I think starting salary in US military is closer to $50k now. I remember Trump promised (and one of the things he actually delivered) military pay raises and that’s why he has much support with veterans.
they’ll bring back slave armies before they let the lack of volunteers actually hamper their efforts to use the military to establish american global dominion
Depending on where this was and how long ago, this is pretty close to minimum wage in some us states. If they get paid as much to wear a duck costume, at no risk except their pride, why wouldn’t they?
While I was not one of those guys, there were a couple in my cohort who lived in the barracks, ate in the mess hall, didn’t buy stereo systems on credit with 30% interest rates, and (most of all) didn’t hang out in strip clubs every weekend. These guys ETSed after 3 years with a couple hundred thousand dollars in the bank.
The issue for most service persons is that there are sophisticated, established industries located mere miles off-base whose sole purpose is to seperate soldiers from their money. They’re exceptionally good at it. Like, honestly terrifyingly good at it. Not like it’s hard; most of these kids have zero experience managing money, are chronically horny, and desperate for any diversion from their jobs. Regardless, most who leave after short terms leave broke.
Like you say, with a little self control, it can be a pretty good deal. It’s not just the salary; you get free room & board, if you want it, and that’s a huge benefit.
I think it’s a 35k signing bonus on top of the shitty military pay.
But there are benefits to military beyond pay. The free housing and Healthcare alone are worth more than a private’s wages. Enough expenses are covered that 25k a year is actually pretty good for a single person with no education or experience. The retirement benefits and free college education are also very attractive. You have people retiring in their 30s and 40s making good money on top of whatever field they decide to pursue post-military.
I’m no supporter of the MIC, but joining the military can be a good economic and career decision for someone fresh out of high school without any direction.
Yes, free healthcare, GI Bill, free housing, retirement, there are definitely negative things, but there are a lot of upsides, even just doing it for one enlistment can be very beneficial
This applies for everybody, no matter what profession they chose.
Now imagine putting an additional handicap on top by putting yourself in a combat situation, its’ physical and emotional aftermath.
This goes for soldiers as well as all civilians caught in the crossfire and finding themselves being used as pawns and targets in a cruel game, as is happening currently in Ukraine and Palestine, as it happened in Syria and its’ city of Aleppo in 2016. And most recently for the American Armed Forces, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The act of being coerced and lied to, or just plain shoved into situations of extreme violence, regarded as little more than meatbags by a powerful, greedy and blunt hand hovering behind it all.
The experience of having to go through something like that, to have been regarded and targeted, then “processed” in such a manner, it has to create a hole in the psyche, make one question one’s self worth.
I’m reminded of when the russian invaders in Ukraine put up billboards with photos and names of their own soldiers who refused to follow orders to participate in the invasion. Who knows what their fate was, what other extreme bullying techniques, including brutality, they might have used to try and force their meatbags to pick up their rifle and march towards the combat area.
They didn’t engage with the defenders, but they lived through the hell of war and will carry wounds that will not heal, even supposing they found their way home.
Once coerced, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
They sent a recruiter to my place of employment back when I was in retail. They asked me if I ever thought of joining the armed forces, and I gave them a polite but firm no.
So then they asked “are you happy with where your life is going?”, trying to take advantage of me being a teenager stuck in retail.
Even if they werent asking you to throw your life away in some oil war to protect corporate interests, even if they weren’t asking you to sell your morals away, they’re aggressive assholes. So fuck them they’re getting the treatment they deserve.
Good, you called out the military and I think you’re not the only one who did not fall for it. After all, the US military admit they are having recruitment crisis.
so for most enlisted folks, you have a choice of career paths: recruiting, or drill instructor. both are exceptionally stressful in different ways, but recruiting in this age has got to be the harder one. I’m not going to apologize for dickhead behavior and shitty recruiters, they are certainly out there, but for the most part I just feel bad because they will never meet their numbers in this economy and it often hurts their careers.
yeah it fucks people up; and so does drill instructing - being on post at 3a to see make sure the recruits get to ranges by sunup, long long long hours that don’t give two fucks about your kid’s recital or timmy’s ball game… honestly rough work.
I always found it extremely fucked up that you’re allowed to do di duty with dependents. I don’t really mean the volunteers, they can do what they want. The voluntold with dependents are the ones I felt bad for.
Not to simp for the US military and dismiss the unnecessary lives lost, but I heard most people who join the military opt for non-combat support role. That way, they are physically and mentally safe but get the free education perk.
Depending on the environment, that may not mean shit. I killed it on the ASVAB and took a “hide out in my storage container and get a killer bonus” gig then immediately out of training got pulled for a team to “Road Trip Iraq” in a desperate bid for people to stop breaking million dollar systems.
Got taken out by an IED in less than 6 months and put out due to injuries. Bright side I’m chillin at 36 on a 100% disability payment and a sub $500 mortgage.
