Military

[Raavi]

Quite a bit of military history in the family. Know of at least of 8 of my ancestors whom had military roles with the Dutch East India Company. Bit more recently my grandfather was Cavalry prior to WWII, not during as he was to be evacuated aboard a French cargo ship at the start of World War II, before it was blown to smithereens off the coast of Dunkirk by Stukas, he survived but returned (walked) home, which by then was occupied territory. He resisted in a non-military capacity after that. My father was a conscripted soldier, but ultimately decided against joining after the conscription period ended. As for me, my national pride is pretty much non-existent, but I would without a shadow of a doubt sign up if there was a war that threatened my loved ones.

[Fonz]

An uncle and a great-uncle of mine served in Angola and Guinea-Bissau during the Portuguese Colonial War. My uncle was mentally scarred for life (strong PTSD) and was often punished by his superiors for denouncing crimes his fellow soldiers perpetrated.

 

I briefly considered joining the Army or the FAP (that's the Portuguese Air Force, ya dirty bastards ), but I've now decided that I'd like to pursue diplomacy.

[Abel.]

I've got buddies going into all different branches of the military. My childhood friend is starting to defuse IEDs in the Marines, another's doing para-rescure in the Army, and the third is doing some high-tech drone engineering sh*t in the Army as well.

 

Mad respect to (mostly) everyone who serves or has served, though f*ck all our governments.

 

I'd like advice from other Americans. Do you think I should consider joining up? I could finish college for no monetary cost, plus the fulfillment and prestige of serving. My only problem is this Middle East conflict seems like a joke to me, sending people and tax dollars to perish so some goat f*ckers don't kill some people a world over. It's hardly the forth reich or anything.

What do you guys think about serving today?

I'd argue that combat operations in Afghanistan were vital in diminishing the operational capacity of the Taliban. The war in Iraq was more ambiguous. Saddam had to be stopped and I've the utmost respect for those who served in the Iraq war, but the whole exercise was laden with problems and exacerbated problems regarding public opinion of the US in the region.

 

As for what's going on now, I feel the West has been very complacent in dealing with current rise of Jihad in the Levant and is now paying the price. I've no idea if we're going to be taking a wider role in the conflict given the success of the Kurds thus far and the improved vigour of the Iraqi army, so don't base your decision to join or not on the Middle East alone. Don't let anyone else decide for you, either. Joining the military can be a great decision but it's not one to be taken lightly.

 

Not American but I hope this input helps.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Failure

[X S]

Attended a military academy from my freshman to senior year of high school. I went through the whole boot camp aka plebe system that was modeled after West Point's. They shaved your head, racked you up in barracks, and simply made your life a living hell for 6 weeks. It was commanded by retired and reserved US military, mostly Army with some AF, Marines and Navy. Drill, however, was done in British fashion, because the founder was obsessed with British Drill in the 1920's. By my senior year, I was a Cadet Captain Company Commander. So I was quite successful there.

 

But by that time, however, I was urging to get out, attend college, let loose, fraternize with women (was an all male academy), so I chose not to go into the Army. It was like a scratch I was just dying to itch!!!! But when I look back on it, I really should have just done the 2-year ROTC program and went into JAG school or something.

 

The military way of life will really teach you the values of discipline, organization, time management, and camaraderie. And overall, it teaches you how to be a man, how to take personal responsibility for your life and others.

 

If you're wondering what school it was, it was where the film Taps was filmed with Tom Cruise and Sean Penn.

[Drunken Cowboy]

Damned OCD...

 

Can we change the name of this thread from "Army" to "Military"?

 

The seamen and the fly-boys would like a word...

 

Edit: Thanks, Raavioli.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Drunken Cowboy

[TECHN9CiAN]

2 of my best friends are US Marines, one is in san diego, the other is in north carolina i think. Just spoke with him, he gonna be going to some south american country where he see actual combat for the firsy time. Im nervous for him

Edited March 10, 2015 by TECHN9CiAN

[Braindawg]

i don't know why one would want to join the army. especially if that army is imperialistic and invades different countries to kill innocent people and make rich people richer.

 

the only thing good about the army is that you get weapons training

I was in the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces)

Not only is the service mandatory it's 3 years (Age 18-21), i wasn't told to invade any country. It's unrealistic to say that every army's goal is to invade some other country.

[9i OTD]

My dad was in the Australian Army from I think 1974-1978, stationed in Malaysia. I'm thinking about joining the navy after I leave school but first I'd have to lose a lot of weight and even then I'm not sure I could get in with my vision (20/900 or something horrible, correctable to 20/15 with glasses or contact lenses).

