Is Joining The Military Stupid?

At this point and time in our history, knowing what we know at this moment, is joining the military a suicidal, stupid move?

I am caught in the middle. I come from a military family, but I hate war (especially if it is an illegal war).

Recently a young friend of mine joined the Marines in order to "better his future." Now, I don't know about you, but everybody I know that has been in the military has not bettered their future in any way unless they remained there and advanced until retirement.

This young man was told one thing by a recruiter and now, they are shipping his ass off to the Middle East.

I hate to say it, but I told him so. :dupe:

Maybe that is harsh, but I could see it coming from A MILE AWAY. I warned him repeatedly.

:sigh:

Ugh! I forgot to put up the poll!!!! Ah...just answer, I suppose.

 

I think so.

 

1 for Stupid.
0 for Not Stupid.

- My lack of foresight on the poll makes me have to work.

 

There's no way I would recommend it. If my grandson attempted it, I would do my best to stop him. He's only 14, so no worries at this point, besides, he's not interested. But, I guess everybody has to do what's right for them. Maybe it's right for some people, although I can't think why.

 

Yeah, I'd compare it to playing Russian Roulette with the chamber with 2 or 3 bullets in the chamber.

 

1 vote for Totally friggin' stupid!

 

Ok,

Stupid has 3 ...make that 4 votes.
Not Stupid has 0.

 

Honestly, the only people that I know that want to join the military, are known for being pretty inept...

I hate thinking that I am smarter than anyone else, or that I am somehow superior to these people. But I look at these people and think, "you have to to be kidding me... oh god..." You know what a palmface is? Well, I have those whenever I see those military commercials and whenever I know someone that says they want to join the military. All information is pointing to how useless this war is, yet these people are still thinking that it is a good idea.

They all tell me, "I want to serve my country". And when I try to gently tell them that it is a mind numbingly dumb idea, they always give me the classic response, "I am going to war for you, to protect your freedom!"

The only thing that can take my freedom away is my own government.

This is all based on simple logic, and going against this logic proves, to me, that these people, either don't know how to use their brains, or lack a brain in the first place.

To answer your question, simply... yes, they are dumb. If not dumb, then incredibly gullible.

 

Yes, the old classic line "I'm defending your freedom" is so ridiculous (consider what is REALLY happening ) that you DO have to wonder about their mental condition.

 

Believing anything a recruiter has to say is the first big indication that your friend doesn't think things through logically.

The military in peacetime can offer those who are disadvantaged a chance to advance through education and training. And lately even these pluses have been eroded.

But during a time of war, you should be prepared to kill others if you enlist. To me that's a deal breaker.

I hope your young friend makes it through his services and comes home alright. And that includes mentally.

 

I agree with you.

I had a friend in the Air Force during peacetime and he said he had a blast, but all those promises they made him were 70% bullshit. He started driving a lifttruck for a carpet mill when he got out.

Bush just wants to use our defensive forces for his own personal jerk-off session.

 

All these "well meaning" cocky young soldiers who think they are "serving their country" at the firing end of a gun need to get their brains jumpstarted. I heard another excuse this summer. "Doing it to better myself. I drink and do too many drugs and I need to get away from that." Doesn't that make your mind do flip-flops?

There are THOUSANDS of POSITIVE ways to "serve your country" besides become a professional paid killer... Hell, you could simply spend your entire life just picking up other people's trash, or feeding the homeless...

 

Yeah but unless they are wearing uniforms you won't see the media coverage of them picking up trash and their kids hugging them in their classrooms when they suddenly return home.

 

I think it's a bad choice at this point. My opinion here (and it's a strong one), is that the military is our country's way of exploiting the lower class. How else will they pay for school, or travel the world? I live in an upper middle class neighborhood and almost no one I was raised around went into the military. Whereas, where I work, in a lower-middle class neighborhood, I have met many people who are enlisting.

 

The answer is yes.

IMO.

 

I'm pretty sure that the reason poor people are KEPT poor and middle class people are skating on very thin ice is so there will be PLENTY of people for the military. But I think that the powers that be are not giving the common citizens enough credit. They seem to think that we are all just too stupid to figure out things like that. But I believe most people ARE smarter than that, and eventually, it won't be working out so well for them. We just need to work on educating those who are not as privileged so that they too can see what is happening. Once enough people grasp how they are manipulated in order to provide fodder for the military, the powers that be will have to come up with a completely new tactic for keeping us all scared and in line. Probably the "global warming" thing...

 

Definitely global warming, they've called in their consultants and marketing geniuses and this is the issue that will unite us under their flag, so they've been told. What they've overlooked though is that when you have to go hungry or cold, you start to look at things differently and ask questions. And through greed they've shoved many us into the cold and hungry category. We aren't just interested in protecting our pension plans anymore. Shit many of us don't even have a pension plan.

 

They sell us health reform through insurance...what if you can't afford insurance? Why should the insurance industry have a guarranteed market?

What about protecting our health by protecting our consumer goods? What happened to that? Now imports are allowed with toxic contaminates because it's legal.

Our kids are experiencing a rise in autism, but we shouldn't be concerned about toys with lead and other toxic chemicals, because they are at the legal limit. But insurance should be mandated? Who's getting rich?

 

Prosecuting an illegal, undeclared war is not bettering our country- it's depreciating it.

If someone says he/she is "protecting my freedom" by being shipped off to Iraq is a tip-off in my mind that theirs is replete with a full serving of U.S. Dept. of Defense grade A deep dish bullshit pie and it just solidifies my mindset that they are a mindless tool of a criminal regime that continues to mortgage my future with its international misadventures on behalf of big oil.

Stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid...

Do I get only one vote?

 

Insurance is just a state-supported license to steal.