What is it with parents, who actually encourage their kids to join the military?

[Smith_3]

Somehow I've always wondered that. My dad was in the army. He has actually said before that he had spent some time in Vietnam and honestly, I'm not entirely sure if I believe those stories. But still I know for a fact that he was in the army and he has always said that none of his kids or grandkids is EVER going to join the military. To me that makes perfect sense.

My dad is in his fifties and from what I heard and saw, there are many from his generation who actually
encourage their kids to sign up for the military, even in times like these, when it is more than obvious that the administration is crooked as hell. It is simply beyond me what drives theses people. I saw a show on TV once about a man and a woman whose son had died in Iraq. They did some interviews and the man said that his son was always up to no good and they had lots of quarrels and that he was really proud when he enlisted and that the military turned his son into a man. And they showed him and his wife standing at their son's grave and the man had tears in his eyes and he said he is still proud that his son is a hero. It was really sad but I thought to myself, damn, this guy somehow seems to rather have a dead hero son than an alive normal son. It is simply beyond me.

When I saw this show it made me feel sad. But now when something like that is on I normally just switch away. I don't want to see it. I don't want to know how many mother's in Iraq are crying now, thanks to these people's inability to see beyond their own small horizon. They just seem like total poor fools. That again is very sad.

I know. The "I didn't do it, it was all the fuehrer's fault, he lied us into it" crowd here is probably gonna flame me now. Go right ahead if you have to, I don't care.

[panader0]

1. I'm 57, signed up as a Conscientious Objector, but was turned down

Edit to learn how to spell

[Juche]

2. Militarism w/o competent politics is bad, yes

What have our wars been about lately? Some are quasi respectable (as respectable as war can get at least) and involved human rights (Haiti, Somalia, Yugoslavia) and sending the military in to help with the aftermath of natural disasters in Indonesia & Pakistan was the right thing to do, but gulf war 1 was about oil, gulf war 2 and the coming war with Iran are about PNAC, Vietnam was based on lies. A good deal of the war on communism was just a war to protect moneyed interests and large corporations from unionization or socialism.

It is sad to see people who think fighting anybody for any reason whatsoever is a good thing. But if you are legitimately fighting for human rights, peacekeeping or to fend off a threat I can understand wanting to join. But the public is always lied to about why we go to war, so its hard telling.

As far as people who feel pride when their kids are lied into an unnecessary war designed by chickenhawks who are getting rich off it and not sending their own kids to fight. I have no idea.

[Kitty Herder]

3. I don't know. My dad was in Vietnam. He would have thrown a fit if any of us joined the military.

His reaction to 9/11? He called my mom at work that morning(She hadn't even heard what had happened yet.)and said that if this thing led to a war with a draft he would personally take my then draft-age brothers to Canada.

[cynatnite]

4. My husband and I have discouraged our daughter, but...

if she really wanted to go despite what we say (we're both vets), we'd be as supportive as possible for her.

[NNN0LHI]

20. Would you be just as supportive if Bush had attacked Canada and our military was killing Canadians?

[cynatnite]

21. Don't be ridiculous.

:eyes:

[NNN0LHI]

28. Don't be so evasive

Its a simple yes or no?

Don

[Ayesha]

5. The poverty draft is one big reason

Families with low incomes or from bad neighborhoods often encourage their kids to sign up because it is a way out. Some of those young people have a better chance or surviving in the military than they do at home. If they stayed they'd end up in gangs and in prison or shot dead on the streets of the USA. Whereas, if they make it through the military, they'll leave with a skill, something positive for their resume, and money for college.

I would never encourage anyone to join the military, but you have to understand that for many people, it's the least bad choice open to them.

[lonestarnot]

8. I don't believe that!

[doc03]

13. You don't believe that! I don't know where you are from

but that is the truth in many circumstances.

[lonestarnot]

22. There are other ways. I am living proof, key is living. And I both enlisted and

got cheated out of my education which was supposed to be paid for by the Air Force and without getting into all the details, the way without the military was the best. :toast:

[cynatnite]

14. I joined the Army because I had nothing...

No job and no education.

