re: Regret not joining the military

To each their own


I'd rather not give my life so the American Government and our corporations get a more favorable price on oil

If I could go back, I would have. Not made a lifelong career out of it, but I think you can learn about yourself in those 4 years. I didn't know what the shite I wanted to do getting out of high school, now you work this career that you probably didn't plan for yourself.

Maybe even 2 years right out of high school could help some people out.

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Definitely not. Appreciate those that did/do, but it's not for me.

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Same.

I know myself well enough to know that i wouldnt have lasted 3 days in the military.. have always been too much of an ‘individual’ and a questioner, i never wanted to blindly follow orders.. plus i dont think i was disciplined enough back then.. hell, i dont think I’d be disciplined enough now, though i am disciplined in just enough areas that have allowed me to be halfway successful.. the only reason why I’d wish that maybe I’d gone military is b/c now I’d have a pension that would allow me to leave the U.S. and go live some cheap, tropical country on my pension check .

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didn't know what the shite I wanted to do getting out of high school, now you work this career that you probably didn't plan for yourself. Maybe even 2 years right out of high school could help some people out.

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Yeah ive always thought it was kinda insane that we expect kids that are college freshmen and sophomores to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives.. i started college at 17, so i think i first picked a major at 16.. absolutely clueless i was .. wasnt much more mature at 19 or 20.. maybe the solution is for everybody who goes to college to have a similar course load and THEN decide after graduation what ur specialty or actual career is gonna be, i dont know .







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Considering what the US military has become, you should feel no regret in skipping it.

Joined in 2002 shortly after 9-11 on a two year contract thinking I’d go back to LSU afterwards, after not really being into school at the time. However, I spent 10 years active duty in the the Army and re-enlisted.

Spent 2 tours during OEF. Route clearance hooah!!

Made a lot of good friends while in. Lost many while deployed with the 25 ID and 2nd ID, and some to suicide years later. Saw a lot of death and destruction, but I don’t regret my decision to serve.

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My brother was sent to Iraq. After a couple of months, I thought it was unfair that he had to go there and I didn't.

So I decided that I was going to enlist.

Brother told me I was a dumbass and talked me out of it. Glad he did.

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I had similar thoughts I expressed to a USMC Colonel buddy one time and he called me an idiot and said something along the lines of "you'd be more useful to us if you became successful so you could hire some vets when this is done"

10 years ago I did. I would've liked to be a Naval Aviator - Either a Pilot or an NFO, don't really care.

It's pretty competitive, so there are no guarantees that would've happened.

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Only 2 branches of the Military, Army and the Navy. The Air Force is a Corporation and the Marine Corps is a cult.

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A former President agreed with you on the Marines:

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"“The Marine Corps is the Navy’s police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin’s.” - Harry Truman

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Truman basically tried to turn the Navy into the Coast Guard, and eliminate the Marines. Basically the Air Force and Army were advocating wiping them out so budgets could be redirected to their services (and the Army didn't know at the time that the Air Force planned to do same thing to THEM down the road). Carl Spaatz argued that America didn't need a Navy of ANY kind after the war. And right after he said this, some USAF general gave a speech basically saying "the Air Force rules the world now, and those podunk branches had better get used to it".


Edit: exact quote

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"You gentlemen had better understand that the Army Air Force is tired of being a subordinate outfit. It was a predominant force during the war, and it is going to be a predominant force during the peace, and you might as well make up your minds whether you like it or not, and we do not care whether you like it or not. The Army Air Force is going to run the show. You, the Navy, are not going to have anything but a couple of carriers which are ineffective anyway, and they will probably be sunk in the first battle.

"Now as for the Marines...a small bitched-up army talking Navy lingo. We are going to put those Marines in the Regular Army and make efficient soldiers out of them.

"The Navy is going to end up only by supplying the requirement of the Army Air and the Ground Forces..."

(Army Air Forces Brig. Gen. Frank A. Armstrong, Jr., 11 December 1946

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Look up "Revolt of the Admirals". USAF's B-36 program vs the Navy's new USS United States was the catalyst for what became an insurrection in the Pentagon. The Marine landings in Korea, praised by MacArthur, pretty much eliminated the notion of wiping out the Navy and Marine Corps after that.

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Definitely not. Appreciate those that did/do, but it's not for me.

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This.