168 points
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Two things not mentioned it that article:

  1. Why would anyone want to fight for a country that is so callously disinterested in the welfare of it’s citizens?

  2. In the last quarter-century it has become extremely apparent that the US Military is not the “global force for good” that it wants to portray itself as. Most young people probably aren’t interested in joining up to commit war crimes in the name of making money for the military industrial complex.

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49 points
  1. Every branch of the military has become increasingly toxic, cutting things like training and cleaning up black mold in favor of new uniforms every 2 years
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29 points

How’s training and cleaning up mold supposed to line the pockets of the senator’s buddy who owns the uniform company?

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8 points

Yup. Every problem with this world eventually gets traced back to money.

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1 point
Deleted by creator
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25 points

@kvasir476 @throws_lemy Suggested edit: After “In the last quarter-century” insert “I’ve finally noticed”.

Butler saw the scam first-hand, 100 years ago. Every generation seems it must relearn the lessons of our grandparents.

As for young people not enlisting for wars of convenience - exactly. That’s partially why a draft was around, and why it was so unpopular. And why the money each service pays for college benefits goes way up when there’s a shooting war and goes down in peacetime.

My time in the Navy overlapped with the VEAP program, which would give me a 2-to-1 match for college - up to the maximum contribution of $2700. What a joke.

Compare that to the current GI Bill plus extra money each service pays directly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

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14 points
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\3. Pay hasn’t kept up with civilian work.

\4. They stopped offering student loan repayment as a benefit.

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11 points
  1. They stopped offering student loan repayment as a benefit.

What really? That was the biggest reason anyone joined when I was in. Wow. So the headline should be “Military reduces benefits of service, less people willing to serve”

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6 points

Never has been the global force for good

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4 points

I mean… defeating the Nazis?

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13 points

After Germany declared war on them? They didn’t defeat them out of good will, in fact, I’d say America and South Africa were the closest things to Nazi Germany outside of the Reich

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6 points

stopped clocked fallacy.

the united states is in so many wars, they were bound to achieve one somewhat correctly.

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4 points

Global force for better

Good would’ve involved them allowing Spanish civil war vets to fight

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1 point

You know that was more so Russia right?

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111 points

We’ve seen the bullshit reasons the US government use to send people to war and we’ve seen how the veterans are treated by Congress.

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69 points
Deleted by creator
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24 points

Seems like he did. Sorry for your loss.

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12 points

I watched my dad have to stay in bed day after day because the VA fucked up his meds for millionth time, basically my whole time growing up… Yeah, saw it first hand too.

My condolences and fuck the ghouls who use people like that.

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2 points

The VA IS 100% ass. Personal experience with the VA.

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90 points
*

No, we don’t want to fight for racist, corrupt, misogynous, traitorous shitheads like Trump and DeSantis.

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39 points

As pretty much any political minority will tell you, the country constantly uses us like ping pong balls and cat toys to win elections or internal battles.

I am sick of my rights, welfare, sense of safety, and hope for the future being dangled in front of me and ripped away over and over again so billionaires and career politicians can be greedy.

So, yeah. Not interested in serving. If my country wants me to fight for it, then it should fight for me as well.

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20 points

I have two sons in their early 20s and I’m scared to death one of these fascist chucklefucks decides to get us into some conflict we don’t need to be in just because he wants to prove he has BDE and reinstates the draft.

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24 points

I was in the Air Force in the late 70s. Twenty years ago (roughly) I pushed both my boys into the military, because they were being fuck-ups and I didn’t know any other way at the time.

I’m thankful as all hell that they had the good sense to tell the military to get fucked when in Basic and got out.

Learn from my stupidity.

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6 points

Some people can thrive in the military for sure. I have a stepson that’s one of the hardest workers I know. He has issues with basic life skills (anxiety and stress) and taking care of things on his own but thrives in an environment with lots of discipline and order. He’s too old know but had he gotten into the military I’m sure his life would have been much better now.

But given some of the things they send the military to do recently (cough cough …Afghanistan) it seems like a waste of human life and resources. I’m glad your boys were smart enough to understand it wasn’t a good fit for them at the time and had the courage to make that decision. Hopefully it’s worked out for them.

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18 points

That was honestly the main reason why I didn’t join the military over the last few years.

That and I just refuse to be a part of it.

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69 points

Ah well, soldiers haven’t fought for their country for decades. Instead they’ve been fighting for the interest of industrialized military, and the whims of politicians.

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21 points

the american military-industrical complex is little more than a welfare/jobs program for americans with profits made overseas while at home were prostetlized that were ‘defending’ ourselves with overt patriotism

its absolutely revolting, and it boggles my mind how anyone in the military can find this a good thing for humanity.

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19 points

Remember the video of the Iraq vet that was screaming at Bush to apologize in 2021 I think? He talked about all his friends being dead and a million Iraqis being dead all because of a bunch of lies. And while Iraq was one of the latest foreign failures, it was far from the only one. It just so happened to occur right around the same time the internet started connecting everyone. MSM couldn’t whitewash or ignore what was actually happening like it could a few decades prior.

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68 points

Eustice, who served 26 years in the Minnesota National Guard, noted that young adults were the military’s prime target for new recruits—currently Generation Z, or those born after 1997—and argued that growing up in the internet age had made them used to “immediate gratification.”

Oh look, another out of touch boomer. ItS tHoSe DaMn CeLlPhOnEs! Gen Z grew up watching America get involved in, then stay involved in, a deeply unpopular war. Gen Z grew up in an age where you can fact check someone on the spot and it makes it that much harder for recruiters to lie. They grew up in an age where half of the government is trying to drag the country backwards by any means.

I am in the military. I overheard my leadership talking with a woman who wanted to get out. When they asked her why she said it was because of the Roe V Wade decision. “Why would I fight for a country that won’t fight for me?” I don’t blame her.

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26 points

A person saying kids don’t want to join the military because they’re too used to “instant gratification” is some of the most obnoxious shit I have ever heard lmao

If someone went up to me and said that, I’d tell them to go fuck themselves and leave, because fuck all of that.

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-10 points

Such edge

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-2 points

be nice to the blow highs

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5 points

I have a child who was born in 1999. The other thing men and women of that general age group has heard is “DON’T JOIN THE MILITARY” from their parents, starting at a young age.

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4 points

Yeah. I was in the military, the Marines in fact. I will tell my two children don’t join the military, especially don’t join the Marines, and if you need to join the Air Force and work on AC units or some shit.

Everyone here suggesting joining the military means you’re going to combat is mistaken. When I was in a combat role, the number we always heard was 10% of people in the military are in combat ops jobs, and 10% of those people see actual combat. The military absolutely offers opportunities to learn a trade for folks who are in a tough spot, and you can make it work for you.

Everyone who says shits fucked now and the country is just billionaires, I’m totally on board. But if you’re some poor kid from Mississippi, being an engine mechanic in the Army might be your best shot at a decent life, and I wouldn’t begrudge anyone that.

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