I've just applied to join the army

[chainsaw cat]

I'm vegetarian, fiercely anti-authoritarian and my politics are of the ultra left.

What am I doing?

I'm the same and was a squaddie for appx. ten years (although me veggieism only manifested itself afterwards)

What regiment are you in for? Makes a huge, huge difference.

Shame Bugsy7 isn't here any more, he was sane.

 

[DrRingDing]

What regiment are you in for? Makes a huge, huge difference.

I applied for the Paras.

 

[chainsaw cat]

SSC? (I did, makes life a bit easier possibly)

Fucking Rupert.

 

[DrRingDing]

I applied for the Paras.

I chose them because of a mate gave them the thumbs up.

 

[chainsaw cat]

I think, almost perversely, that as a pacifist you have a responsibility to join up.

Good man.





Sorry, came to this late.....

 

[chainsaw cat]

have you seen the film "Jarhead"? I think that paints a fairly unsensationalised picture, from what i've been told.

I think, if you don't join in with the "rag head" bollocks, you can survive - if you are a very strong person. but you'll have a really hard time.


why not become a fireman, Doc?

'cos the entrance standards are higher, and the inflated pay attracts inflated numbers of applicants.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Life soon becomes very hard for people like that. A guy I knew at school was all set for the army - was in the cadets, had really shiny boots, knew all the lingo and loved reading about war. But then it turnned out he thought he was cleverer than his superiors and that an independant mind is useful in the army. It's not. What the army needs to do its job well is people who will unflinchingly and reliably carry out orders, without thinking about the consequences. Having your own ideas is not just 'being cheeky', it's insubordination and they do not like it. He quit half way through basic training.

IMO, the perfect recruit is young and innocent, without a well-formed worldview or political stance - fresh to be molded into a soldier. If you already have your own ideas and beliefs that won't be swayed, then the army is not for you.

Of course I'm not a soldier, so anyone with experience feel free to correct me.

I'll correct you. You are a knob. The above is bollocks. And you can't spell "moulded" properly you illiterate you.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Bollocks.

Got a rejection letter today. Too old to be comissioned

It said I could sign up as a soldier but I can't do that because the money is far too shit to support my debt.

Don't worry man - the bank ain't going to follow you to Iraq now are they?

 

[chainsaw cat]

I chose them because of a mate gave them the thumbs up.

Fuck the financial angle. If you want to do it go for it. There is no better life for a single man. If you have a sense of what is wrong and right and some balls you won't be in any internal mental trouble. It's not the SS.


personally, I'm glad I'm out - 'Stan and Iraq 07 don't appeal. But, think on. There's things like UN duty where you are actually making a difference. Who knows whats next? Saving kids in Darfur?

Is it snobbery makes you think officer? The Army nowadays is not '
yes sir no sir go'r blimey he's a gent i'd follow him...' if it ever was. You get a red beret - or any beret- you are respected in the team. Officers are there to take decisions not know everything.

 

[DrRingDing]

Officers are there to take decisions not know everything.

That's what I was after (plus better pay).

I wanted to, ultimately, take those leadership skills and confidence to somewhere more needed.

 

[chainsaw cat]

That's what I was after (plus better pay).

I wanted to, ultimately, take those leadership skills and confidence to somewhere more needed.

You are already an adult. You won't learn much about these things by being an officer. You'll get more by being one of the feet. Junior officers are on a steep steep learning curve, but the assumption is that they are 20 ish. All the character stuff and insight into decisions is observable - and influencable- from the outside if you are a bit older. i can't think of much that's likley to develop what you are on about in civvy strasse better than being an observant, intelligent and moral thirtysomething in a junior soldiers uniform in combat. Truly.

 

[Dhimmi]

But you have to follow orders, so shooting Arabs would be the order of the day regardless of whether you'd enjoy or not.

Don't be so ridiculous, you get to shoot at a wide range of people, not just arabs.

 

[likesfish]

theres pathans and various other hill tribes in Afghanistan and the possibility of Persians in the not to distant future as well