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Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

chrisseaton.com

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Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#71

Post by lisper »

basisword wrote: post #62

>> I originally joined the British Army full-time after finishing my masters in computer science at Bristol in 2007. At the time, the campaign in Afghanistan was in full-swing, and the campaign in Iraq was still running. All my peers were going into office jobs in London but I still wanted more fresh air at that point in my life. I just cannot understand this mindset. "I wanted to see the world so instead of taking a…

To say nothing of the fact that the air quality in war zones is not particularly good.

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#72

Post by basisword »

simonh wrote: post #56
Imnimo wrote: post #40

>I think a country absolutely must be able to fight to defend its people and friends. Does this really feel like an accurate description of what the British military has done over the past, say, 20 years?

Yes it does. Was Afghanistan better off before the pull out, or now under the Taliban? Iraq is a mess, sure, but at least nobody is gassing whole cities and we can be immensely proud of the liberation of Kuwait although that was more than 20 years ago. Right now we are providing vital military assistance to Ukraine, and I wish we were doing a lot, lot more. The failures were political ones. Militarily the army did th…

>> Was Afghanistan better off before the pull out, or now under the Taliban?

Why is that the comparison? The comparison should be was Afghanistan better off before we invaded in the first place. And committed war crimes. And radicalised a tonne of people who then came into Europe to murder civilians. You'd have to do mental somersaults to justify the Iraq + Afghanistan wars and think they were the right choice.

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#73

Post by pphysch »

scandox wrote: post #24
advisedwang wrote: post #7

The author glosses over my biggest question "Who might you have to fight?" with a informative "Queen’s enemies." Might his squadron be called in to quash civil disturbance? Sent to the next Iraq? Is it reserved for defending the UK from invasion?

> At RubyConf 2014 someone in the lunch queue asked what I did before I was in tech and asked me if I enjoyed killing babies when I explained. To some extent your question is in the same category as the above. It decontextualizes the situation entirely. He lives in a democracy. He obviously believes that society is less worse than some visible alternatives. He therefore believes he can fight on its behalf based on wh…

> He therefore believes he can fight on its behalf based on what the democratic leadership determine.

This is, at best, a naive portrayal of how London and Washington start wars.

See the infamous Downing Street Memo [1].

In Washington, which often leads the rest of the West in military adventurism, Congress hasn't approved a military operation since 2002, despite a US-led coalition destroying sovereign Libya in 2011 and occupying Northern Syria since 2015.

Indeed, the 2002 AUMF authorized by Congress for the Iraq War is still in effect 20 years later [2], and used by the executive branch to dictate any military operation, bypassing Congressional approval.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street_memo

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Milit...

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#74

Post by JoeAltmaier »

My son was Army Reserve (US), did a tour in Iraq back in the day. He reported that Reservists didn't get the respect of regular Army, at least in his unit. They got shot at, shot back, did convoy duty, got blown up (twice). But somehow not 'real soldiers'. His unit got no commendations or promotions from the regular army base commander.

He returned, still had enlistment period left, went straight to the Army Recruiting office and signed up regular. Went well after that - at least the career part. He eventually got a medical discharge for his accumulated injuries. At the time was at Ft Benning, driver for the Sgt. Major of that base, a Sgt. himself.

Got a Mechanical Engineering degree from state college, GI Bill, and is marrying a doctor. So all's well that ends well.

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#75

Post by freedomben »

Justsignedup wrote: post #49

The saddest thing is the #1 reason why people join the military in the US is financial or college assistance. Shows why the US is so hesitant to provide UBI or Free college. We'd lose one of our biggest recruiting tools. If the US Military can appropriately show why people should be enthusiastic about joining, I'd be much more positive about it. Also I have ex-military friends... Getting that college funding isn't ea…

college is definitely a top reason people join, but anecdotally I don't think it's number 1 (though any data on the subject would be interesting).

It's also very complicated because there are almost always multiple reasons at play, and usually they change as you go. I joined because I was homeless and floating around from crappy and physically demanding jobs, and I wanted to GTFO of where I grew up. After a couple of years though, college became the most important reason to me.

