Lament 2: Cry Harder

[Darksi4190]

No, it's just a local community college. There's no ROTC as far as I know.

[Aaron]

Man, is it time for another Army horror story form the life of El Duderino?

[Darksi4190]

Not if you've been having PTSD issues lately man. This is my problem, I don't want it to cause trouble for you. If that starts i'll just shut up about it.

[evilsoup]

how can you hear all that stuff from Aaron, and then still want to go to all these lengths to join up?

[Aaron]

Lol nah, I've been at the range all day so I'm good.

But hey, if you feel you gotta do this then for fucks sake, get in as an officer.

[Aaron]

how can you hear all that stuff from Aaron, and then still want to go to all these lengths to join up?

Well to be fair, not everyone experiences a nonstop drunk horror show, maybe 30%

[adr]

How much do you expect the college to cost? The community college around here is fairly affordable; you might be able to pay the first two years out of government grant money and some part time jobbing and then go the (ugh i know) loan route for the other two years.

My brother managed to avoid the loan too by doing a bunch of community scholarship stuff... he dug up craploads of them and got a lot of free money. You might be able to do that too.

[Darksi4190]

It's about proving something. Not to anyone else, I honestly don't give a shit what my friends think of me and honestly their opinions of me aren't that low. It's mostly about proving something to myself. I have this nagging little voice in the back of my mind that says I'd be too scared, that I couldn't handle myself in a combat situation, that all the bluster and bravado I have when I play video games or watch movies is just bullshit, and i'm a little ashamed of myself for it. Most of all however, i just have to know how i'd react.

[Zod]

It's about proving something. Not to anyone else, I honestly don't give a shit what my friends think of me and honestly their opinions of me aren't that low. It's mostly about proving something to myself. I have this nagging little voice in the back of my mind that says I'd be too scared, that I couldn't handle myself in a combat situation, that all the bluster and bravado I have when I play video games or watch movies is just bullshit, and i'm a little ashamed of myself for it. Most of all however, i just have to know how i'd react.

I suspect bleeding would be involved.

[Losonti Tokash]

darksider which city are you going to school in

[Darksi4190]

Clinton township michigan is where the school is, but I live in Sterling Heights. I guess Detroit would be the nearest major city.

[Darksi4190]

Why?

[Aaron]

It's about proving something. Not to anyone else, I honestly don't give a shit what my friends think of me and honestly their opinions of me aren't that low. It's mostly about proving something to myself. I have this nagging little voice in the back of my mind that says I'd be too scared, that I couldn't handle myself in a combat situation, that all the bluster and bravado I have when I play video games or watch movies is just bullshit, and i'm a little ashamed of myself for it. Most of all however, i just have to know how i'd react.

You'll do it, we all do. The training is all designed to break you, so you will kill. We don't even really have a choice, termning people as targets and having a human silluette.

Anyways, you'll do it, but because you literally have no choice.

[Losonti Tokash]

google some shit

UNO has a detachment that has cadets from over a dozen locla colleges and universities, Rutgers is the same way. There's a chance you'd straight up get a scholarship and not a loan and you'd be in a way better position after you graduate and sign up than just enlisting.

[Losonti Tokash]

like seriously contrast enlisting as private to commissioning as a 2nd lieutenant with guaranteed promotion to 1st lt and captain at 2 and 4 years

[Darksi4190]

You'll do it, we all do. The training is all designed to break you, so you will kill. We don't even really have a choice, termning people as targets and having a human silluette.

Anyways, you'll do it, but because you literally have no choice.

That's......... Kind of disturbing.

[Darksi4190]

like seriously contrast enlisting as private to commissioning as a 2nd lieutenant with guaranteed promotion to 1st lt and captain at 2 and 4 years

Jake actually has recommended that I get my degree first and enlist in the reserves or the National Guard as an officer. I've considered it, but it just seems like it'd take me so long to get my degree that I literally don't know where i'd be in my life and if i'd still want to do it. One of my biggest problems (at least according to my grandfather) is that I overthink shit. I spend too much time thinking about what I want to do, considering all possible options and outcomes, that I end up never doing anything.

[Losonti Tokash]

dude seriously how are you this ignorant about what you want to do

soldiers kill people and to do that easily and on reflex they need to reconfigure how your brain thinks of human beings

[Aaron]

Yup. And you know man?

It'll be hard for me to hunt deer, but I have no doubt that I would be capable of killing a person. It bothers me every day.

[Darksi4190]

dude seriously how are you this ignorant about what you want to do

soldiers kill people and to do that easily and on reflex they need to reconfigure how your brain thinks of human beings

Well I figured they trained you to kill, but they only trained you to treat enemies as targets under certain circumstances, but Aaron's mentioned before about "not being able to turn it off" or something.

[Aaron]

dude seriously how are you this ignorant about what you want to do

soldiers kill people and to do that easily and on reflex they need to reconfigure how your brain thinks of human beings

Well I figured they trained you to kill, but they only trained you to treat enemies as targets under certain circumstances, but Aaron's mentioned before about "not being able to turn it off" or something.

Well man, the human brain is wired to not kill other humans. I suggest reading "on killing" where the author details the steps taken to break people and raise rates of people who would shoot at the enemy. Iirc they had 50% in WWII and we're above 90% now.

[Metatwaddle]

Jake actually has recommended that I get my degree first and enlist in the reserves or the National Guard as an officer. I've considered it, but it just seems like it'd take me so long to get my degree that I literally don't know where i'd be in my life and if i'd still want to do it. One of my biggest problems (at least according to my grandfather) is that I overthink shit. I spend too much time thinking about what I want to do, considering all possible options and outcomes, that I end up never doing anything.

are you saying you want to join the army now because once you have more life experience you might not think it's a good idea

seriously, you may think you've completely thought through this decision, but you might take this next month-and-a-half (before your cardiologist appointment) to question why you feel like being a soldier is the only way to live a good life. i mean, you actually said that everyone who has been a soldier is forever superior to anyone who has not. nothing you've posted in this thread has made anyone think you're considering this decision soberly and clearly.

but listen to aaron more than me, he knows what he is talking about

[Aaron]

I gotta say that's pretty fucked up, a soldier is forever superior? Man one day you'll learn about the truely terrible shit I've done, and you won't think that anymore.

[Akhlut]

When you said 30% of people's experiences was a nonstop drunk horror show, how much of that is trufax versus comedic exaggeration?

Also, darksi, have you never heard of Mai Lai, Abu Ghraib, or even the war in the Pacific during WWII? The taking of human body parts as trophies is not an uncommon phenomena (it has probably been going on for as long as humans have been going to war against one another).

I'm also wondering if you've been raised in a family or community that pretty much turns soldiers into demigods, essentially. That's very prevalent in the US, and it's not quite an accurate assessment of soldiers. They're just people who happen to have a dangerous job that also turns them into tools of the state.

Plus, what if the US goes to war with Iran and you think it's a bullshit war? Too bad for you, you're going to fight in a nation about a quarter of the size of the US filled with people who not hate the US.

[Aaron]

Mostly trufax