Joining the Military.

HooD · Post by **HooD** » 21 Nov 2006 20:05

I'd put this in the discussion forum, but I figured more would see here. I expect only serious well made questions/answers/opinions and am looking for different perspectives of the military.

Recently if anyone reads my blogger I've been debating about joining the military. I'm about 90% through my decision to join the Marines. I know there are a couple individuals on this forum who have personally joined into some branch of service. I'm quite interested what experience you all have received and what doors have been opened for you. I'm not only looking for information about the marines, but any other military branch. I know this is a big turning point in my life and the decision to sign myself away will be irreversible. I'll start off with a short summary of the military from my perspective.

- My father is a marine and I've never known much about it. Why ? I don't know why we've never really talked about it. He told me I'd make a good marine and would like me to think about joining the service for years, but he was very light on pushing. He never really pushed actually which I'm somewhat suprised about. I never really considered the military until lately. I worked for a couple years, went to school for a couple years, and now I am here. I want to make a drastic change and get out of this town. I have a decent debt on my shoulders and would like to continue educationally. I also have a feel of being bogged down with my past. I look at the military as a whole new set of doors being opened. Not only for education, but for many other things. Professionalism, physical challenge, mental challenge, self-confidence, discipline, traveling, belonging to something known, and so many other things. Anyways... I'm thinking about joining into an officer program after bootcamp which would allow me to go back and take a bachelors degree and then after that go into training for a specific skilled area. That is where another big question comes in...which skills shall I persue ?

I'd like to hear what all you have to think about joining the military.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 21 Nov 2006 21:23

physical therapy?

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 21 Nov 2006 22:13

My brother is currently close to finishing boot camp down in Ft. Benning, Georgia, so I can only really offer a limited view from the inside perspective I've gained from my brother's letters in the first phase of his military life.

I don't entirely understand all your motivations for wanting to enlist, but one thing you should be aware of is that you're first couple of weeks in boot camp are probably going to be very close to hell, once you are really experiencing it on a daily basis. Waking up at 5 everyone morning for a full day of intense workout is simply not something everyone is capable of doing, and thus you should really think over whether your motivations are genuine, because if they're not, you will have nothing to fall back on when you're face down in the mud at the crack of dawn, shuffling prone underneath live fire, and nothing to keep you going and mentally sound. My brother joined because like you he was sick of his current life at college ect ect, and wanted to be a part of something bigger. He also wanted to be deployed to a combat zone, and that's something you need to seriously consider (As I'm sure you're doing), given the current climate of this country.

After the first few weeks though, things get better and less harsh supposedly. The tone of my brothers letters picked up signifigantly, and his message to me went from you probably don't want to get involved in this, to it's something you should think about.

Also, I should add the my brother enlisted army, and signed a contract that put him at Ranger school, so his training would probably be signifigantly different from yours assuming you joined the Marines. Overall though, the effect on him so far from my perspective seems to be a very positive one, and already he sounds changed from when he first left. If you were to ask me, I would probably tell you to enlist judging from the tone of your post and how my brother was able to react to it. You will meet people you never would have encountered otherwise, and will experience something that will make you stronger in many ways, but also a member of a minority not fully understood by the civilian population. By joining the military, you open doors as well as close them, and it's all a matter of you deciding whats right for you. But like I said, from your post and my limited knowledge of your personality from this forum, I think you would react greatly to armed service.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 21 Nov 2006 23:01

I think John would fit in well in the military and he will have no problem physically or mentally with basic training. It will be stupid if John joins up and goes to war in the middle east though.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 21 Nov 2006 23:27

I can't say I havn't put any thought into enlisting in some form at some point in my life. Once I graduate as an engineer (real soon) I am eligible to join the forces with all sorts of bonuses and blah blah stuff and it's great apparently. Anycase, John is a tough guy, he can do anything.

Good luck and have fun if you go for it!

wolfpac444 · Post by **wolfpac444** » 22 Nov 2006 00:33

It seems a little odd to me that your posts focus solely on joining the military as a means to career advancement or change of lifestyle. However, it is one of the few jobs where you could be asked to kill another person. I don't think that that is something to take lightly or to gloss over.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 22 Nov 2006 01:37

I really hope you decide not to, but it's your choice of course.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 22 Nov 2006 10:33

Jeremy wrote:I really hope you decide not to, but it's your choice of course.

