To US Veterans...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

When I was running a taxi service for the penipeds they were very often happy to see our boats coming up the river. We brought our big friends with us.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Like any situation where there's a vast disparity in power between the guy holding the gun and the people they're holding it around, shit can go pear shaped fast.  Obviously times have changed, but..today, the military roe are stricter than the environment under which domestic police forces operate - so, depending on where and when (and with whom) a person has interacted, they may have a very different view of soldiers and service.  

It also doesn't help that it's a shit job that doesn't usually appeal to the kinds of people we want doing it, who have more opportunities compared to the kinds of people we don't...for whom it holds even greater appeal.

To an extent, being conditioned to fall into the "jack booted thug" role is a practical requirement of combat arms, however distasteful it may be.  Sympathy for the devil here, though, since..when shit has -really- gone pear shaped and despite our normal reservations....we very much appreciate seeing our jack booted thugs cresting the ridge line.  It only takes an instant to go from smiling distributor of humanitarian relief to killer, or dead.  Those are the three states of affairs that anyone who volunteers for that sort of duty finds themselves in.  If nothing else, we might appreciate that those people choose to do and place themselves in that position in our stead.  That someone is doing it.

*shrug*  You can only see soldiers shoot civilians with rubber bullets so many times before you sour on the whole thing.  I happily admit that my assessment of military organizations is highly biased, almost certainly unfair, and pretty fucking narrow-minded.

Kudos, though, to the great majority of soldiers who don't shoot grannies with rubber bullets or club 12 year olds with rifle butts or use live fire on spectators at a parade or loot the homes of civilians or collude with terrorists.  Hat's off to you.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

It's understandable. We're not cleared to shoot "non-lethal" rounds anymore (and, mind, I've been out for a bit now), on account of how they aren't really non lethal..and how bad it looks on tv even when nobody ends up dead-ed. Mostly, our weapons are decoration. I spent the majority of my time on patrol gripping and grinning with locals, handing out food.

Hearts and minds and all that.

There are..ofc, still guys that could do the wrong thing if you handed them a rubber chicken, and I've had my boot on the back of grannies neck at three in the morning, as well. Sucks. Some things never really change. My own grandmother probably thought about disowning me when she heard I'd signed..her idea of soldiers running close to yours for the same reasons.

The way it's set up now, and here, is that it's harder to do the wrong thing than the right thing right off the bat..and if you step out of line, no one is behind you. I'd have shot my own guys in the leg for fucking up quicker than I'd pull the trigger on the enemy. We have to protect the integrity of the unit. It means more than any of us.

This sentiment is not uniform, granted.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'm glad I pulled the pin in '89.

[The Grand Nudger]

I came in right after you went out, lol. In military time, anyway. I was the typical hooah motherfucker, not wanting to miss the next big war. Then, when it happened, regretting my decision.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I came in right after you went out, lol.  In military time, anyway.  I was the typical hooah motherfucker, not wanting to miss the next big war. Then, when it happened, regretting my decision.

Going in in 1969 pretty much guaranteed I'd see S.E.A. at some point. Volunteering for Riverine was the clincher. As I said elsewhere, combat beat working in a factory for me.

[The Grand Nudger]

I probably would have rather worked in a factory...but they were all closed up by the time I signed, lol. I went right into manufacturing afterward, on the back of my clearance and dod contracts. Closest I ever got to flying a little bird, which was my dream.

To this day no one has ever entrusted me with a helo, which is probably for the best....but I still dream, lol.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I probably would have rather worked in a factory...but they were all closed up by the time I signed, lol.  I went right into manufacturing afterward, on the back of my clearance and dod contracts.  Closest I ever got to flying a little bird, which was my dream.

To this day no one has ever entrusted me with a helo, which is probably for the best....but I still dream, lol.

My then future BILs brother was a door gunner on the -47s. "They can carry their own weight in guns and ammo!" My last day in country his bird hauled me to the body shop.

[The Grand Nudger]

Their own weight? Pussies. My saw and bando and cls bag weighed more than I did. lol.

I wanted to fly a super stallion, the ones with arthur in the belly, or..failing that, a kiowa.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I can carry my own weight in anything.  Well, anything carry-able.

Boru