Quote:
Originally Posted by Saccogoo
Artillery is for pussies. Biggest bunch of slackasses I ever saw in the military, other than the entire Air Force.
Although, if you go infantry, there's always the chance that you can come out apply at a civilian contractor like Black Hawk and make some decent coin. I read somewhere that the base Black Hawk operator in Iraq was pulling down $516,000 annually, and getting paid in Iraq, where they aren't taxing that income.
However, real war changes people. I personally know two woman who had fiancees that were deployed over to Iraq for combat duty, and called off the weddings when they returned. Told me that they weren't the same people. It will screw a person up. In fact, the biggest problem the military faces right now is the PTSS problems after people are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a bad war, in a bad situation and there's not many things a person is going to pull out of the service right now that are positives. The suicide rate is astronomical for combat veterans, as well as massive increases in family violence, abuse, etc. I enjoyed my time in the military, but I can tell you that I would have a hard time accepting deployment to that mess in the Middle East right now (I am very happy about not going ROTC after my enlistment period ended or accepting the offer to attend West Point Prep while I was in) and I sure as hell wouldn't have enlisted during this time. It's a very, very ugly situation.
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Suicide rate admittedly, is at an all time high. Now, lets peel the onion a little bit; how many of those suicides were from servicemen serving in a direct combat role? As in, how many of those killed themselves because of their experiences in direct-fire combat? Actually, the answer is counter-intuitive.
Secondly, re-enlistments are at an all time high. My battalion in Iraq was at 100% rate. The Army wide statistics show that 70,000 Soldiers reenlisted last year, 12.2% above the retention goal. More than the recruiting goal, this shows that young men and women are choosing to stay even though they are fighting "
a bad war in a bad situation" as you call it.
Your biased opinion is contrary to the facts. The military, although not for all, is a tremendous opportunity for someone to learn about themselves regardless of the MOS.