on their time with fondness. Mom went to Iraq for about a year and a half in 2005-2006 and suffers from a variety of ailments and is on like 12 medications. Granted, she had a bit of PTSD and trauma from her youth. But she wasn't on all these fukking medications prior to Iraq. She was always a little psycho; war exacerbated it...
She's a "functioning crazy". Not alcoholic or completely out of it, but she has her days. I probably wouldn't have her if she wasn't on the meds. But again, she misses her time in the service and says she'd do it again...
My parents are wild patriotic and have gotten some identity back, but definitely were "company people" in their enlistment. And that military structure is 50/50, some kids and people and family need it. Others don't, and it can be really oppressive when you don't know how to shut it off at home...
Having trauma before the military can definitely impact you negatively...
sad part is, the benefits you could get in the military could be easily applied to many fields/occupations/careers in this country
but hey
brown kids overseas gotta die apparently, and brehs who served gotta sleep outside.
This post is 100!
The salaries and benefits you can get from the Armed Forces
is not unattainable in the civilian sector. I'm a multiple time felon and have been a felon since I was 16 and I recently made the same income in a very common service industry, with only about 5 years of work experience, as an E6 Army cat I know who is one year younger than me (29) and has been in since he was 19...
Many comparable benefits...
There is a lot of truth in the notion the military recruits impoverished kids who are more prone to believe there is nothing else they can do...
Granted, the guy I know enjoys his job, but my larger point is I'm illustrating the difference between perception and reality...
For my daughters, should they decide that's the route they wanna go, I'm okay with it, so long as they understand it's not their only option. You find what works for you. I thought it was potentially a "saving grace" for me in my early 20s, and many people think it's a saving grace and the best option out there. As long as they realize it isn't the only one and there are opportunity costs to everything, I could live with it...
I'm glad they didn't accept me, though!
U.S Army and anyone that loves em.
shyt some of these stories is just...
The ugly side of war is no joke...
If Iran turns into WW3 I hope all the cacs like Bolton get what they deserve first and foremost...
info for someone interested
