Asking DUers who served in the Military - what was the reason that made you decide to join?

[Taverner]

And it doesn't have to be a US army - any military

What made you join?

[rug]

1. I wanted to kill feral cats.

[Taverner]

2. Good Golly I hope they were marinated at least!

[Moondog]

3. Seemed like a good idea at the time. n/t

[Kaleva]

4. A chance to see much of the world.

Saw it, decided that Upper Michigan was not so bad afterall and moved back here after being discharged.

Been to:

Portugal
Spain
France
Italy
Greece
Romania
Egypt
Jordan
Bahrain
Saudia Arabia
Bahamas
Cuba (Gitmo)
Bermuda
Virgin islands
Jamaica
Aruba
Puerto Rico
Martinique

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. My Dad spent time in Spain and Bahrain courtesy of the U.S. Navy Reserves. :^)

[Kaleva]

14. I bet he enjoyed Spain much more then Bahrain.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Actually, he liked Bahrain pretty well. He was a communications and security guy in general, but

the Navy called him up because in civilian life he was a mailman, and they had a ton of mail that needed sorting. Apparently they put him up in a reallly nice hotel. :D

[jonnyblitz]

23. I lived in Bahrain for a year on the USS LaSalle homeported

there at the time. I found it interesting, we travelled all over the Middle East but I was ready to go when my year was up. A few years later I was back in the area for Desert Storm on the USS Missouri.

[Kaleva]

35. I remember the USS LaSalle being in the Persian Gulf

I was on the the USS Lawrence DDG-4 at the time.

[cynatnite]

5. I had zero education and needed a job to support my daughter...

My mom took care of her after I joined. I needed an education and training. The military gave that to me. Plus it made me a better person. I grew up.

I know some people trash the military pretty regularly, but I had drill sgts who made a huge difference. One was a Vietnam Vet and another had a doctorate in philosophy.

[Taverner]

9. Cool

I don't denigrate it because I don't know it

I went into the Peace Corps after college - hardly a comparison. We had it easier.

[MiddleFingerMom]

10. I've had friends who were Peace Corps alumni...

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...a couple had it far rougher than I.
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I had a GOOD friend who had been a Marine Vietnam vet. Very crazy,
looked and talked like Stallone -- but a HUGE heart of gold.
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It was a while before I told him that I had been Army. I used to tell him
that I was in the Peace Corps Special Forces -- you know (holding up my
hands in front of me)... the Green Gloves.
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[MiddleFingerMom]

6. Our friend Bill had to go register for the draft and, when he was done...

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...on our way out, we passed the Navy Recruiting Office. As a prank, Bobby and I SHOVED Bill
stumbling through the door and closed it shouting, "HERE'S YOUR BOY!!!". When he didn't come
out for awhile, we got worried and went to save him. He was sitting chatting with the recruiters...
who had been waiting for US. They said they didn't want Bill, but wanted to talk with us.
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I listened, as I was into scuba diving at the time and thought about becoming a Navy SEAL.
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After testing, they wanted me to work with nucular subs... but the six-year signup for that didn't
excite me at all. I wanted medic training and SEAL training. They could guarantee me the former
but not the latter... and the initial commitment was still FOUR years.
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I talked to the Army and they guaranteed me medic training with a 3-year commmitment. I was a
long-haired, smart-assed highschool graduate without goals or direction working in a carwash.
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It was actually GOOD for me (and I ended up staying for SIX years). I became a short-haired
smartass who had some goals and hopes and dreams -- as well as the self-discipline and -esteem
to follow them.
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Until I got out.
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I kept all the other characteristics... but I grew my hair back down to the small of my back.
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[elocs]

8. Well with a lottery number of 358 and the Vietnam War raging, joining didn't seem like a good idea.

Besides, I was already going to college on the G.I. Bill because my dad was a 100% disabled veteran from WWII and he actually did join up before the war started (on suggestion from a judge and my dad did not like the alternative choice).

