Why Haven't You Enlisted?

The vagabond, your honesty touches my hart, when the 9/11 happened even my husband and some of his friends were ready to join back the marines (they retired in 98) but then they were advised no to due to the high increased of young people wanting to served the country, they were first priority, when a nation is attack in his own soil is not doubt that plenty of patriots will show up to serve their country.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by ANOK
I mean no disrespect for the brave men who faught in WWII, but a lot of ppl enlisted then because they were dirt poor, and it was a chance for them to get away from the poverty of the depression.
And they knew who the enemy was and why.

Depression era hardship may have gotten them to join and every assesment must include this social variable, but it does not explain why they trained and fought as they did. If they were just looking for three hots and a cot, they could not have liberated the world from the tyranny of global facist imperialism.



You know your getting old when you can look at a chest full of ribbons and not know what most of them are.

Lets see. You have, I think, the NUC, NGC, DSCM, a victory medal(?), some Kuwaiti and Saudi medals and and E ribbon. You were a sailor. Am I close?

You are correct sir, US Navy (aviation)
Navy unit com, Navy good conduct, National service, South West Asia service, sea service, Navy&Marine overseas service, Kuwait liberation (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait lib (Kuwait), Navy pistol expert (so watch out...lol)

If you can find it look for a book called "In the Spring the War Ended" by Steven Linakis. It's no longer in print. It's a real eye opener.
Linakis was a solder in WWII who deserted.
Thousands of troops deserted or shot themselves in the hand or foot.
It's not all brave and honourable solders fighting on the front lines like the history books tell us. The military in WWII was a mess.
Many troops would not aim to kill, they purposely fired to miss.
There was a whole industry of stealing and selling anything from food to army vehicles to locals in France, Holand etc...
The biggest problem the generals had was not the enemy, but trying to get their own troops to cooperate and fight.
I'm not saying they were all cowards 'cause they weren't, there were some very brave and honourable men doing their duty back then.
Take the 101'st airborne for example things might have turned out a lot different if it wasn't for them. They went into battle when the regular troops were pulling back under the German onslaught. And they were victorious.
But really WWII was wone by the allies because Germany made some stupid mistakes. Invading Russia was the biggest one.
Are we destined to make the same stupid mistakes, or have we already done that?

Firstly I don't believe in killing in any manner. State sanctioned or even personal defensive purposes. So I could never be a part of any military force.

Secondly, being a conspiracy theorist, I don't buy into the War on Terrorism at all. Not only has the Iraq war been one based upon lies, it seems to be the case that the entire thing is nothing but lies with regards to Osama Bin Laden and the extremely nebulous group known as Al Qaeda. If you die as a result of the War on Terrorism, being a victim or being a soldier fighting for your nation, you quite literally are dying in vain. Serving only a cause for the rich as they make you jump through hoops and hoodwink you with a truly nonexistant threat.

Yes there are terrorists, but from what I have read from all accounts, its all reactionary extremism due directly to U.S. military action in the Middle East. Creating terrorism is not what I consider combatting it.

Originally posted by ANOK

Lets see. You have, I think, the NUC, NGC, DSCM, a victory medal(?), some Kuwaiti and Saudi medals and and E ribbon. You were a sailor. Am I close?

If you can find it look for a book called "In the Spring the War Ended" by Steven Linakis.

I'm very much aware of these problems and worse, but by and large, the men of that generation answered the call and rose to the occasion. I stop short of calling them the greatest generation. That would have been their fathers.

I thought the Sea Service Ribbon looked like the Purple Heart (a little to much for my tastes) except for the gold stripe at the edges. I would have rated that ribbon twice, if it had been retroactive far enough.

[edit on 04/10/10 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by The Vagabond
Grady, I did enlist, and now I know just about every reason there is for a person -not- to enlist.

I was a Marine, and i've met a lot of Marines....

Where, when, and with whom did you serve?

