RE: Do you agree or disagree with this phrase about those who serve in the Millitary?
October 25, 2017 at 3:46 am
In Portugal, we had a mandatory recruit for all male kids, once they hit the age of 18.... unless you could prove that you were enrolled in school.... but, as soon as you left school, you'd have to take up that recruit. A 3 month ordeal, paid at less than minimum wage...
Useless to say that most kids didn't want to do it. Most just wanted to go to college and live their lives.
When it came to my last year at uni, my year was the last where this rule existed... however, not everyone went to recruit. Most were stationed as "territorial reserve"... or, to be recruited later
My brother ended up like that...
But me?... I had an inguinal hernia at precisely that time. Because of that, the military deemed me unfit for service. A few months later, I got my hernia fixed and life went on. Can't say I regret it in the least.
Nowadays, it's all voluntary, so you only get the crazy nutjobs joining the military.
That all said, I can't see people who join the military as heroes. They just seem like aggressive people with training and access to guns!
And those who go fight abroad?... I can't even see those as "defending" your country... They look more like an invading army. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Korea, Vietnam?
My dad was in a war in Angola, back when it was officially part of Portuguese territory, to "defend" it from the separatist forces... He doesn't speak much of that time... just that he was one of the best people there reading the map, and that he once went mushroom picking and ate the lot... only to get food poisoning and a proper stomach cleansing, military style - 2 gallons+ of some solution down his throat - he did say he was thirsty... Also, he took lots of photos he still keeps as slides.
Less than 10 years later, after bleeding out lots of young men, Portugal, newly released from the shackles of a fascist dictatorship, decided to grant the african colonies their independence. Useless wasteful war for nothing.
I don't see my dad as a hero for being in that stupid war. It's just a part of his life. He's a hero for raising me and my brother almost on his own.
Useless to say that most kids didn't want to do it. Most just wanted to go to college and live their lives.
When it came to my last year at uni, my year was the last where this rule existed... however, not everyone went to recruit. Most were stationed as "territorial reserve"... or, to be recruited later
My brother ended up like that...But me?... I had an inguinal hernia at precisely that time. Because of that, the military deemed me unfit for service. A few months later, I got my hernia fixed and life went on. Can't say I regret it in the least.
Nowadays, it's all voluntary, so you only get the crazy nutjobs joining the military.
That all said, I can't see people who join the military as heroes. They just seem like aggressive people with training and access to guns!
And those who go fight abroad?... I can't even see those as "defending" your country... They look more like an invading army. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Korea, Vietnam?
My dad was in a war in Angola, back when it was officially part of Portuguese territory, to "defend" it from the separatist forces... He doesn't speak much of that time... just that he was one of the best people there reading the map, and that he once went mushroom picking and ate the lot... only to get food poisoning and a proper stomach cleansing, military style - 2 gallons+ of some solution down his throat - he did say he was thirsty... Also, he took lots of photos he still keeps as slides.
Less than 10 years later, after bleeding out lots of young men, Portugal, newly released from the shackles of a fascist dictatorship, decided to grant the african colonies their independence. Useless wasteful war for nothing.
I don't see my dad as a hero for being in that stupid war. It's just a part of his life. He's a hero for raising me and my brother almost on his own.