[kimi]

11. Good question

Never really thought deeply about it, it just seemed like the thing to do. Family has served in the military in every generation of my family back to the Revolutionary War (I know this cause my Grandma did our "pedigree" to join the DAR way back when). I suppose I never considered doing anything else, and going into nursing, and loving "MASH" when I was growing up - that's what I wanted to do, take care of people who were like me, had that mindset, I guess. In spite of running into a lot of folks with that "other" mindset while I was active duty, I always felt "at home" with military people. Traveled a lot as a kid, after my dad got out of the Navy he was State Dept but I went to school with lots of military brats, and now I've raised my own Air Force brats.

[Roon]

12. I was naive and thought I could join the army with my hearing loss

when i was 18. I wanted to join because i heard you can retire after 20 years and I thought that was a heck of a deal! I just graduated job corps so I was used to making hospital corners on the bed and GIing my room.lol

[lazarus]

13. didn't have anything else to do

I had flunked out of college and thought maybe they could whip me into shape, given that I was a classic underachiever. Horrible mistake. Years later, we find out I had ADD and bipolar. Not a good mix.

[Skittles]

15. wanted to get away from home, couldn't afford college

grew up as an Air Force brat so...........

[Ptah]

17. I won the draft lottery. My birthday was #26

I joined the Air Force to avoid the jungle.

[elocs]

26. As I said upthread, I actually did win the lottery with #358.

It's the only big lottery I ever won, but I'll take it. Actually, even at that time there were guys I knew with low numbers who just stayed in college and by the time they were through the draft was gone.

[applegrove]

18. Did your family have a gun? I've always wondered if the American government support of

gun rights was all about getting a gun into the hot little hands of a kid, having that kid fantasize about shooting, then having that kid sign up for the army-navy-airforce-marines when they turn 18.

[hobbit709]

29. Huh?

[NuclearDem]

30. wait

wat

[sarge43]

38. Well, most of us never fired a gun, except for annual small arms training.

In two decades of AD I fired a M-16 once (back when girls didn't do small arms training). As for family guns, yeah we had them, rural Michigan everyone did. I shot the family 22 once.

Hate to spoil a cliche, but family blue steel and military service doesn't automatically mean fantasizing about killing people and breaking things. In fact it often gives a person a far more realistic view about just how deadly the things can be.

[Brother Buzz]

19. I didn't join, I won a no-cut-contract

I was just a dumb draftee that added no value, no advantage really, to the United States armed services.

[Tikki]

20. Same as Mr. Tikki...knew he'd never do over-seas time...

because of an extensive physical profile...but was still drafted..still did his two years.

Tikki

[hayu_lol]

21. Decided to join the AF in Sept. '53...

training sounded good. Good thing I joined because I was a month into AF Basic when my mom sent me my draft notice. Would have been in the Army otherwise.

The draft was very much alive and well in those days.

[noamnety]

22. I was 19 years old

with a BA in fine art.

It hit me that I had made myself completely unemployable, simultaneously overqualified for any low end job, and underqualified at that age for anything else.

[hobbit709]

24. In 1969 I was 19, 1-A, and my lottery number was 98

So I enlisted in the Air Farce.

[Aristus]

25. Because I saw this:

and said: "THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO DO!"

So I did:



Served in the Gulf in 1991. Earned veteran status. So now any Freeper who tries to get in my shit about being an America-hating liberal gets to kiss my veteran ass! B-)

[bluedigger]

27. Mostly the economy.

I got my BA in anthropology in the early 80's with unemployment around 10%. I was tired of school and grad school was the only realistic option at that time. My father and grandfather (WWII) had both done their time in the army, so I figured it was my time. We weren't in any shooting wars so it seemed like a safe enough bet, and a ticket out of Maine.

I first went on delayed entry, with plans to be an intel specialist, learn a foreign language (Arabic), get accepted to OCS, and then a fed job of some sort when I got out. Well, it was a plan...

The day came to ship out and they brought me into a small room (closet) with a guy in civies at a desk. "Son, have you smoked marijuana since you went on delayed entry?" (My recruiter, the same one who told me it would be easier to get into OCS after I enlisted, had told me, "Don't admit anything." I don't lie.) "Yes sir, I have." "Son, because you have told me the truth, I cannot approve you for a top secret security clearance, which you will need to be an intel analyst."

