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Men of ATOT: Why didn't you serve?

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Craig234 said:
I find the OP to have warped thinking. I think the normal healthy condition is to want to not have combat, and not to kill.
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This. The last thing the services tend to want is someone who feels it "was always my destiny to go toe to toe with another man and fight to the death." Those guys tend to wind up with a psych discharge. My husband served more than 20 years and spent a great deal of his time planning how NOT to get anyone killed.
 
The Vietnam war was over by the time I got out of school in '78. I went straight into an apprenticeship for Tool & Diemaking. I did have to register in 1980 when they reinstated the selective service system.
 
I was a medic assigned to infantry units for most of my military career. You grunts are fucking entertaining... up until you play 'rock'. You know the game, the 4-5 man fire team sits, without helmets, facing out, in a tight 360 degree circle and one tosses a 3-5 pound rock straight into the air. Whoever moves is a loser. And whoever gets struck is laughed at. You're funny guys.
 
Which war? Actually nevermind. The answer is the same. Canada.

Probably other reasons roo but they don't matter as much since Canada.
 
cbrunny said:
Which war? Actually nevermind. The answer is the same. Canada.

Probably other reasons roo but they don't matter as much since Canada.
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I met plenty of Canadians in Afghanistan. Canadian Soldiers, as well as RCMP. They served.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
I used to think everyone should serve. I felt it was a duty. After surviving Vietnam, I wondered why anyone served.
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Mandatory conscription might attentuate the desire to "spread democracy". When everyone has skin in the game, it makes it harder to send "other people" to do the dirty work.
 
lxskllr said:
Mandatory conscription might attentuate the desire to "spread democracy". When everyone has skin in the game, it makes it harder to send "other people" to do the dirty work.
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It's one of those concepts that never works out in reality. Even in Israel, the rich and powerful make sure the "support" cadre never run out personnel.
 
keird said:
I met plenty of Canadians in Afghanistan. Canadian Soldiers, as well as RCMP. They served.
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Oh yeah they were there. No question.

But Canada wasn't outing out a call for floods of new recruits. Whatever we have was likely enough. It was definitely not a total war scenario.

Even what Canada sent was pretty limited.
 
As an Israeli I fail to understand why anyone would WANT to go half way around the world to fight a nonsense war concocted by impervious politicians against people who don't know and don't care about you. There's no glory in war and death.

This applies to the 2 Iraqi wars. Afghanistan...questionable effectiveness but the operation itself can be argued for, post 9/11. The US wanted justice, or revenge, or both 🙂

Do think about the fact that while you are warring around the ME, it has cost you many lives, a ridiculous amount of debt and the rise of your friendly NSA\FBI "let us spy or be considered a traitor" folks.

I actually tried to make this post more positive but I can't. If you see someone who came back from a combat role, help him any way you can. Many come back with extra baggage that is nigh-impossible to get rid of.
 
I don't find the ideas of killing (or maiming) or being killed (or maimed) appealing in the slightest. I had (and still do) a desire to serve from time to time, but my desire for family is stronger. I want to be around to support my family, and being deployed just doesn't fit the bill. This is not to mention all the political reasons I find the military objectionable (absurd bureaucracy, and utilized of our armed forces for political/financial gain). I have many colleagues who served and very few of them would do it again if they could go back; now I admit, there is certainly some bias to this sample.
 
As for joining the military, I was rejected due to health reasons.

As for joining because of the war, and I'm assuming you're talking Iraq, I'm going with because it was a war that never should have happened. It was a bad idea before it happened, during and continues to be one. My first post on this forum was even saying it was a mistake. And 13 years later I have yet to be proven wrong.
 
Because I'm a little bitch, the pay sucks, and getting shot at sucks.


But hey thanks to all you brave mother fuckers with balls bigger than I.
 
I did consider it but in the late 90s when I got out of high school, thats when the iraqi war was gearing up and I decided against joining. Just didn't feel like getting my balls/limbs blown off to secure other people's economic or political interests.
 
lxskllr said:
Mandatory conscription might attentuate the desire to "spread democracy". When everyone has skin in the game, it makes it harder to send "other people" to do the dirty work.
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I absolutely hate working with people that don't want to be there...i can just see how wonderful it would be going to war with these people, can any conscripted Vietnam vet's offer their viewpoint on this?
 
allisolm said:
This. The last thing the services tend to want is someone who feels it "was always my destiny to go toe to toe with another man and fight to the death." Those guys tend to wind up with a psych discharge. My husband served more than 20 years and spent a great deal of his time planning how NOT to get anyone killed.
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They don't want blood thirsty killers but they do want the soldiers to not hesitate to shoot.
 
KMFJD said:
I absolutely hate working with people that don't want to be there...i can just see how wonderful it would be going to war with these people, can any conscripted Vietnam vet's offer their viewpoint on this?
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The idea is you wouldn't be there in the first place. Two years mandatory service, followed by ten years mandatory reserve. When it's *your* kids that will be shipped off to some remote hellhole, you might decide swinging your dick isn't so important afterall.
 
lxskllr said:
The idea is you wouldn't be there in the first place. Two years mandatory service, followed by ten years mandatory reserve. When it's *your* kids that will be shipped off to some remote hellhole, you might decide swinging your dick isn't so important afterall.
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Except wars have most often been fought by the poor, not the rich. Not the sons of the "defense" industry. As far back as the civil war the well to do have been able to get out of service entirely, if not, get sent to some champagne unit. You have the families making war and the families fighting them. Very rarely did the two cross over.

A draft might be one thing if it were fair and conscripted everybody equally, regardless of affluence. But that has and never was the case.
 
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