This is what your profile says:

Former US Marine, now Operating Engineer. Available for hire as mercinary field-grade officer.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 04/10/10 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by ANOK

Lets see. You have, I think, the NUC, NGC, DSCM, a victory medal(?), some Kuwaiti and Saudi medals and and E ribbon. You were a sailor. Am I close?

If you can find it look for a book called "In the Spring the War Ended" by Steven Linakis.

I'm very much aware of these problems and worse, but by and large, the men of that generation answered the call and rose to the occasion. I stop short of calling them the greatest generation. That would have been their fathers.

I thought the Sea Service Ribbon looked like the Purple Heart (a little to much for my tastes) except for the gold stripe at the edges. I would have rated that ribbon twice, if it had been retroactive far enough.

[edit on 04/10/10 by GradyPhilpott]

I agree with you, I just wanted to make the point that things were not all rosey as our history books would have us believe.
Many young ppl join the military totaly oblivious to how war really is.
I don't have anything against those that deserted or shot themselves to get out of it. War is hell as they say, there's a good chance I would have ran myself under those kind of conditions. Human nature is for self preservation, to run is natural if your life is threatened.

As far as the sea service ribbon, maybe they changed the design at some point?

Edsinger, isnt there a rule against SCREAMING with your posts?
Take it easy with the bandwith...


Grady, after having read each thread, I came to the conclusion that 90% of these people arent willing to die for Bush's bogus war.

I hope you have your answer

dgtempe, after having read each post in this thread, I have come to the conclusion that many of these people aren't willing to die for anything in any war. I've heard all these excuses before and they are just the rationalizations of the spinally challenged.


[edit on 04/10/10 by GradyPhilpott]

You are wrong Grady, you have to give credit to the American public, if something happens in our country again at the magnitude of 9/11, the same way that many out of patriotism went and enlisted in our military I promise you that they will do it again.

But to enlist to die for something that proves to be wrong is not the right way to serve your country.

[edit on 10-10-2004 by marg6043]

You're just pissed off that you had to get involved in a war and go through all that crap. You want everyone else to feel the suffering you went through as a result of Vietnam. Don't put your personal problems on us.

[edit on 10-10-2004 by Jamuhn]

Pictures
at www.abolkhaseb.net...
Sample:


and the Video at
tides.carebridge.org...

Be sure to save the files, since they will soon brought down by law enforcements.

I also enlisted.

I enlisted after 9/11 (I am Australian and I felt just as moved/angry as most Americans).

I support any effort to bring in Conscription.

Our country has emplemented a thing called 'Learning or Earning' for our youth. I would love to see this extended to enlistment for all youth not learning or earning. The military gave me the much needed self confidance that a number of teenagers need these days. Also factor in the fitness regimes the military offers (the Australian Army has a rule where each serviceman MUST have a sport to play in time off as a fitness booster) and most fat and or lazy teens will be better off in life.

Oh, I see the loathsome, zcheng has to show up to scare the socks off the already too scared. I've lived through some mortar attacks and while there are better ways to spend an evening, life goes on.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Oh, I see the loathsome, zcheng has to show up to scare the socks off the already too scared. I've lived through some mortar attacks and while there are better ways to spend an evening, life goes on.

You are attempting to drive the young and innocents to destruction in Iraq. I think it is a evil intention.

Originally posted by Ezekial
I also enlisted.

I enlisted after 9/11 (I am Australian and I felt just as moved/angry as most Americans).

The military gave me the much needed self confidance that a number of teenagers need these days.

Good post, Ezekial. I would like to thank all those who have served their country. Signing up does not always mean going to war and the US has alternative services, for those who conscietiously object. A sense of duty in the individual is essential to the security of the state. That duty can take many forms and doing something is far better than just whining until it's all over, one way or the other.

[edit on 04/10/10 by GradyPhilpott]

Hmm...why did I not enlist? Excellent question I must say.

Now, to answer said question...where do I start?


Maybe...because people whom stand up for what they believe in are repeatedly called Marxists, or traitors by those who think they are somehow "in the know" (fellow countrymen)...if you know what I mean?

Maybe...because I, like many others can see this is an unjust war, and I am willing to admit the mistakes made by my homeland in order to find the truth.