I don’t feel bad if my local crack dealers don’t sell as much crack as they wanted to, I don’t feel bad if my local kidnappers fail to steal as many children as they’d hoped, and I don’t feel bad for the local military recruiters not making their recruitment numbers.
you do you man. most everyone I knew in the mil was there for school and vet benefits, not because we wanted to murder innocent people in far-off lands. looking at the hellscape out there, it’s not an incomprehensible choice for people with very limited options, aka, lack of trust funds.
Yes, that is the exact tool they use to get those people.
Make life as miserable, but allow the military to get all the benefits you should have been getting in the first place.
You want a good life, get a degree! Aww, can’t pay for school because we made it expensive? Now you will be forced to join or be bankrupt until your 50s! Tough choice
I VERY NEARLY joined the Army when in my early 20s. What stopped me were two things:
You sign a contract that says you will do the job for a period but that they don’t guarantee that the job is available and they can put you in any job they want. I realized I could be peeling potatoes for years.
I couldn’t believe what complete assholes the people in the recruiting center were. You want me to join you? How about being nice?
I ran the hell away from there having done everything except take an oath.
My high school made us take the ASVAB. I ended up with an 88, and it took threats of harassment charges to stop all 3 major branches from just showing up at my house unannounced.
They also straight up lied when trying to get me to join the reserves, saying I’d never be called to active duty. But, they had already been calling reserves to active duty in Afghanistan/Iraq. Idk why they thought I’d be dumb enough to believe them, considering they wanted me because of my test score.
That’s what it became after the draft was abolished… for the time being, hopefully forever.
Imagine the power these people had before that legislative event. “You’ve been drafted. You will go to South Pacific/Korea/Vietnam or you will go to jail.”
It was a double-edged sword. Conscription was deeply radicalizing, both in terms of domestic discontent and labor militarization.
Once Nixon ended the draft and converted operations to air war/special forces, the domestic opposition to the wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia rapidly fizzled out. And by the 1980s, our War on Poor People Crime effectively put the kabash on the kind of neighborhood organizing/defense that kept communities from falling under aggressive police cartels.
I think American politicians don’t really want conscription today any more than the people do.
My high school made us take the ASVAB too. I filled in bubbles at random and got a 72. I graduated in 2004, so yeah I had recruiters contact me all the time despite the fact that I had no interest in going to Iraq.
I got something stupid like a 96 on the ASVAB and I just told the first air force guy I smoked a lot of weed and I never heard from any military again lmao
It was tempting when they offered me to go right into a program to become a satellite operator starting off making $125k/year immediately after boot camp… but I don’t regret not taking that offer. Who knows what would have actually materialized, anyways. Probably would have been 6 years deep dreaming of hopefully seeing 6 figures one day while I end up managing logistics or something.
My highschool made us take it as well. My school also made us take the SAT or ACT for the required 0.5 career credit. I do not remeber the actual scores after all his time, just that it was at the maximum on a few.
I understand they tried calling on me for years but never tracked me down. I skipped my senior year of highschool and went to college. Between work, school, and coeds, I was rarely home for them to bother me.
Had a recruiter stop by my desk about two years after I enlisted, and tried to pitch the navy to me.
I started laughing at him, then when he got all offended and mentioned me “working in a dead end job in the middle of nowhere” I shot back with “beats DYING in the middle of nowhere, where nobody above your CO will even bother reading the casualty report let alone care” , and that if the navy REALLY wanted me they should have returned my calls after I got a medical discharge for having emergency surgery in basic, then denying my reenlistment due to having a surgery in my adult life.
Of course at this point in my life, with the knowledge and ideals, I wouldn’t touch the MIC with a 899.16cm pole.
I’m a huge trek nerd so this place is basically like A Little Piece of Heaven.
I’m slowly getting my wife into it, but she’s still learning the basics so it’s great to have a place to read and discuss the finer points.
Like how much RICK FUCKING BERMAN sucks ass, and how Captain Jellico may be a good starfleet captain but he’s still an asshole and not a great enterprise captain
m a huge trek nerd so this place is basically like A Little Piece of Heaven.
That’s pretty much exactly how I feel about it top. It’s very refreshing.
m slowly getting my wife into it, but she’s still learning the basics so it’s great to have a place to read and discuss the finer points.
Same. We are currently wrapping up TNG season 1, but we are certainly getting through it, and she loves it enough to keep going which is great.
I usually keep the star trek conversations to my star trek account though.
Like how much RICK FUCKING BERMAN sucks ass, and how Captain Jellico may be a good starfleet captain but he’s still an asshole and not a great enterprise captain
I’ll admit I’m not as familiar with the background stuff like that, but pretty much everything I hear about Berman is not good.
Hey don’t be dismissive of the pole! I have you know that there is a MIl-STD for the pole and only 3 companies are authorized providers for the pole. Do you know how much testing went into that pole? Plus the colonial who headed up the pole project is now working for the approved vendor in umm management of quality.
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