[Zook]

The only person in my family who has military experience would be more grandfather. Who was polish and fought for the allies and eventually settle in the UK. I'm not quite sure of the details but he didn't really ever talk about it, understandably. I'm quite proud and he give me this awesome Polish surname.

[Finn 7 five 11]

Haven't spotted a single thread in the past few days/weeks about army, let it be voluntary or conscription.

 

So, the purpose of this thread is to discuss army in general, your own stories, gear, and whatever else you find related.

 

 

And I'll start. I'm currently in Finnish army, as pioneer NCO, or combat engineer, whatever it's called in your country. In Finland, we have conscription, which basically means you have to serve your country after turning 18 years, either by joining Finnish Defence Forces, or by working in a public place such as library, hospital etc. I chose the army, and my duty lasts a total of 347 days, during which I've so far passed NCO course to become a group leader, and currently I mostly educate my group to become a professional war time group, capable of handling any given task.

 

My thoughts so far are, that even though a lot of young men that are forces to join the army, this has been so far among the best moments of life. Within first days, you are given your personal assault rifle (in my case RK-62), and during training, you get to experience loads of interesting stuff. We've had explosive training so we are able to take out bridges and other critical constructions, and we've been handling real explosives to see what they're capable of. Cutting a railroad with plastic explosives, blowing up concrete pillars with TNT, and getting to build an ignition system for our primary weaponry, mines. Land mines, anti-tank mines, shaped charges, claymores, we've seen what they can do. Along with exposure to tear gas while wearing gas masks, tough training in temperatures below -20 degrees celcius... One hell of a time. And who could forget seeing their first real M72 LAW hit a piece of steel wall while the rest of the group is suppressing the enemy?

My only question for you is where did you do your service? I am wanting to do mine but not sure where. My uncle's say up north is better because it's not muddy at times like Helsinki, but many people say it's very boring up north.

[Doc Rikowski]

I was conscripted to the Italian Army in 1992 when I was 19y old.

I chose to apply for voluntary service as an officer which meant 15 months instead of 12, an officer rank, a decent paycheck and generally more freedom after getting your rank.

Back then the Army used to train auxiliary officers to serve in the conscripted army (or Navy, or Air Force) side by side with career officers who came from military academies.

I had to pass a series of exams to get in then went through 5 months of intense and tough training, finally I got my rank as a Mechanized Infantry 2nd lieutenant and was assigned to Northern Italy with instructor duties.

Basically every month I would train a platoon of conscripted recruits. Over a 100 recruits every 20 days or so. I was assisted in the job by 3 or 4 corporals.

 

I had a great time indeed and even though a career in the military wasn't my thing I was pretty good at it.

It's a great life lesson on how a structured "society" with strict rules and hierarchy works, on people, on relationships, on working with others, on responsibilities.

Definitely prepares you for the civilian world cause it's an extreme version of it.

Conscription did suck though for a lot of ordinary soldiers coming from specific situations.

A range of issues going from losing your civilian job while you were the only family provider to people conscripted when in reality should have not.

Conscription ended about a decade ago in Italy. In the end I think it was a good thing for young people.

I certainly enjoyed it and remember it as an important experience in my life.

[BrownBear]

I feel joining the army would go against my beliefs, though I have considered joining the Navy before.

 

My family's not a very military one, though my dad went through National Service and was posted somewhere in Eastern Turkey to fight Kurdish separatists, but he never saw any combat. My great granddad was killed at Gallipoli in WW1 by an Australian sniper.

On my other side my mum's family were involved in the war for Irish independence. My granny would hide fleeing IRA members on her farm as a child and I wouldn't be at all surprised in more distant relations were directly involved in the conflict.

 

With a family history like that it would feel kind of weird to join the army both sides of my family fought against.

[Davo the Assassin]

With regards to training while studying - it's a weird one. The OTC units at University say it's a part time thing but you spend a sh*t load of time with the people and some idiots sacrifice their degrees to get involved in every single aspect of OTC life. I had training every Wednesday evening. Every other weekend was spent out in the field on exercises. Then most weekends in between there were socials, or drill, or PT or an event such as Rememberance weekend etc. It soaks up a hell of a lot of time, especially when you factor in the up-keep of your kit. i.e. Ironing. But hey, you get paid a bit so it works out.

 

I tried to balance my OTC social life, studies and then non-military social life and I think I did a pretty good job most of the time. But when final exams hit and I was coming towards the end of my time at Uni I wanted to spend time with my real friends rather than my OTC group so training had to give way so I could study right and socialise with the people who mattered more to me.