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#76

Post by toomuchtodo »

abduhl wrote: post #69
toomuchtodo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things don't get better if you don't complain. All of my siblings have come back from military service (marines, army rangers, navy) worse off, and the benefits in no way compensate them for what they lost. I recommend it to no one. The best military service is the service you did not perform. The VA is notorious for being terrible. The US has non profits for wounded/disabled veterans because care and support (most i…

The military is no picnic and it’s no savior. It’s not billed as a day spa and the people who join up are without question taken advantage of. It’s hard on many families, including mine and yours apparently. Support isn’t there once you’re out. Support probably isn’t there while you’re in either. But there’s nowhere else to go for someone stuck in the cycle of poverty. They don’t have money. They go to one of the few…

> The groups you support (progressives, similar PACs, politicians) have recently started telling the world about how poverty is systemic and how useless their actions are in the face of such a fucked up system, so how can you sit here and tell me that these people need to find a way to pull themselves by their own bootstraps while taking away their army issued boots?

Much easier to get out of poverty with universal healthcare and subsidized education versus going to the sandbox and coming back with PTSD just to get your GI Bill and Tricare. Don't tell me it isn't affordable, the productivity and wealth demonstrably exists. The system chooses cannon fodder over plowshares. It is very easy to sit here and tell you this with every other OECD country providing models to crib off of.

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#77

Post by adewinter »

basisword wrote: post #62

>> I originally joined the British Army full-time after finishing my masters in computer science at Bristol in 2007. At the time, the campaign in Afghanistan was in full-swing, and the campaign in Iraq was still running. All my peers were going into office jobs in London but I still wanted more fresh air at that point in my life. I just cannot understand this mindset. "I wanted to see the world so instead of taking a…

I think that's a pretty disengenous take on the author's thought process. If you read the entire article it's clear that he believes in the concept of defending his country and trusting his leaders to correctly decide how that defense is carried out. If that decision is to send him to the middle east then so be it. It very clearly is not about him wanting to "do a bit of invading."

Maybe you think the middle east invasion was the wrong call. Totally fair. But you should blame the correct actor for that call, and it certainly is not the individual soldier.

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#78

Post by evancox100 »

loxs wrote: post #53

The most bizarre thing in the article for me (as a total layman) is that linked Jackal vehicle[1]... It's an armored vehicle which does not protect the... crew??? Why is it armored at all? Why are they not just using a Toyota Hilux instead of this 7 tonne monster? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackal_(vehicle)

Your comment is not really worth responding to, since the article you linked addresses all your points/questions, but the armor is on the bottom to protect the crew from IEDs.

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#79

Post by loxs »

pjc50 wrote: post #65
loxs wrote: post #53

The most bizarre thing in the article for me (as a total layman) is that linked Jackal vehicle[1]... It's an armored vehicle which does not protect the... crew??? Why is it armored at all? Why are they not just using a Toyota Hilux instead of this 7 tonne monster? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackal_(vehicle)

It is basically a big technical, isn't it? It appears to be the replacement for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snatch_Land_Rover , which got its name from the use by military units grabbing civilians off the street in Northern Ireland.

Yeah, but I don't get the concept at all... why use this kind of vehicle, why develop it at all? What is the benefit of having the crew so exposed and how is it a good idea at all?

Re: Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech

#80

Post by ethbr0 »

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #39
ethbr0 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1. Part of being part of a national military is subordinating your desires to the chain of command, which in a democracy usually flows to the highest elected official. If one wants to pick and choose "right" conflicts, one shouldn't serve. And ultimately... while I know HN has a pretty anti-authority bend... if you don't trust your government to deploy military power, what do you trust them for? Which isn't saying t…

Being subordinate didn't work for the Nuremberg "I was following orders" crowd, which makes me doubt your assertion. > if you don't trust your government to deploy military power, what do you trust them for? Do you have to trust them for anything? It's not like it's a viable option to decide that you don't want to designate any government as "yours". Good luck surviving in no man's land if you do. What makes governme…

> Being subordinate didn't work for the Nuremberg

It didn't work for those convicted in the Nuremberg trials because the Nazis lost. Had the Third Reich persisted with a truce, do you really think they would have been charged, convicted, and sentenced?

Legal liability gets pretty hazy when applying it in a non-sovereign arenas (i.e. international matters). Yes, there are treaties [0], but what are treaties without enforcement?

> Do you have to trust them for anything?

People are welcome to move to areas where government interaction is less or non-existent. They generally choose not to. Largely, because the economies in places like that suck, because it's hard to employ capital in an anarchist, solely-"might makes right" environment.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_war#International_tr...

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