I then had the option of leaving (I had nowhere to go) or choosing another job. I asked what had the biggest signing bonus, and for $5000 ($4200 after taxes) became a fire direction controller in the field artillery (with a secret clearance).

After two years with the 101st, I went to Germany and ended up as the Bn Schools NCO in the S-3 - cushy job! They soon asked me to join them on the nuclear clearance program which, of course, required - top secret clearance (our unit had nuclear rounds, or at least capability). I had wised up by then, and knew they just wanted another body to pull duty on nights and weekends, and declined...

I hope anybody thinking about joining sees the bait and switches coming - I really could have used some adult guidance, and I understand now that they are classics still being used. I don't regret any of it, though. I grew up a lot!

[NuclearDem]

28. 9/11

That was my main reason.

After a couple years in, I decided I could do more than just run on some nutsy patriotic fervor, and I dedicated my service to protecting innocent lives, whether the US military liked it or not.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. Drafted

So I guess I didn't "join"

:hi:

[retread]

32. Greetings from LBJ. n/t

[era veteran]

33. Was going to be drafted.

[old mark]

34. There was a draft at the time, and I hated college, and they would have put me in jail if I had

resisted the draft, so I enlisted and got a better job than 11B (Rifleman). I was in for 3 years instead of 2, but got promoted and stayed alive and relatively well, despite nearly a year as a hospital patient. I still heve dreams about having to go back into the Army, though, or that they never really let me out...and I got out nearly 40 years ago!

mark

added: I got a draft notice when I was already in basic training - the drill sergeant said, "We told 'em you can't go..." ( Army humor)

[BlueCollar]

36. I joined the Navy

because I wanted to do something different. I had already traveled a lot growing up and knew that the Navy was the best choice to see the world on someone else's dime so I signed up.

I ended up seeing a lot on three WestPac deployments and a number of dets...and the rating I got turned into a very good civilian career after I got out.

No regrets...one of the best decisions I've ever made.

[sarge43]

37. I was sick of going to school.

In the early 60's, not many choices for young women, so what the hell, gave it a try. Glad I did.

[HardWorkingDem]

39. Economics...

Student loans, job, et cetera.

Though it wasn't my dearest three years, it is also an experience I'd never give back. Great cultural learning opportunities.

[Old Troop]

40. I joined the Army to get away from where I grew up and to get money

for college. I got both and found I liked the other people so I got out when my enlistment was up, got an education and returned as an officer for 23 years.

[denbot]

41. Partially because I wanted to see the world, partially because males in my family serve.

I guess it was a vestigial warrior culture thing.

[haele]

42. I wanted to be Lt. Uhura. I didn't want to work my way through college, had just lost a scholarship

in performance arts (that threw everything into a tailspin) - music due to early onset arthritis in my hands.
And I scored 99% on the ASVAB. Found a recruiter (Navy) who actually seemed to want me to do well, didn't try to force me into a "girly" rate, did not lie to me and gave me instructions on how to go through bootcamp and ensure I get into the rate I signed up for. Did 10 years active, 10 years reserve, and used the training they gave me to the best advantage I could.
It's not for everyone, but there are opportunities available that there may not be where the person is, if they are lucky and can keep their mind on it.
Oh, and may I say, I know of more liberals in the military - including the somewhat stereotyped Marines and senior Enlisted - than I do in the civilian world. Perhaps it's because of the fact that unless they're a REMF, they actually get a chance to experience the way other people live and learn to be diplomatic about living and working in close quarters with diverse people from various backgrounds and motivations just to "get the job done right".
The Officer Corps, however, can tend to be conservative or authoritarian. But I figure that it's because of two reasons - either they're the McCain type of hereditary officer or political flunky's kid that was "born on second base and thought he hit a home run" to get into the Academy, or they've had it drilled into them that they must be responsible for what the rest of us do, so unless they're really, really confident, they don't like to take risks.


Haele