 

Oh man a fellow Officer Cadet! What OTC were you with? I was in Cambridge UOTC myself. Joined 2010, still in it, technically. Haven't handed in my resignation.

 

I can totally relate to the whole 'idiots' sacrificing their degrees. One friend of mine ended up being booted off of his Medicine degree at Cambridge because he devoted too much time to the unit. Absolutely fantastic bloke, but after spending so much effort to get into Medicine at Cambridge to then just give it away? Madness. He didn't even join the army in the end. That said he must of earned an absolute bomb from it, far exceeding the annual day allocation I'm sure.

 

My social group became the OTC group. That said I was always one of the guys there for the experience and money rather than because I wanted to commission. Never could be bothered with getting serious for anything like Cambrian Patrol or MOD 3 etc. But I get what you mean about balancing everything. I did MOD 2 in my final year, and it almost killed me and my degree. Though I ultimately passed both, and the latter with a high 2:1 so I guess I scrapped through.

 

On topic, despite having done a tonne of officer themed training, I have no interest in going down that route. I have toyed with joining 3 Military Intelligence Battalion based out of Cambridge, a reserve unit, as a trooper. But its easy to say one thing than actually do it, and I haven't quite got round to that part yet. We will see I guess.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Davo the Assassin

[9i OTD]

My great granddad was killed at Gallipoli in WW1 by an Australian sniper.

 

I apologize on behalf of my country.

[BrownBear]

Haha, that's alright mate. Can't really hold a grudge for someone who died nearly 100 years ago.

[Clem Fandango]

Saddam had to be stopped

[Abel.]

Saddam had to be stopped and I've the utmost respect for those who served in the Iraq war, but the whole exercise was laden with problems and exacerbated problems regarding public opinion of the US in the region.

 

Come on Mel, don't take bits of my post out of context. Pretext for the Iraq war was sh*te and the whole exercise was a fiasco, but I'd argue that Saddam had to be stopped.

 

 

Nobum, you've made it abundantly clear that you disagree with the premise of this thread and those who have posted in it so I'd advise you to post elsewhere.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Failure

[xolov]

As I am booth a Norwegian and a Finnish citizenship I can choose if I want to serve in the Norwegian army or the Finnish army.

[GTA_stu]

As I am both a Norwegian and a Finnish citizenship I can choose if I want to serve in the Norwegian army or the Finnish army.

 

So if the Ruskies sweep west I guess you'll get 2 attempts at stopping them. 1st as part of the Finnish army, then if they get rolled over you can try again with the Norwegian army. Double the fun!

[Niobium]

 

 

 

Nobum, you've made it abundantly clear that you disagree with the premise of this thread and those who have posted in it so I'd advise you to post elsewhere.

he replied to my post so i replied back.

[Tyler]

You don't need to take bait every time someone puts it out.

[GTA_stu]

Don't walk right into the enemy's trap.

 

They teach you that in the military.

[Stephan90]

I was lucky to avoid any basic service for the army, which let me save 9 months.

 

My brother however serves for 12 years and works as an engine mechanic at an Eurofighter Typhoon squadron military base where pilots are trained. He is mainly doing it for the money and would never freely participate in a mission only when he is ordered to. However last year he spent some time in an Italian NATO airforce base on Sicily.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Stephan90

[aStiffSausage]

My only question for you is where did you do your service? I am wanting to do mine but not sure where. My uncle's say up north is better because it's not muddy at times like Helsinki, but many people say it's very boring up north.

I'm in Kainuu Brigade (Kainuun Prikaati), and, well, straight from Wikipedia:

 

The Brigade trains units suited for combat on the heavy snow and poor road-infrastructure areas of Northern Finland, and has several variations from normal Finnish Army training schedules and equipment to meet these demands, such as the light tracked all-terrain vehicles used for fast transportation of troops especially during wintertime.

 

Pretty much sums it up. Temperatures range from -30 to 30 degrees celcius, most of transportation is through the woods, either on tracked ATV or on foot.

[Twilight Sky]

Two things stopping me from joining;

 

1. Drill instructors. Get in my face one time and I'll set the world record for fastest discharge.

2. My body is out of shape and too many ailments(back is a big one). They would deem me unfit for duty anyway.

[RoadRunner71]

Now I remember, my grandfather by mom’s side was in the Spanish Legion and then trained paratroopers. I never got to know him and I don't know much about him or his service, I guess it was back in the early 1950’s when the Spanish Paratrooper Brigade was created. Back in the Army he used to have a macaque as a pet.