He who dares, wins.
Here he is about my age.
PeakOil is You
Rejoining the Army
Re: Rejoining the Army
by Polemic » Tue 05 Feb 2008, 02:27:47
He who dares, wins.
Here he is about my age.
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Polemic - Lignite
- Posts: 353
- Joined: Sun 24 Sep 2006, 03:00:00
- Location: Austin, TX
Re: Rejoining the Army
by gg3 » Tue 05 Feb 2008, 08:04:06
Jason, thanks; and Godspeed to you...
Golem, war is hell and no one knows it like the people who fight in it, so there's really no point preaching from the sidelines.
DaveP, that's the piece I was trying to remember but didn't: anything a person is keeping as a personal secret can be used by a hostile agent as a point for extortion, so the rule is to disclose all of it and there will be nothing to use for extortion. This is also why NSA (and probably CIA) can accept gay folks: you're required to come out of the closet so there is no secret to hide from family or close friends, and no point of leverage for hostiles to exploit. BTW, the math on the NSA exam really *is* hard. They're looking for cryptanalysts, people with "cipher brains," and that is a very very rare talent.
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ILP: But there's also the NCO track, which is via the enlisted ranks, and therefore open to working-class folks w/o college degrees. COs very often depend on the NCOs, and field etiquette calls for the COs deferring to the NCOs on operational matters, so there are exceptions to the class system. You can get into CO track via ROTC via public universities. The upper class of COs are the ones who come in via West Point, and strictly speaking those are usually middle class kids from families with strong military traditions.
The dirty little secret is that the real upper class takes a pass. You won't see any scions of the Fortune 500 carrying rifles for their country, anywhere this side of a truly fair draft. And let's not forget: at present we have two draft-dodgers in the White House.
McCain and Ron Paul served honorably in Vietnam. Obama was too young for Vietnam (GenX). HRC wasn't eligible for the draft (female).
Romney was old enough for Vietnam but did not serve (from HS into LDS missionary work, into university, and then into business, and what was his draft status??). As far as I know, the LDS are not religious pacifists.
Huckabee was born in '55 so he could have been eligible for the Vietnam draft, which ended in 1973. He might have gotten out of it by a coincidence of months, but in any case he didn't serve, and beyond that he is a religious extremist approximately equivalent to the Taliban (search "dominionism" and "reconstructionism" for more) which IMHO makes him a kook. But I digresss...
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Polemic, yeah you've definitely got bragging rights re. your dad, as he had while he was alive. Rest in peace.
They may have needed officers and SF badly enough to take more people than ordinarily, but that does not distract from his achievements. And they certainly have a mid-grade officer shortage today. This will probably start to be alleviated when the combat rotations are rolled back to what they were before.
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And for those who want to rant about Vietnam, just consider that there is honor in serving conscientiously, and honor in objecting conscientiously, but no honor in trying to slip through the cracks and weasel out of having to do one or the other.
Dick Cheney got five deferments, four for being married, and then when the rules were changed to require being a parent, the fifth deferment came in nine months and a few days. About which all I can say is, he must have worked hard for the last one!
Golem, war is hell and no one knows it like the people who fight in it, so there's really no point preaching from the sidelines.
DaveP, that's the piece I was trying to remember but didn't: anything a person is keeping as a personal secret can be used by a hostile agent as a point for extortion, so the rule is to disclose all of it and there will be nothing to use for extortion. This is also why NSA (and probably CIA) can accept gay folks: you're required to come out of the closet so there is no secret to hide from family or close friends, and no point of leverage for hostiles to exploit. BTW, the math on the NSA exam really *is* hard. They're looking for cryptanalysts, people with "cipher brains," and that is a very very rare talent.
---
ILP: But there's also the NCO track, which is via the enlisted ranks, and therefore open to working-class folks w/o college degrees. COs very often depend on the NCOs, and field etiquette calls for the COs deferring to the NCOs on operational matters, so there are exceptions to the class system. You can get into CO track via ROTC via public universities. The upper class of COs are the ones who come in via West Point, and strictly speaking those are usually middle class kids from families with strong military traditions.
The dirty little secret is that the real upper class takes a pass. You won't see any scions of the Fortune 500 carrying rifles for their country, anywhere this side of a truly fair draft. And let's not forget: at present we have two draft-dodgers in the White House.
McCain and Ron Paul served honorably in Vietnam. Obama was too young for Vietnam (GenX). HRC wasn't eligible for the draft (female).
Romney was old enough for Vietnam but did not serve (from HS into LDS missionary work, into university, and then into business, and what was his draft status??). As far as I know, the LDS are not religious pacifists.
Huckabee was born in '55 so he could have been eligible for the Vietnam draft, which ended in 1973. He might have gotten out of it by a coincidence of months, but in any case he didn't serve, and beyond that he is a religious extremist approximately equivalent to the Taliban (search "dominionism" and "reconstructionism" for more) which IMHO makes him a kook. But I digresss...
---
Polemic, yeah you've definitely got bragging rights re. your dad, as he had while he was alive. Rest in peace.
They may have needed officers and SF badly enough to take more people than ordinarily, but that does not distract from his achievements. And they certainly have a mid-grade officer shortage today. This will probably start to be alleviated when the combat rotations are rolled back to what they were before.
---
And for those who want to rant about Vietnam, just consider that there is honor in serving conscientiously, and honor in objecting conscientiously, but no honor in trying to slip through the cracks and weasel out of having to do one or the other.
Dick Cheney got five deferments, four for being married, and then when the rules were changed to require being a parent, the fifth deferment came in nine months and a few days. About which all I can say is, he must have worked hard for the last one!
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gg3 - Expert
- Posts: 3271
- Joined: Mon 24 May 2004, 03:00:00
- Location: California, USA
Re: Rejoining the Army
by Schadenfreude » Tue 05 Feb 2008, 09:17:10
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schadenfreude', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', 'J')ust thought I would let you all my good friends on here know that I have decided to re-enlist. I will be going back in this summer. I am meeting with some recruiters tomorrow.
Didn't you tell us that you were horribly maimed, burned and disfigured?
Yep, my face is half melted off, I have got large chunks missing from my body. They had to replace my nipples with my toes. But I can still hold a gun, so the army wants me.
WTF do you need replacement male nipples for? Especially those replaced with toes? Who in the hell's gonna suck on 'em? And why would the Army give a fuck about them?
Something tells me you're not being quite truthful with us.
PS -- Do your nipples have nails that need to be clipped periodically? If so, I was thinking about this film idea I have. Just send me a PM and I'll tell you all about it...
- Schadenfreude
Re: Rejoining the Army
by jasonraymondson » Tue 05 Feb 2008, 11:01:14
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schadenfreude', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schadenfreude', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jasonraymondson', 'J')ust thought I would let you all my good friends on here know that I have decided to re-enlist. I will be going back in this summer. I am meeting with some recruiters tomorrow.
Didn't you tell us that you were horribly maimed, burned and disfigured?
Yep, my face is half melted off, I have got large chunks missing from my body. They had to replace my nipples with my toes. But I can still hold a gun, so the army wants me.
WTF do you need replacement male nipples for? Especially those replaced with toes? Who in the hell's gonna suck on 'em? And why would the Army give a fuck about them?
Something tells me you're not being quite truthful with us.
PS -- Do your nipples have nails that need to be clipped periodically? If so, I was thinking about this film idea I have. Just send me a PM and I'll tell you all about it...
Oh my nipple nails grow faster than my fingernails. It is a daily chore just to keep them cut.
Not being honest. I am like totally honest you know like all the time
