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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

#131

Post by photochemsyn »

The most important thing to realize about military service is that you sign away all your citizenship rights (free speech, etc.) when you sign up for the service. Hopefully you won't be used in ridiculous debacles like the 2003 Iraq Invasion, based on lies about WMDs pushed by Washington (and see British role as well), but you'll have no say in the matter.

The other thing to realize is that, at least in the USA, they'll do everything they can to deny you medical benefits for injuries suffered in basic training, and this will persist after you get out, i.e. Veteran's Administration health care is pretty poor by all accounts. You can't just trust the system to look out for your interests in this area.

In addition, the 'educational assistance' is barely enough for a two-year vocational training program, certainly nowhere near enough for a full four-year college degree. It's better than nothing, certainly, but the advertising and the reality have a big disconnect.

If you're a teenage with zero alternative options and are completely desperate for a way out of an urban slum nightmare or a poverty-stricken rural life, the military is there as an option. I was once in a similar situation but I rejected military service because I'd heard too many Vietnam vets tell horror stories about how they'd been treated by the military. It wasn't much better for those who had to serve more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq, for equivalently dubious reasons.

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

#132

Post by hugh-avherald »

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?

To be fair, a country that is able to defend its people is unlikely to actually ever need to. And the more able the country is, the less likely it will need to defend itself.

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

#133

Post by trash001 »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #93
abduhl wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re just complaining. The world exists as it does now and broad generalized complaints like yours are often used to support positions which actively harm those you purport to help. Say we take away the military on-ramp to class mobility. What can we do for those trapped in poverty whose only ticket out was enlistment? Your answer should be focused on what we can practically do as the world stands now, not in your…

> What can we do for those trapped in poverty whose only ticket out was enlistment? You just give them the fucking food, education, and healthcare. Look at the current US military budget and tell me that's impossible. The military is not offering "good" — it's offering the roll of a dice. Sure, one side says "good" but you've got a "death" side too. Wealthy people do not have to roll this dice at all. The majority of…

> You just give them the fucking food, education, and healthcare. Look at the current US military budget and tell me that's impossible.

It’s impossible.

Here is some analysis:

https://hwfo.substack.com/p/peace-in-ukraine-and-universal-h...

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

#135

Post by DonaldFisk »

basisword wrote: post #72
simonh wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Before the 2001 invasion, Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban.

Invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a different matter. At that point, Iraq didn't have WMD, and wasn't harbouring Al Qaeda, so the invasion was unjustified.

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

#136

Post by lkbm »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #44
dogman144 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue it's a positive in that its the only route out currently for people born in certain zip codes, such that with 2 years in active duty, your whole life trajectory can change (free college, "honorable military service" stamp on your resume, so on - I'll spare the recruiting pitch). The local high schools aren't doing it, the government isn't doing it, but the military will. But... The tragedy is that this is t…

How can you call something a positive and then immediately call it a tragedy? that's not a positive at all!

Do you think homeless shelters and food stamps are a positive? It's clearly a tragedy that we need them, but I'd say they are very clearly a positive.

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

#137

Post by basisword »

freedomben wrote: post #94
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…

Your privilege is showing. Most people can't afford to take a month off, let alone a year. Paying for world travel is out of the question.

In the UK lots of people max out their overdraft and spend some time travelling after uni. They then pay this back when they get good grad jobs - e.g. like the OP.

Regardless - if you cannot afford to do some travelling after uni, spending time in a war zone is hardly a sound alternative.

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

#138

Post by rhinoceraptor »

freedomben wrote: post #75
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…

The real number 1 reason is to get a 96 month loan on a Dodge Charger :)

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

#139

Post by tempnow987 »

sputknick wrote: post #8

I spent five years in the Air Force. Posts like this are really helpful, a lot of Americans are disconnected from members of the military, especially in the upper classes where people do not need to serve, or in fields (like tech) where people can often find less intrusive ways to pay for college. My favorite part of the article is dispelling the myth that in the military senior people bark orders, and don't ask for…

One issue with reserves, especially army. Through the iraq/afghanistan deployments BOG time was way up (ie, your service commit is not just that weekend a month). BOG = Boots on ground time.

In afghanistan Army deployments (both active and reserve) were far higher than other service branches.

My quick understanding is that normally they would like to target 1/4 BOG/Dwell time. So if you are thinking of reserves, particularly army, be asking, could I be gone 12 months out of 48, with potential for more?

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

#140

Post by zdragnar »

foldr wrote: post #59
jmyeet wrote: post #14

So one of the things I like about Tiktok is you get exposed to something you normally wouldn't and it can be fascinating. One example of this I had an Air Force recruiter pop up on my fyp. This is obviously US-centric (as opposed to the article, which is the UK) but here are some things I've learned: 1. The difference between Reserve and Guard? Reserve is Federal, Guard is State (this was news to me); 2. Signing up f…

>You also get medical and dental insurance. This reminds me of a point Michael Moore made in Sicko – that Americans are generally fine with government spending if it's directed at the military. As he put it, America could probably have a national health service as long as the doctors and nurses wore camo.

It's a pretty lame point. We're fine with spending on members of the military because, at any point, they may have to put their lives on the line for the rest of us. National defense isn't something you can prepare for after you need it.

There are valid arguments to be made for society banding together and providing health care for everyone. "but the military gets it" isn't one of them.

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