Me and the Military

[chatpilot]

I enlisted voluntarily and was inducted into the U.S. Marine Corp. straight out of high school. At the time I was young and impressionable and fell for all the ads that stated "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere..........The few, the proud, the Marines". I remember I was gung ho about enlisting and fell for all the propaganda and lies that the recruiter fed me about military service. I was not too informed at the time about politics nor about military service, I just wanted to prove I could hang with the best. I was patriotic until I began my service for this country and began to see things around me and the way we were treated that disappointed me greatly.

After reading and researching the Vietnam war and other military conflicts and their aftermaths I decided that I would never fight for this country nor any other country. This country pays alot of lip service about how it cares for its vets but the medical care is minimal and obtaining benefits is a pain in the ass. Most of the homeless population in my city (New York) are former military veterans. Not to mention the way vietnam vets in particular were treated upon return from the war by the country and people whose rights and freedoms they were fighting to protect. The military for me was a great disappointment but everyone has their own unique stories and experiences some good and some bad.