would you ask your gf/bf to marry before going off to the war...

[Schadenfreude]

If I knew for certain that I won't be coming back, I'd break it up with her without telling her why. 🙁

 

[The Stigenator]

no i wont marry.. but i will have a whole lot of unadultrated sex before i leave.

 

[Looney]

I would.... there are benefits to being a widow. It's only a piece of paper, so i can't see how that would change whether you were married or not, but the insurance would definitely be good.

 

[human2k]

I would hit it, then go. If I come back alive, I'll hit again, then think about marriage.

 

[PoPPeR]

i'd be more concerned about why the hell aren't i likely to come back

 

[UltraQuiet]

Originally posted by: MemnochtheDevil

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Pro = they would collect your life insurance if you didn't come back
Con = you might not come back

Actually, if I remember something that DaveSohmer said once, life insurance doesn't pay out if you are killed during a war. "Conflicts" and "Peace Keeping" missions yes - when we've actually declared war - no.

Military life insurance does, it just has higher premiums (think the government pays part of these) and lower max benefits (I think 500,000 is all thats available). Widows get benefits too. Knew a family that had a soldier in the Marines in the first gulf war and a lot of his friends got married to their long term girlfriends so that they would have benefits if they died.

Would I get married, if I was serious about someone and could see spending the rest of my life with them, yes. I had to make a pressured choice with my wife about our relationship in real life. We had to decide if we wanted to get married or to break up as the INS wasn't going to let her stay in the country much longer after multiple summer visits (she's british). It just makes you think about something maybe a little faster than you would normally.

Little bit of a msunderstanding about the life insurance thing. SGLI (Servicemens Group Life Insurance) which is th einsurance we get through the DoD will pay if you die in war. It's a term policy we pay $20/month for $250K in coverage. What I was referring to about the war thing is that one of the drawbacks of formally declaing war is that many insurance policies have clauses that limit or cancel coverage during a time of war. The only legal way these can be invoked is if Congress formally declares war. Sorry for the confusion.

Even though the original topic has kind of turned into a joke it is a serious topic in the military. My wife and I dated off and on for about 5 years before we got married. We had talked about getting married but weren't sure because of the deployment schedule. Finally I told her if she was still around after an upcoming deployment we would get married. She was, we did. The divorce rate runs high in the service especially the Navy. I always told my guys who were thinking about getting married to do a deployment or two beforehand to make sure both of them could handle the stress and the seperation.

 

[BCYL]

I wouldnt ask my gf to marry me before I leave for war... I wouldnt want her to be widowed right after she got married...