My sister is in the marines.

She is currently living in San Diego, still in the marines after they said she would be "out" last year.

From what she has told me, I don't think I would want to be in the marines. But yes, it is your choice.

HooD · Post by **HooD** » 22 Nov 2006 11:24

From what she has told me

What all has she told you ? Did she just kinda give you the quick nitty gritty of it all with no details of what she's gained ?

HooD · Post by **HooD** » 22 Nov 2006 11:31

I just talked to my dad today on the cell phone about it. We never really keep in close contact, but I told him my plans. He was pretty excited by it and wanted to know what my plans were. He was tellin me good stories and bad... He reminded me that recruiters are businessmen and I am a client that needs sold. So with that said, I have to do my own research on everything that I'm told and make sure I can achieve what I want without just a quick verbal agreement. I still think about the medical field and why not...be a medic ?? That sounds really exciting, but then my Dad told me that there were no medics within the marines. He called them something else...like foremen or something. Those weren't even in the marines, I believe they were in the Army branch. So I'll have to ask the recruiter today what he says about field medics or something of that nature. I don't know a whole lot about medics other than what is in my head about them. Morphine shots to wounded soldiers, console or comfort them and tell them they'll be ok, and to apply general emergency medical treatment on the spot. Keep it coming !

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 22 Nov 2006 11:40

I know Mike brought it up already, but I think it bears repeating: there are many paths to career and self-advancement in the world. Yes, joining the military can give you free training and pay for school, but it also puts your life very much at risk (especially given the current situation in Iraq), and it may call for you to kill another human being. Can you see yourself killing another human being because somebody tells you to? I think that that should be the main question that dictates your decision.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 22 Nov 2006 12:23

HooD wrote:
From what she has told me
What all has she told you ? Did she just kinda give you the quick nitty gritty of it all with no details of what she's gained ?

She hasn't really told me anything good about the marines, except she gets to go to college for Marine Biology. For free or not for free, I don't know. I know they are paying for part of it at least.

Most of the stuff she has told me is bad, except she met her fiancee(sp?) in the marines.

She's also got injured quite a few times, and her back is basically messed up for life.

I don't think she really likes to talk about it.

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 22 Nov 2006 18:32

HooD said:

I still think about the medical field and why not...be a medic ?? That sounds really exciting, but then my Dad told me that there were no medics within the marines. He called them something else...like foremen or something.

Wikipedia said:

Hospital Corpsmen (HMs) are members of the United States Navy Hospital Corps. They serve as enlisted medical personnel. Corpsmen serve in a wide variety of capacities and locations, including shore establishments such as naval hospitals and clinics, aboard ships as the primary medical caregiver for sailors while underway, or with Marine Corps units as battlefield corpsmen, the Marines' equivalent to Army medics. The Hospital Corps is the only all enlisted Corps in the United States military.

Essentially, if you want to be a medic with the Marines, you aren't technically in the Marines, you're a Navy Corpsman who serves with the Marines.

The whole wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_Corpsman
Man, I really love wikipedia for quick, detailed on-line info.

Jack Keller, who many of you have met over the past three or four years, was in the marines for about 10 years. I've asked him pretty directly about military stuff from time to time since I've know him. He's a very interesting guy.
One thing that left an impression on me was some of the stories he's had to tell about basic training (he was a drill sergeant for a while, which becomes obvious in his behavior every now and then, so I guess he's gone through basic training more than once, in one way or another): I can't remember his stories verbatim, but the gist of it is that recruits are pushed VERY hard during training, and accidents do happen. Some people acquire the kinds of injuries that never completely heal just in basic training, never mind real combat. Recruits are made to fight (ask Fletcher Funk how come his knee is funked up lately) and to carry heavy loads and to climb stuff and to jump off stuff. Ankles and knees and other parts can be injured under these circumstances, and the feeling I get is that the military is willing to take those kinds of chances with its recruits, willing to sacrafice the health of some of its recruits during the training process. Maybe they're trying to weed some out. According to Jack, they'll NEVER deliberately cause you real harm, but they are willing ot take the chance you'll break something during the course of a training regiment that includes somewhat risky activities. I think I would compare it to playing high-school and college footbag: it doesn't happen to everybody, but you can sustain injuries that require surgery and rehab and even after that you might still not be 100% ever again. Hey, the Marine Corps ain't looking for wussies who are afraid they'll breaking a nail. Just some food for thought.

