anybody interested in hearing a story?

but ultimately mom won out. she signed a parental waiver. on apr 22 1983, i became a US soldier at the age of 16. up until that time they were letting me "practice". i got uniforms that didnt fit. frequently had to wear chem suits in the field just so id have something that i could wear that was camoflage... but mostly i got to go....
 
and gawd we went... on the first ftx (field training exercise) they showed up with a deuce and a half of beer...i wanted to do something fun so i wandered into the armored section and the first battalion commander i met offered me a line and a hand at poker... being the youngest soldier was becoming a novelty that seemed to garner much attraction... i havent even been to basic training at this point... im still in high school and am only playing soldier on weekends with reservists and national guardsmen, during the week i play a sophomore in highschool who is very much interested in debate and politics.... i spent my summer shooting law rockets , full auto machine guns, and bunking with a former nfl linebacker.
 
you know.. once youve thrown a hand grenade your life changes... at least a little bit.... i was a punk in high school from there on out as a result. going to a parochial high school, not many combat participators... gave me upper hand in many arguements... or at least i thought it did... man you can really bust it out on the peaceniks when youre prepared to kill them to defend their right to believe... the irony was escaping me still... hell i was 16....
 
so there i was... in school... state championship debater at sophomore level when only seniors were on the team...in the army... on my way into the world of the grown ups... my friend brought a gun to school... if itd had been hanging in his back window with a stock on it, perfectly fine. it was a psitol under the seat tho, and the fact that it had no firing pin mattered little to the priests... we both got expelled. me for not telling, him for having. my "commander" was actually sort of gleeful when he heard about it and made a jacking off motion with his hand as he posited "youre 16 and in the army and you like guns, imagine that".... but that created a problem... need diploma to be in army... i know... i made mind up one day and went to every branch, army would only take me conditionally... that was one of them
 
so.. the deal i agreed to was one summer, basic.. next summer ait (advanced individual training).... senior year you get with only reserve level drills but upon graduation you go fulltime for four years...it was called split option....
 
it was kinda funny... when i got orders it would say i would be taken by limousine service to the meps center in kc i thought "wowzers, dad was crazy"...
 
the first time i went was to take the actual aptitude battery, i had already taken the first range of tests. it was the dead of winter. they were sposed to fly us on the local airline... air midwest AKA air maybe, air mishap... but due to icing on the wings of the commercial jet, they wouldn't be flying. no problem when uncle sugar is at the check book... the recruiter walked around airport... then made a few calls... guy named "glenn" shows up... says he's our pilot... follow him to the runway.... so we did... it was me, sarge, and 3 other guys.
 
glenns plane... wasnt really glenns... i guess he waited around for stranded travellers to be wiling to leave hays at any cost and made a decent living at it, he "contracted " to use others planes... he was a short kinda slovenly guy... in his "other life" he was a crop duster...but hey you do what you must... if the commercial airline wont take off due to ice on the wings... this guy wont either....did i mention glenn was a cropduster AKA fawkin stuntpilot....:D
 
robert l. bentham said:
as this clod explained it to me he thought for sure there d be plenty of food and ammo in the war zone.... actually doesnt sound that unreasonable... until you realize its the army....
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obviously that moron hadn't read about Napoleon. ('an army travels on its stomach') :rolleyes:
 
robert l. bentham said:
i said to him "because i wanna learn personal responsibility" he said, "personal responsibility?"... you have that here. "the dairy don't run without you, cows don't milk themselves", "wheat dont get planted without you" ,"alfalfa dont get baled"... by that point all i heard was... "you need me to do your work"...

sad... when you hit that point with a human... nothing good will follow... as a caveat, he threw this my way... he said,"good luck learning personal responsibility in a place where they tell you you when to wake, shit and eat"... i rejected my father for randian foolishness about how the noble among us rise to the occasion...
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Am I to assume that other options were never available??

Like college, tech school?
and so on?

my mother (brilliantly, of course) always told me that I could do whatever I wanted in life - but I better LOVE it because I'd be doing A LOT of it. This put the onus on me to figure out what I loved. It was always assumed I would go to college so I didn't dwell on the details for a long time.

Anyway, this thing is about you......I get that you felt trapped, but why no other options?
 
robert l. bentham said:
oh i didnt point out that i was republican back then...
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Once upon a time being Republican was respectable. My mom's been a card carrying member of the Republican Party for decades.

Now, it's full of jackasses and mom stopped paying her membership. THAT is how badly they have turned off the real citizens.
 
All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys,
The champions and enthusiasts of the state:
Turbid ardors and vain joys
Not barrenly abate--
Stimulants to the power mature,
Preparatives of fate.

HERMAN MELVILLE, "The March Into Virginia"
 
cecilia said:
Am I to assume that other options were never available??

Like college, tech school?
and so on?

my mother (brilliantly, of course) always told me that I could do whatever I wanted in life - but I better LOVE it because I'd be doing A LOT of it. This put the onus on me to figure out what I loved. It was always assumed I would go to college so I didn't dwell on the details for a long time.

Anyway, this thing is about you......I get that you felt trapped, but why no other options?
Click to expand...

i actually had lots of options, and opportunities were unfolding at a remarkable rate. but, and i gotta admit this, in spite of my intellect (i had to walk from the college prep school to the college because the classes at the prep school weren't advanced enough, twice a day); i felt this "calling" for wont of a better word, to do something more grand! plus at that age all the cold war propaganda had finally taken its toll on my mind and i succumbed to the belief that i was about to embark on a noble and courageous adventure. there were many things i didnt consider, once that had taken hold of me, jingoistic nationalism is the wrong thing to teach 15 yr old country boys. but too your question more directly, through the school i was already getting offers for full scholarships... the school themselves appeared to be grooming me for politics and it was almost awkward how much they "studied" my behaviours. the college i was attending while going to high school, actually told me i was wasting my time at the prep school as i was already "good to go" and encouraged me to get a GED and come to school there. free of course. my dad and i wrestled over this issue too but mostly because he didn't want me to feel like i had to "grow up" right away. his younger brother was actually just finishing his degree at the same college, (and i got way better science and math grades:D ) anyway... none of the options seemed to fulfill the requirements of my hearts desire, save the one, the army... it needed to be immediate, irreversible, acceptable and bold as hell...
 
cecilia said:
Once upon a time being Republican was respectable. My mom's been a card carrying member of the Republican Party for decades.

Now, it's full of jackasses and mom stopped paying her membership. THAT is how badly they have turned off the real citizens.
Click to expand...

i think it was just easier to fool people then... go back and look at some of the vile shit republicans have been doing for time ad nauseum and then some... i left when i confirmed they lied me into killing people... but that wasnt the first time they done that to someone, nor was it an isolated really extreme case of first offense, it resulted as a systemic abuse and manipulation that worked incrementally to the point the only question they bothered asking was "what more can we get away with?". imho
 
oh, I Remember the Vile Shit republicans have been doing......I saw a Lot of it.
I just mean that once while there were the scumbags you also had people like Eisenhower and William Buckley (to name two that immediately pop into my head) that you could respect ...

NOW, I see no one that earns My respect.
 
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