Maybe...I feel our leader and those around him have decieved this country into fighting for US Imperialism and Capitalism abroad.

Maybe...It's because there was no reason to invade a soverign nation, taking the focus off Bin Laden.

Maybe...because I find it somewhat ironic that certain companies have profited from the loss of life (both US and foreign) in Iraq.

Maybe, just maybe, the irony is too much for me to handle so that whenever I see our "leader" I want to laugh instead of salute.


Of course, I'm probably just another ATS Progressive Marxist Hippie draft-dodger whose opinion should not matter in the slightest People can assume all they want about myself or others that share my views, so why do I need to explain further. Afterall, if it was up to some people everyone in the United States would serve in the military at some point in their lives...now wouldn't that be lovely (North Korea anyone?).

[edit on 10-10-2004 by Jazzerman]

Originally posted by zcheng
You want to enlist after seeing following?
Video at
tides.carebridge.org...

I served 6 years active duty in the USAF, and I was in Saudi during Desert Storm (Gulf War I for you youngsters). Seeing that video actually made me wish I could reenlist and do more. I noticed the cowards took off as soon as they finished detonating their roadside bomb. If they showed stuff like that on the news I think we would have to turn people away from enlisting.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by Ezekial
I also enlisted.

I enlisted after 9/11 (I am Australian and I felt just as moved/angry as most Americans).

The military gave me the much needed self confidance that a number of teenagers need these days.

Good post, Ezekial. I would like to thank all those who have served their country. Signing up does not always mean going to war and the US has alternative services, for those who conscietiously object. A sense of duty in the individual is essential to the security of the state. That duty can take many forms and doing something is far better than just whining until it's all over, one way or the other.

[edit on 04/10/10 by GradyPhilpott]

Thanks for the support. I purposely chose a non-frontline Corps because I didn't want my loved ones to worry excessively (as they did anyway). I chose RAEME as it was a support Corps that actually deploys with Inf (however I didn't get a chance due to career ending injury).

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by The Vagabond
Grady, I did enlist, and now I know just about every reason there is for a person -not- to enlist.

I was a Marine, and i've met a lot of Marines....

Where, when, and with whom did you serve?

This is what your profile says:

Former US Marine, now Operating Engineer. Available for hire as mercinary field-grade officer.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 04/10/10 by GradyPhilpott]

Well, I certainly never imagined that anyone would actually offer to hire me as a merc, but since you seem interested you can name your price Grady . (Maybe you're catching on now that the mercinary thing was a joke- i've been an arm-chair tactician since i was 15.)

As for my service in the US Marines, I enlisted in May 2003, started basic Sept 2003, graduated with my original platoon (1040, C. Co, 1st RTBN MCRD San Diego) on 19 December 2003. I trained at SOI West with Alpha, ITB until falling and injuring my back on the 15k hump. I had passed the screening for the Recon indoc- had I not been injured I would have been assigned either to 1st Recon or 2/5 most likely.

The really ironic part is that I probably could have still been a grunt, and certainly a POG, if they had taken my injury seriously. They didn't X-ray me or assign therapy- they asked a few questions and gave me ibprofen and 3 days light duty. After i'd been out for a couple of months i was able to do pretty much everything I used to (except serious weight training) as long as i wore a brace and took a pain reliever- i can only wonder how it might have worked out if they'd sent me to the SMART clinic. That's the big green weenie for ya though- they're the pimp and you're the ho, they get what they want and you get what they feel like giving you.

Grady: I enlisted when I was 17, and was proud to follow in my fathers footsteps as he did in his fathers footsteps all the way back to before The Revolutionary War. What some people here do not understand is the camraderie, pride in self as well as country.

I even read that some will not kill to save themselves, but I have to ask. Will these people not kill to save someone else? War is never easy, that is why a person has to have a understanding of sacrifice. Unfortunately our younger members of society do not understand this concept.

Even though I do not agree with the war in Iraq I would re-enlist if my country asked me to. That is the only way I can repay the debt to this country for what I have been given.