Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech • Hacker News Board

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

#141

Post by dogman144 » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

akamia wrote: post #38

dogman144 wrote: post #11

The DoD could certainly use some technical help, and the leadership from ex (or current reserve/national guard aka "R/NG") officers and NCOs in tech jobs benefits the tech industry. The issue is this - the American military Reserve/NG is not very truthful, in my experience, with the time commitments. The marketing slogan is "a weekend a month, two weeks a summer" of time commitment, or something to that effect. In re…

This is spot on. I had a coworker who was in the reserves and the commitment was significantly more than what they say in the brochures. He was often gone for weeks at a time. This made it really difficult for him to progress because he was never able to start AND finish any major projects. Our manager really tried to support him but going through a promo process without any good examples of execution is nearly impos…

Ya, it's a real organizational management and national service tragedy.

So much of the technical modernization is getting pushed towards the R/NG units, and you can just see how that will go short/mid term. This is paired with a common refrain from vets in tech that the pay and lifestyle is great but the work is pretty empty, so they'd look to do something else. But, they also know the meaningless silliness they'd sign up for by going back into the R/NG, let alone active duty. So, they land in defense contractors or SV startups doing defense tech, and straddle a middle ground that's not much better. The good ones won't go to the big defense contractors either.

Therefore, given that the recruitment target is a populace that has lived fairly simple lives in duty stations around the US, are happy earning something over $100k and calling it a day, and have pretty firm moral views on the importance and value of service the inability to capture this population back into public service due to the lack of any form of sane incentives is maddening to watch. Even discussing the pay is hard - the general populace and their representatives in congress (I say this reading OPEDs via them, although it is def anecdotal) can't believe that $70k is too low pay for an engineer to leave private sector. I'll stop this rant here, but my dream is someone in power finally starts understanding it's only (1) pay, (2) work geography matching modern tech centers, (3) drug policies from the 1950's keeping the talent out in aggregate.

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

#142

Post by hunterb123 » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

jleyank wrote: post #126

hunterb123 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most social welfare programs have limitations as requirements, which has a negative effect. It keeps people content with the welfare because if they work they no longer qualify for it. A lot of the time the welfare will pay similar to a job so they won't bother with the slight increase. The military you put your 4 years in, you get your experience, and you earn your GI bill for further education (or you go into priva…

Officers = jobs, enlisted = welfare if you want a naive partitioning. Although high-ranking NCO's probably do quite well as they actually do/direct the work. Officers just look good :-).

Welfare has a connotation that there's no work done for your pay, there's a lot of work done for it, and it's hard work.

Btw noone likes officers due to their lack of work required / cushy status.

Honestly that's the welfare of the military, giving out a sense of purpose and power to trust fund kids :p

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

#143

Post by pphysch » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

adewinter wrote: post #119

pphysch wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

It might be naive but doesn't make the statement any less accurate or true. Some people have a strong belief, and faith, in democracy and democratic leaders. To the point that they'd join up and go fight if called upon. It's not for everyone but that's ok in a democratic society. Implying that people who do believe in the system are stupid or "lesser," is perhaps something you should consider not doing.

It does make the statement less true, because it is evidently not based in reality.

In actually-existing 21st-century "democracies", the people do not choose who gets bombed. Those choices are made by unelected officials in the MIC and rationalized by think tanks and communications firms funded by the same MIC.

> Implying that people who do believe in the system are stupid or "lesser," is perhaps something you should consider not doing.

Strawmanning isn't cool.

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

#144

Post by jpgvm » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

qiskit wrote: post #110

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?

> "Queen’s enemies." I can't believe people still fight for royalty. Ants fight their queen's enemies. Free human being should fight for themselves, their families, etc.

It's not meant literally. Even in Australia our armed forces are still "Royal" but this is just a vestige of the past. i.e our ships are designated Her Majesty's Australian Ship (HMAS).

