The military has a slew of options that require no combat 
Can’t imagine the largest military on the planet employees only grunts that it can hand a gun to
There was someone who turned 40 when I was in basic training.
The problem with the ME wars is the same as has been since Vietnam, the politicization of the fighting of the war. Orders coming from Washington save the Generals in the field.
I couldn’t go and enlist in the military. They could have jobs that I could apply for as a civilian working for the military, but I cannot officially become military without some sort of special consideration.
So yeah, the front line is not even the biggest part of the military, but I was still to old to become military.
But I am not above dying for my country. If somebody else can do it, so can I.
Can’t say I would answer the question the same way in the case of eminent threat, I would hope I would throw myself on that grenade. There’s no way to honestly answer that question until you are in the moment. And once past it, you cannot tell anyone if it was the right choice.
Right now, if I could join it would be the Air Force. I’d want to be a pilot. Nobody has cooler toys than the military. And I could move into the space program from there. Neither is a job I would be ashamed of at the local watering hole, for sure.
I think the military for young folks, is a great option. Like you said, most jobs are non-combatant roles. And they need folks everywhere for loads of things. And if you career it, the benefits are pretty awesome.
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Where they also in basic?
And sure you can get special consideration, age is not a total barrier. If you got a skill they really want, they will figure a way to get you in.
There is a shortage of drone pilots in the AF. If I could demonstrate a capability to fly one, they’d probably let me join somehow… And if someone has an aversion to killing terrorists they still need surveillance and intelligence. That’s most of it anyway.
That’s sounds so sad to me.
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Why would it be sad? Without people like him America wouldn’t exist. You owe your freedom to the Pats of the world.
I think its sad when people value their life above others, and are willing to send them to die without being willing to join.
I think it’s sad when people feel the need to die for a country.
My advice to the young. Never die or kill for a country.
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I doubt many of them feel the need to die. It’s supporters of war that tend to get them sent places where they get killed.
Agreed. God knows the country won’t take care of em when they get home.
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So I’d reiterate, never die or kill another human for a country. Friends, family, or maybe in the protection of the innocent? Fine, I’m listening. But not FOR a country.
Soldiers follow the orders of their country. All of the deaths the military has ever suffered was FOR the country.
Seems like you’re getting a bit semantic-y with the verbiage
Not at. It matters a great deal when facing the end of one’s life and the curtains begin to drop…
So is it sad people died for their country in Iraq? Or killed indigenous people under the Stars and Stripes?
Die for something you wouldn’t recognize as your country 40-50 years later? Something that will be alien to you, and you to it, likely before you’ve even been put in the ground? A country that that will likely become hostile to your values, way of life, and institutions any way? No way. no how.
Again, if someone reasonably believes there is a true threat to their family and way of life, I get it.
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Absolutely.
Clausewitz would disagree.
Yep. A lowly recruit.
No one dies or kills for that. They kill and die for the idea of their country.
Is it sad people died for their country to end slavery? Is it sad people died to end tyrannical, non-democratic governments (i.e., for a new country)?
Is it sad people died on ships as cargo to come build it?
The good, evil, and frivolous ideas alike.