With a daughter to support I had to do something and the military answered that. I was able to provide support and after I finished my tour, I went to college and got a degree.

[lonestarnot]

23. Good on you cynatnite.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. One of the great American delusions is that militarism is the same as patriotism

One branch of my extended family is gung-ho military all the way. The late patriarch of that branch was a hard-right right-winger before that was fashionable. He thought Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid were Communists. Both his sons were in the military, although as support personnel, not in combat.

Whenever they get together, somebody invariably starts singing "patriotic" songs.

I have one distant relative who encouraged his son to join the military. The son was 18, but an awfully young 18. The father's notion was that joining the military would "make a man of him."

The father himself was a semi-delinquent brat in his own youth, and the Navy was the first place where anyone ever effectively disciplined him. However, the father served during peacetime and from what I can tell, mostly cruised around on an aircraft carrier, far away from any action.

The son, however, has gone into the Navy during the Iraq invasion. In the Navy, he probably has less chance of getting killed than in the Army or Marines, but still...

[DrDan]

7. it is a shame you do not have more of a sense of history . . .

To defend one's country is not a fools errand. It is a noble venture. Unfortunately, we have had to endure the takeover by a felonious administration. To understand why parents would encourage their children to join the military would require some knowledge of our history. I have a feeling that is lacking.

I am not going to waste any more key strokes. It would make no difference - your question is rhetorical.

[JohnnyLib2]

24. I agree with this.

[Smith_3]

25. My sense of history tells me...

...that the United States has not been involved in a conflict that was of any relevance to the safety of the nation or the world, since WWII. :shrug:

WWII is long gone. Its not an argument for anything anymore.

[DrDan]

31. well - just because that was the case does not mean we should

stand down the military. It could certainly happen again.

I am absolutely not in favor of aggressively invading another country - just a strong defense. And someone needs to do it.

[doc03]

9. If you don't have the money or desire to go to College

it is a way out of some parts of the country where there are no good jobs. In this area back in the 50,60 and early 70's when you got out of high school you could get a good paying job in industry. Today thanks to our free trade policies there are no jobs and it's a chance for a future.

[Obamanaut]

10. I'm 65, retired military, and no flame coming from me. Both of

my daughters have sons, one of whom is a freshman in college. If any of those grandsons REALLY wants to join the military, I'll recommend against it if all conditions at that time are the same as they are right now.

For me, it wasn't all that bad. I really believed that the only people who actually wanted a war were the ones heavily invested in arms/munitions type companies. The rest of us were simply people trying to feed our families. I grew up poor, and knowing that I'd never be able to afford college, did not prepare myself in high school for upper level education. I enjoyed courses like chorus, Latin, German, etc. Later, the military made me an aircraft electrician, sent me to college, and paid all our medical bills. All things considered, I'd do it again if everything were the same.

Things, though, are not the same. They are so different that, if need be, I'd hide one of the kids or drive him to Canada (or someplace) myself.

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. What an elitist know-nothing OP.

[Smith_3]

27. Yeah, sure, non-militarists are elitists....

That is pretty right-wing reasoning.

If people would put the same type of energy that they invest into their patriotism into workers rights etc. , we could have free colleges for all like many european countries do.

I'm not an elitist. My parents are workers.

[Echo In Light]

30. Yeah, those damn, whining liberals, anyhow

Agreed, Smith :hi:

[Sweet Pea]

12. I'm damn glad...

people like you were a distinct minority in 1776 and 1812 and 1916 and 1941 and other times when a soldier or sailor or airman or marine saved somebody's life or saved somebody's country.

I hope you stay a minority.

[Arctic Dave]

17. Tell me friend. How do any of those dates have anything to do with what is

going on right now? If you wish to play the Uber patriot card so be it, but you better have one hell of a story to back it up with. As far as I'm concerned NONE of whats been going on for the last 7 years has nothing to do with our defense, national security or patriotism. If you wish to enlist your child into the MIC machine that is your perogitive but don't put down someone who doesn't see it as a ideal way to turn your kid into a man.
Yes, I am Veteran! So is my brother, my father, my grandfather and his father.

[Smith_3]

26. Your post is so hypothetical.

Can you name anything that is more recent than a war sixty years ago that was actually worth it? That is part of my point.

