There seems to be this romanticized notion among the general populace that people join the military out of some sort of passion to defend their country, or to be overly patriotic, or something along those lines. And while I am sure that this is the case somewhere in the Army, I never met that person. Literally. Nope, in spite of the stories you get told about the way things are, most people simply join the military because there are no other options for them, or the options are incredibly limited.
Some join to get the money for college that the GI Bill provides. In fact, this was the most common reason for people joining in my basic training class. Here we are, one of the richest countries on the planet, and the people that want to continue their education have to go in to the armed forces to get the money to do so. Don't get me wrong, the Army gave me a lot. I am eternally grateful, but there has to be better ways of doing this.
Other folks joined the Army because they were literally out of options. There were no jobs in their area. They had either failed out of school, ran out of money for school or simply could not hack it in the university setting. One of the guys in my platoon had two degrees. Another had 12 years of skilled work in the trades. Still another had been teaching until his school had closed it's doors, leaving him no other option but to join the military or to go hungry. This was the camp that I fell in to.
I joined the Army because of a girl. We were seeing one another and I had simply not cut the muster at college. I REALLY liked sleeping in, drinking beer and copulating with the aforementioned female. So school fell in to something like 15th place. I was working at Rax at the time, and I knew that there was no way that I could make a life for us working at fast food. I had to do something. So I went to the recruiter's office, blue hair and all, and told him what I wanted. I wanted a kick ass job that no one knew anything else about.
Two weeks after I had visited the recruiter, I drove in a brutal snow storm to tell my dad the news of my proposed enlistment. To this day I am not sure what he thought of my decision at first. He seemed...shocked? Maybe that's not the right word, but that emotion is close. This was in January and I was not due to leave until March. I had to make sure that I had all of my ducks in a row before I left. Plenty of time to change my mind, should I decide to do so.
I loved my time in the Army. I wish I could have stayed longer. I do. I loved my job, when I got to do it. Bit the combination of getting hurt, never getting to be home, not getting paid SHIT, and rarely getting to do my job was too much. I couldn't be on SMAJ's detail one more time. I couldn't pull gate guard anymore. I could not be on red cycle on more time. You sure don't see that shit in the pamphlets.
Before I go further, I want to explain that I am in no way shitting on people that join the Army out some sense of whatever. I know that lots of people joined the Army after 9/11 happened because they felt the need to defend the country. Cool. I get that. But let me say something that may or may not be unpopular; Patriotism is the dumbest fucking thing that I can think of. I am not devoted to this country. I do not garner some of pride because I was lucky enough to be from some place. What did I do to earn the idea of being patriotic? I had parents that were from Indiana and met up. GO TEAM! In fact, the idea of patriotism is so ridiculous when you leave this country and go see the world. Japan is amazing. Canada is unbelievable .I love those countries as much as I love my own. I mean, who decided on where the lines were drawn anyway? Fucking pariotism and tribalism are just ancient human constructs anyway, made in a time when resources were scarce and one tribe needed to have them to ensure the growth of their people. We're past that now. And if the world doesn't end before then, we'll have a global government in the next 200 years anyway. Obviously I won't be around to see it, but I hope it hits the fast track anyway.
Also, I want to point out that the most gung-ho, pro-war people I have ever heard are also the ones that couldn't pick out a rifle in a police lineup. Just wanted to make sure I said that. War is fucking stupid.
I have friends that are missing legs. I have friends that can't sleep because of their PTSD. I have friends that have lost EVERYTHING THEY OWN, and their marriages because of where their heads are now. And yet politicians will sit on television and tell the world that we must fight to end tyranny. yeah? Grab a gun asshole. How about instead of the BILLIONS of dollars we spent to bail out the banks and the auto industry, we give that money to the VA and make sure that the guys coming back from these manufactured "conflicts" are taken care of. Instead, we'll buy a new depleted uranium armored tank. Disgusting.
So on this memorial day, I will think about the dead soldiers that were killed. Most of which were drafted. I will hope that this so called liberal president will cease missions in Afghanistan sooner than later. I will hope that we truly end combat operations in Iraq. And most of all, I will drink in honor of those won't ever have the chance to do so ever again. Cheers lads.
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