Join the US military
- Thread starter sparta
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Jezza
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Except the US military isnt a social welfare agency. And someone that wants to "sit around and do nothing" isnt going to change just cause they are wearing a uniform.
The screwballs who get kicked out were screwballs when they went in. So why would you let them in? Being accepted is an honor not an obligation by society.
Looking back my years in uniform were the proudest, and best, of my life.
Except the US military isnt a social welfare agency. And someone that wants to "sit around and do nothing" isnt going to change just cause they are wearing a uniform.
The screwballs who get kicked out were screwballs when they went in. So why would you let them in? Being accepted is an honor not an obligation by society.
Looking back my years in uniform were the proudest, and best, of my life.
Some of the screwballs that go in also have clean records. I have seen civilians that were warts on the ass of society enter and serve their country proudly and become outstanding soldiers, sometimes it is worth giving a individual a break especially if it is for minor run ins with the law.
There was a news special in LA some time back about gang members joining up. You might guess they are trying to get out of the gangs, but no. The plan is to use their combat training to aide their gang.
Marines tend to screen most out-no criminal records allowed; but Army isn't as picky.
They risk coming home in a coffin, but the risk of ending up in a body bag if they stay home isn't much different. There are more gang-related killings in the US each day than our military suffers in Iraq. Unfortunately that gets very little press coverage, while Iraq is featured daily. If press coverage was out of respect for the sacrifices being made, that would be great, but it's not.
Depends on what you call a "minor run in". A DUI pinch? Maybe. A bar fight battery? Maybe. A drug arrest? probably not.
While military life "can" straighten out some people the military isn't there "to" straighten them out. That's my point.
There are exceptions to exceptions for everything.
ANY connection to a street gang should disqualify someone. Unfortunately that isn't a hard and fast rule even for Police Departments.
We have quite a few gangsters, and former gangsters, on Police Dept.'s thanks to affirmative action. Most of all in large municipal Dept.'s.
I agree. When people talk about national service, I think about professional NCO,s who have devoted a large part of their lives, having to waqtch standards drop, and train some blokes who have no interest in being there.
If recruiting standards drop to far,then whats to bet a lot of training standards will also drop.
Agreed - anyone who has had any type of drug conviction or any type of street gang involvement need not apply, we have enough problems on our streets and having them join up into combat arms units to hone fighting skills is total bull sh_t.
Did you see Datelines undercover piece on the recruiting malpractices last year? They let drug addicts in all the time... they don't let them in if they fail the drug test but they let them come back and retake it until they do. They tell them strategies of the quickest way to flush their system of whatever the drug de jour is. With the latest 15 month deployment extension and the readjustment of guard deployment availibilty increases I can't imagine how hard it will be to meet retention goals. I thought the tactics were deplorable all ready but to meet the 92,000 increase they will have to jump through hoops.
Thats a shame. On my days off I work airport security and see a lot of the young people on their way to BT for the beginning of their training. I must say, at least with the ones Ive met, I have been pretty impressed with the calibre of our young troops.
Most of all these USN kids that are on their way to Great Lakes. I tell them all the same thing, to never bring a poor attitude to their new life. AND to leave everything that happened back on the block, back on the block. I met a typical family last week that drove up from some small town down south to see of their kid at the airport. The kid was clean cut, an honors student, active in his church, all in all an outstanding kid.
I was happy for both him and our Navy. THAT is the kind of young troop we need.
I heard that recruiting malpractice has been on the rise for quite some time now which totally sucks, if they don`t start holding people accountable this will eventually turn around and bite them in the rear.
As bad as it's becoming we might just be better off adding a conscript component to the army.
Would this be accepted politically in the USA or would the situation be similar to what it is in Australia?
Australia had conscription (2 years full time selective National Service) in the Vietnam War era but today there is huge opposition to conscription from all the major political parties and I think it would take the threat of an invasion to turn that opinion around.
In the USA would either of the main political parties be likely to support it?
Cheers
Oddly enough, about a year ago a member of the liberal black caucus in the House of Reps spoke in favor of a draft, but his motivation appeared to be the disproportionate number of blacks serving, especially among enlisted personnel.
With 1) general opposition to continued deployment growing 2) an election year coming & 3) liberals controlling Congress & pushing hard for withdrawal from Iraq, conscription isn't likely to find much support anywhere.
Should also be interesting to see how Iraq affects enlistment in National Guard. Don't know if very many would not have signed up if they knew they would end up being deployed, but for decades it's been a minimal commitment with good benefits.
You will never see a return to a draft in this country. These kids today? You think they would actually go if drafted? Canada would treble in population in the first 6 mos.
And the military doesn't want a lot of these kids either. Drafted personel are not the same as self motivated volunteers, however, a volunteer service will not stand up to unpopular wars the same a draftees will. There will be recruiting problems for sure.
And the military doesn't want a lot of these kids either. Drafted personel are not the same as self motivated volunteers, however, a volunteer service will not stand up to unpopular wars the same a draftees will. There will be recruiting problems for sure.
After VN and with deteriorating public opinion during Iraq, it's highly unlikely that US will see draft reinstituted. That could readily change w/ another 9-11 type incident/attack on US or substantial threat of attack, significant enough to reverse public opinion.
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USNavySEAL3310
New Member
Out of curiosity, what other merc companies are out there? I've heard about Blackwater but I don't know any others.