Isilwar said:

she gets to go to college for Marine Biology.

Is that Marine Biology as in sea-life, or Marine Biology as in, like, human biology specific to soldiers? Sorry, dumb joke, but I couldn't pass it up.

I'm not trying to make a judgement on any of it. I'm just trying to say, if you really value you're long-term health very highly, you tend to avoid risky behaviours and lifestyles like riding motorcycles, playing dangerous games, or enlisting in the Marines. Then again, maybe the benefits outweight the increased risks of tearing a ligament or worse. Thats up to you to decide. Nobody makes it through life 100% problem free, after all, and all of our bodies become worn-down eventually.

As for me, I'm the kind of guy who always wears his seat-belt, and almost always wears his bike helmet when going for a ride. Its one of my favorite parts about footbag: I don't really worry too much about the possibility of REALLY hurting myself the way, for instance, skateboarders might when they jump down 10 steps or fly twenty feet into the air in a vert ramp. That, and I could never really get all four wheels off the ground at once anyway...

Post by **Zac Miley** » 22 Nov 2006 18:38

Outsider wrote: I think I would compare it to playing high-school and college footbag: it doesn't happen to everybody, but you can sustain injuries that require surgery and rehab and even after that you might still not be 100% ever again.

she gets to go to college for Marine Biology.
Is that Marine Biology as in sea-life, or Marine Biology as in, like, human biology specific to soldiers? Sorry, dumb joke, but I couldn't pass it up.

Lol at the bold part.

Also lol at the joke. Yes, as in sea-life. She's loved turtles for a long ass time.

EDIT: Fixed the code.

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 22 Nov 2006 18:56

high-school and college FOOTBAG? Did I actually write that? Whoops... Well, you know I meant FootBALL.

She's loved turtles for a long ass time.

Yeah, me too. They make good soup... jk.

Footbag Forever · Post by **Footbag Forever** » 22 Nov 2006 22:35

Like many who have posted on this topic I have no first hand experience in the marines, but one of my really close friends joined the marines last summer and he is currently stationed in Iraq. Yes this will open your doors financially, but maybe you should consider a different branch. Marines are the first to go and if you're not joining prepared to accept the fact that you may end up Iraq I would suggest something like the coastguard or national guard. You'll still have a chance of being sent over, but you're chances of being stationed somehwere else are better. If you do decide to join the marines be prepared to work your ass off! It's very physically and mentally straining. Goodluck in whatever you decide to do!

Oroza · Post by **Oroza** » 22 Nov 2006 22:52

my old friend went to the marines, iraq, a bomb exploded right infront of him (remote detonated, they waited for them, he was first in line) he lost his pinkies, ring fingers dont work, scars all over. they'll be takin shrapnel n shit out of his face and body for a while.

he's pretty lucky actually.

i think he joined because his family didnt have money for college, he lacked a pasion/hobby, he didnt really know what to do with his life. the marines are his life. even after the bomb he still wanted to go back. he lives in california now (from chicago) and i hear he hes a drill sarg, or instructor of some kind now.

____

I like the benefits and the structure of it ,college lags so bad those first 2 years, military is full on. but ultimately i dont want to be a tool of the government, yknow? the politics....

I'm into music I'm going to audio engineering school for an intensive 2 months, fuck 4 years. its the kind of field where prestigious titles dont matter, even though this among the best.

so yeah just find what you want and learn it the way you want. the learning part can be a put off, so dig.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 25 Nov 2006 02:05

Army is many things.
I think the last thing you need to worry about is if you can shoot a man or not. Before that you'll have to go through your training where you'll be humiliated in many ways and you always think that you're getting to most shittiest job. You can think it as a mental challenge, self-confidence, discipline etc. but in the end it's just feels like worthelss shit. I myself am a reel ass, like the one in the movie "Enemy at the gates", crawling with the reel in his back in the city ruins, who gets sniped. That's important job, but one of the most shittiest.
But then there's the cool stuff. I myself have good memories. Urban battle drills in abandoned buildings. Getting to shoot a real ventricle grenade with a light bazooka (the same one that's on Rambo I). Seeing concentrated artillery fire for the first time. Being next to a 155 caliber cannon when it fires. Etc.