[JNelson6563]

32. hahahaha

Yes, fighting to take control of the world's natural resources (to the profit of very few) is sure comparable to establishing a democracy or saving the world from Nazi-ism.

I nominate this for 1st place for two categories cause I'm not sure which is more applicable: Most clueless post or Most intellectually dishonest post.

Julie--running to fetch the crutches as your post is the lamest thing I've seen in ages

[tjwash]

15. Aye.

:rolls eyes:

[EmeraldCityGrl]

16. Most parents innocently believe their kids to be invincible

as invincible as their kids believe themselves to be. Bad things are always suppose to happen to other people.
If they could spend five minutes in the skin of a parent surviving the death of their child they would feel differently.
Couple that with the glorification of war, our increasingly militaristic culture, an economic depression and that mentality
is rewarded with hero worship. "Support the Troops" was the shield many of the war mongers stood behind in the first
days of this war. Any opposition to the war falsely suggested otherwise.

The troops in Iraq know what this war is really about and that it has nothing to do with liberating the Iraqi people.
If they voluntarily choose to be there it is more than likely an economic decision and has little to do with heroism.

[Sequoia]

18. 'Cause....You made them strong...we'll make them ARMY STRONG.

I joined the military but for me that was the only way out of a beautiful area but not many job ops and my dad could not afford college. Most of us siblings grew up in a relgious type boarding school so joining the miltary was trading God for Uncle Sam. One of my younger sibs had the privilage of being raised by a doctor through jr. high and high school and who paid his way through college. Years later he had the nerve to say people who joined the military did so because they were dependent and needed to be told what to do. Well, I had to point out that the rest of us in the religious school (most kids were from broken homes or orphans and joined the military) didn't have a rich doctor who wanted to take us in and pay our way through college. There was no war going on then so truly for most young people it was a way to learn and get some money from the G.I. bill to go to college later on.

Things have changed now and I would not want my daughter to join the military at all.

[Thothmes]

19. I did not encourage my children to join the service

However, my 24 years of service were well worth the effort. I was going to be drafted by that great liberal President LBJ to fight for his lies in Viet Nam. I enlisted in the Navy instead. Enjoyed my time in the service. As a result, my wile was able to stay home to take care of our children when they were young because my pay was sufficient to support our family. Both of my children have college educations without mountains of loans to pay off. My retirement income is $36,000 a year, plus I am young enough to continue to work at a job that pays well because of my experience gained on our ships.
My wife's health is poor, her medicines would cost 50,000 a year, my cost $36.00 a year. Her medical expenses from four years ago ran up to $200,000.
My costs, about $3,000. Both my son and daughter are officers in the U.S. Navy. I did not encourage them to enter the service, nor did I discourage their decisions. They took a look at what opportunities were available and decide life on our ships was not all that bad. Once they made their choices, I support them fully.

[NNN0LHI]

29. I would ask my son if he realized that the current Commander In Chief is insane?

And then after I explained to him what is happening in Iraq is a war crime I would wait and see what his reaction was. I think that would be enough to discourage him.

If he still insisted on becoming part of that I would inform him that he will be disowned if thats still his choice. And I would follow through with my threat. I would have my lawyer write a new will leaving everything to his siblings if he wanted to go kill innocent people so bad.

Wouldn't be easy but it might be enough to keep him alive and with a sound mind which would be my main goal.

Don

[PassingFair]

33. My father was a Drill Instructor in the Marine Corps in the 50's...

He always taught us to think for ourselves, and
he told us that we would not be allowed our
basic freedoms in the military, and he would
DISOWN any of us who joined.

I didn't even know that he had been a DI
until I was 17! He didn't want us to
glamorize the military in ANY way.
He encouraged his "men" to find state-side
service.

Once he told me that a particularly "gung-ho"
recruit was anxious to get to Korea, my Dad
told him
"You could get SHOT over there"

He told my Dad
"If there's a bullet with my name on it,
it will find me.."

My Dad told him
"If you stay HERE, that bullet will be
lodged in a TREE in Korea!"

He raised us to question authority, not to
blindly and willingly follow orders.