What is means in practice is they fight for their country and its allies, just like any other military. While technically the Queen's representative in Australia (the Governor-General) is the chief of Australias armed forces (as defined in the constitution) this has never been used in practice (and would probably be ignored at this point).

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

#145

Post by Cederfjard » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

abduhl wrote: post #36

toomuchtodo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a positive. It is a tragedy that these services (education, healthcare) are difficult to obtain without military service in a supposedly developed country.

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…

Higher education funded through government spending is not a utopia, it already exists in many places and would not be prohibitively expensive for the United States if there was a will.

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

#146

Post by brynx97 » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

oaxacaoaxaca wrote: post #83

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…

>None of that is true. All of that is true about my Army experience lol. If I could go back and do it again, I'd definitely choose Air Force. I agree that the military can be a positive experience and it's a good idea for some people, but the caveat with my endorsement is that you gotta carefully choose the branch and the job. I almost chose linguistics, but for some silly reason chose mechanic and paratrooper, and w…

> All of that is true about my Army experience lol. If I could go back and do it again, I'd definitely choose Air Force.

Yes, it varies wildly based on branch, different units or battalions/brigades etc, and which MOS (job) you are. Or if you are enlisted or officer. I had a leadership change in my company over a period of like 6 months where all senior enlisted and officers changed, and it was like night and day different. Very micro-managed. It was like being back in Basic Training at Ft. Benning, insane. This ruined it for me, I chose not to re-enlist. I do really miss a lot of camaraderie, and every point in the "Why do I do it?" section of the article resonates very strongly with me.

I'd also chose Air Force or Navy instead of Army if I did it over again. Better training. More impactful missions I think for my MOS (Satcom). Not sure it would be available though, Navy and Air Force don't have as much "room" for folks then (2011) and especially now.

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

#147

Post by matwood » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

h2odragon wrote: post #3

> we emphasise explaining the context two levels up. I may tell my soldiers to raid a compound, but I would also tell them that the reason for this is to create a distraction so that the Colonel can divert the enemy away from a bridge, and that the reason the Brigadier wants the Colonel to divert the enemy is so that the bridge is easier to cross. many organizations could benefit from more of that.

The term is communicating the "Commanders Intent". It's exactly I how work with my teams. Giving the people doing the work as much information as possible, lets them make better decisions as all the little decisions pop up.

I wasn't in the military, and have always led this way because it seemed more effective and tbh, less work for me. Ideally I don't need to micro-manage anyone when they have all the same information that I do. If a big issue comes up, I trust my team to surface it me.

I've watched other managers deal in information (only sharing bits and pieces to certain people), and it just never made sense to me IMO. Everyone was always a little confused and things were never done quite right.

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

#148

Post by abduhl » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #76

abduhl wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

Establish the other pipeline out of poverty then come after the military. Or, alternatively, establish the other pipeline and let the government compete for young people. Don’t just try to fuck poor people by taking their options away and then promising that a different option is “coming.”

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

#149

Post by exdsq » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:47 PM UTC

I had quite a lot of fun in the Army Reserve in England (6 Rifles, B Company) while I was a teenager (17.5 - 19.5). Being paid to spend my weekends running around a field, camping, and shooting was a lot better than alternatives like working in a shop. I do partly regret not joining a deployment (some of my buddies went on Herrick XIII) but I still toy with the idea of rejoining in the future so maybe one day.

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

#150

Post by jpgvm » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

Tepix wrote: post #121

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?

While reading, that paragraph really stood out to me. Why would you even want a queen? It's an expensive relic of darker times. The whole idea of fighting for your life is completely alien to me. But then again i guess the people in Ukraine weren't expecting to be invaded for the longest time either. Humans are animals.

The Queen basically serves as an extra head of state, a useful diplomatic figure and not much more. I don't think the UK monarchy is a net-negative but admittedly isn't all that necessary either.

I come from a military town so my view may be different to some but I believe you need to be able to fight when you are threatened and to do that you need to be prepared. It's very hard to be prepared if you don't have a military and competent, motivated and well trained people to fight in it.