Attitude is important in the military, you know you'll not be doing anything in vain, but sometimes you'd rather not do it.

War sucks big time, anyway. When you add the shooting and bombing - it sucks more than anything.

[EDIT] Oh yeah, about that medic stuff. I got a friend as a medic, he's going to get a job as a first aid medic or something, so serving as a medic will help him that way. From what I've heard, it's not that bad, but the worst he's seen this far is some broken arms and lost fingers.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 26 Nov 2006 14:17

I really think it's a bad idea. There are some good benefits but the negatives far out way the positives in my opinion. Many of them have been pointed out here such that you will be asked to kill other people.

Here's an article I found today about how soldiers coming back from Iraq are more likely to have drug addiction and mental illness problems moreso than even Vietnam:

Copied from www.statesman.com so you won't have to sign up to read it:

========================================

Stress disorders, drug abuse, little help for troops
As repeat tours of Iraq wear on U.S. forces, government struggles to provide mental health care; many say they take refuge in drugs.

By Anne Usher
WASHINGTON STAFF
Sunday, November 26, 2006

WASHINGTON â€” Military personnel on multiple and extended tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan are being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder at rates that probably will match or exceed the rate among Vietnam veterans, government officials and veterans groups say.

The war in Iraq, with often-hidden enemies and explosives, has left many service members particularly vulnerable to combat stress and is driving the abuse of drugs and alcohol both in Iraq and at home, military health experts say.

Yet many veterans and on-duty troops are not getting the treatment they need.

As of August, more than 184,500 returning veterans had sought care of all kinds through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and about one in six of those had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, a rate expected to climb since it can take months and sometimes years for the condition to manifest itself.

Symptoms include anxiety, sleeplessness, flashbacks and extreme wariness, a recipe that can strain relationships and make it hard for those suffering to get or keep jobs.

Jesus Bocanegra, a 24-year-old former Army sergeant with an infantry company based at Fort Hood, says he is haunted by countless shots he fired at Iraqis while serving as a scout in Tikrit in 2003-04.

The McAllen native says he lost track of how many civilians died in the crossfire when he squeezed off rounds at Iraqi insurgents.

"How the hell was I capable of that?" he says now.

Back home and plagued with anxiety attacks, he said he tried to close himself off from the world by drinking to the point of passing out. He said he progressed to marijuana use and then cocaine.

"The only way to sustain yourself day to day is to keep yourself drugged up," he said. But "it made it worse."

Eventually, he said, he stopped taking drugs and visited a VA clinic. Seven months later, a psychiatrist there diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder and gave him pills, dispensing medications in five-minute meetings every three to four months. A clinic employee verified his diagnosis and said that with 400 to 600 patients a day, "every doctor is overbooked."

With no VA psychotherapists in his area at the time â€” one has since been added â€” Bocanegra sought help from a support group called Vets for Vets.

"It's good to have someone to talk to," he said. "It's the only thing that keeps me going."

Married for just under a year, he is unemployed but hopes to return to school.

He said he is focused now on his mental health and on touring with other veterans to push for improved services for vets, many of whom he says are also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Disability benefits of $2,500 a month help keep him afloat.

Up to 29 percent of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, predicts Col. Charles Engel, a clinician at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. As of August, the VA had diagnosed 63,767 discharged veterans with a mental disorder and 34,380 with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Experts say the rate of the disorder among Iraq veterans could well eclipse the 30 percent lifetime rate found in a 1990 study of Vietnam veterans because military personnel are being deployed longer and more often to Iraq and because greater awareness of the disorder among doctors will lead to more diagnoses.

Some statistics show the cases climbing fast. The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have sought help for readjustment concerns including post-traumatic stress disorder doubled between October 2005 and June 2006, according to a recent survey of 60 VA-run centers by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

That increase has made it only more difficult to get quality care, the survey found.

Among active-duty military personnel who served in Iraq, 35 percent used military mental health care services in the year after coming home and 12 percent were diagnosed with a mental health problem, a study published in March in the Journal of the American Medical Association found.

Veterans groups fear that the VA won't be able to handle the high proportion of service members seeking such help once they are discharged. They note studies showing that though post-traumatic stress disorder can resolve itself in some people over time, its symptoms can worsen if not treated quickly.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has enough resources to offer treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse to all of the roughly 160,000 service members now in Iraq and Afghanistan once they are home.

Dr. Ira Katz, deputy chief patient care officer for mental health for the VA, noted that there are 200 veteran readjustment centers nationwide and that mental health counseling is available over the Internet.

As part of unprecedented efforts on its part, the military in September 2005 began giving returning troops a questionnaire aimed at catching early signs of the disorder. Questions include whether they have nightmares, are feeling emotionally numb or super alert, or have physical reactions such as breathing trouble when reminded of a stressful experience. In January, the military put in place a secondary screening test to check for similar symptoms.

But nearly four in five returning troops who may have been at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder were not referred for further mental health evaluation, according to a study released in May by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. About half of those diagnosed with a mental health problem got care, but fewer than 10 percent were referred through the military's new screening program, the JAMA study in March showed.

The Pentagon told the GAO that it generally concurred with the its recommendations and that a systemic evaluation of referrals is planned. After the study's publication, however, the Pentagon said it was flawed because it did not include troops referred to chaplains, primary care physicians and group counseling. The GAO says the Defense Department was not able to provide any evidence that those referrals occurred and still has not provided figures on personnel who may have since received treatment.

After his first Iraq tour ended in August 2005, former Pfc. Josh Revak said, a large number of soldiers in his 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder on the test, but the commanders "just took it as a joke, and I think barely anybody received treatment."

The 25-year-old said he asked for help but didn't get psychological counseling until after a 120 mm mortar landed near him on his second tour in Iraq in June, sending him back to their base in Germany with shrapnel through his foot.

By that time, Revak said, several men in his unit had been disciplined for Valium use.

Medical experts say mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse are often intertwined.

"When they don't get the kind of mental health screening â€” or physical â€” history tells us they will turn to coping mechanisms," said Steve Robinson, director of government relations for Veterans for America, a 35,000-member organization.

He says many of the hundreds of troops he has interviewed at post-deployment sites are addicted to medications given to them in the field, such as painkillers and sleeping pills. But they are not getting the therapy that normally goes with such medications, Robinson said.

Adam Reuter, a 23-year-old former Army specialist, said that after he was tossed out of a Humvee in an accident in Iraq, a medic handed him a plastic bag filled with pills and gave him no instructions.

The bag contained four kinds of painkillers, an anti-inflammatory drug and a muscle relaxant, said Reuter, an Atlanta native who served with the 3rd Squadron of the 3rd Armored Company from May 2003 until February 2004. He said he went back for more and developed a dependency that he is still trying to shake.

Military personnel said they used banned substances as a way to mentally escape the violence around them. Drugs ranging from marijuana to prescription anti-depressants are easily accessible in Iraq, according to interviews with more than a dozen soldiers who served there.

John Crawford, a 28-year-old former Florida National Guardsman with the Army's 101st Airborne Division, said soldiers in his unit drank alcohol, some took steroids, "pretty much everyone took Valium," and "some did all three."

Crawford said he bought 200 to 300 Valium pills on the street in Baghdad for $2 as a way to get some sleep between patrols. After eight months, he built up a tolerance and was taking seven or eight at a time.

The extent of alcohol and drug abuse among combat veterans is difficult to quantify. The Pentagon declined to release the results of announced drug tests specifically for Iraq. The tests are usually done just once a year.

Army Maj. James Weeden directed a team of 200 specialists dealing with combat stress in Iraq until he left the country in September.

He says senior officers recognize the strain their troops are under and in the past year have assigned specialists to address the issue at remote forward operating bases.

But seeking treatment in a combat environment is difficult. All travel is risky, and asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness.

Weeden and other medical specialists say that they can treat only the symptoms of combat stress â€” with anti-depressant drugs and rest, for example â€” and that troops are sent out of Iraq only when they have clearly disabling cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Commanders want to keep troops in the field, and most service members say that they don't want to abandon their units.

"We strengthen (combat readiness) because we get them back," Weeden said.

That desire to keep medicated troops in combat troubles Joyce Raezer, director of government relations at the National Military Family Association.

She says U.S. troops â€” some now on their fourth or fifth tour â€” are bringing "all the baggage from the last deployment into the next."

"The stress is cumulative," she said.

Families are alarmed by military statistics showing that 80 percent of soldiers who have been flagged with mild symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been sent back to Iraq and Afghanistan, many with anti-depressant pills aimed at ensuring they can still fight. Experts say repeated exposure to combat is the greatest predictor of whether a person will get post-traumatic stress disorder and how severe it will be.

When they come home, many seeking treatment say they face steep hurdles getting help from the government. With a wave of post-traumatic stress disorder cases arriving, outreach groups fear the VA will not have adequate resources to treat them and to pay disability benefits.

The VA is proposing a $339 million increase in mental health care spending next year, Katz said Tuesday. That would bring total annual spending on those programs to about $3.2 billion.

Implementation is another question. As of late September, about $42 million of $200 million directed for initiatives to close gaps in VA mental health care in 2006 had not been spent, the GAO found.

"Requesting more money is a step in the right direction," said Paul Sullivan, director of programs for Veterans for America, who was a senior analyst at the VA until he left six months ago.

But he added, "The VA's problems are systemic, and the solutions must be more comprehensive than simple increases in funding."

He noted the GAO findings that the VA lacked a comprehensive plan to implement the funding in last year's budget.

About 144,000 of the 589,000 veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have already been seen at VA-run Vet Centers for "readjustment concerns" ranging from depression and marital problems to full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder.

Forty percent of the 60 centers surveyed in the study by the Democratic House staff have directed veterans for whom individualized therapy would be appropriate to group therapy instead.

Dr. Frances Murphy, undersecretary for Health Policy Coordination at the VA, told a mental health commission in March that the growing numbers of veterans seeking mental health care has revealed areas in which improvement is needed.

Some VA clinics, she said, do not provide mental health or substance abuse care, or if they do, "waiting lists render that care virtually inaccessible."

"The VA needs more capacity so that vets can get treatment and don't have to wait," Sullivan said.

If they are able to see a VA doctor, hundreds of veterans with severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are being denied disability benefits because their condition is obscured by drug or alcohol abuse, which is labeled "willful misconduct," said Elinor Roberts, legal director for Swords to Plowshares, a San Francisco-based veterans organization.

The military maintains a zero tolerance policy for drug use on all but prescription medications.

Some service members have lost their military benefits, regardless of their combat citations, after they have been found to have used banned substances.

But many commanders offer leeway in such cases, choosing nonjudicial punishments such as demotions to keep soldiers on duty, said Army Col. Bill Buckner, a public affairs officer at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The VA is allowed to give benefits to veterans dealing with alcohol abuse but not illicit drugs, and only if a clinician finds that the veteran also has post-traumatic stress disorder. VA officials say many vets with the condition have trouble making appointments to get that diagnosis in the first place.

Amy Fairweather, who has counseled about 50 Iraq vets for Swords to Plowshares, said the impact of repeated deployments "is enormous."

"It contributes to all the elements for substance abuse, mental illness and family dissolution," she said. "There's only so many times you can be uprooted from family and work. Not to mention that they're over there in hell."

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 27 Nov 2006 15:45

Mahood: I think you should talk to Aaron Orton. He is in the Marines right now and was deployed in Iraq several times. He has the best perspective of anyone on modified- he is infantry.

I am far too pansy to ever face death willingly and knowingly, but if you aren't read further.

One thing I would be worried about besides dying is living out my life physically or mentally crippled. I worked in a Vet's hospital and I saw a lot of mental disease. After you're done with your training and service, you'll likely still have 40-50 years of live to live. I would like to ensure that in those years I am mentally sound. Many ex-servicemen are not.

Another thing I learned from my marine ex-roommate is that once a non-civilian, you can never view civilians the same way again. It is like you have experienced the matrix and have trouble relating to people who have not. You just feel different. A couple of times, I was scared of him actually hurting me when his emotions got the better of him. I know I did not always feel completely safe.

To me, there are very few certainties and too many uncertainties about joining the millitary. Also, review the section in Michael Moore's Farenheit 911 movie when he talks to the politicians outside Washington about having their sons join the military.