Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

chrisseaton.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 608 posts

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

#491

Post by tomcam »

umvi wrote: post #29
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…

Some reserve units in the US are highly technical too. I did a cyber education course at AFIT when I was in Air Force ROTC and there was a particular reserve unit somewhere in Maryland I want to say nearish NSA that had a lot of super smart security researchers that came to guest lecture us including Raphael Smudge (creator of https://github.com/rsmudge/armitage )

I refuse to look up the name Raphael Smudge. I choose to believe it is the name of a villain in the third Sonic movie.

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

#493

Post by lnxg33k1 »

I think one of the biggest issues of our generation / society is that we see military personnel not as the rapist, civilian killing, perverts they never fail to show they are when in combat, but we see them as someone with a strong mind (where?), doing something noble in killing other human beings as tool of the wealthy / powerful

You want to get out of your comfort zone? Be pushed to improve? Go do some sports, go play football, go play tennis, go play cricket

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

#494

Post by froh »

HWR_14 wrote: post #451
felipemnoa wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HMMWVs What does this acronym stand for?

It's the military term for Humvee - the huge vehicle that was popular for a while when gas was cheap. Or rather "hum vee" is how it is pronounced and the civilians spelled it phonetically.

"Hummer" was the brand name of the consumer version:

https://youtu.be/GEMRkQmh9WI

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

#495

Post by rhn_mk1 »

ethbr0 wrote: post #80
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 e…

I don't know any areas you're describing.

I also conjecture that once you turn a non-governed area into an El Dorado, "might makes right" will push it right back into a government. I don't feel a regular person has any choice if they want to thrive but to surrender themselves to some government regardless of trust.

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

#496

Post by watwut »

ethbr0 wrote: post #470
watwut wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am more ok with destroyed roads then with expansive war or atrocities and so on. Those cause way more harm. I not ok with racist education. By I am even more not ok with army being used for racist project - and that one causes more harm. Also, by current legal standards, soldiers are supposed to refuse orders if those lead to genocide and such. It is so after Nuremberg after WWII. I am very fine with the rare Russi…

When push comes to shove, it's about power. F.ex. the desegregation of Arkansas schools [0]. If don't have force to command, you don't have authority. My point that the very existence of laws (any laws!) is predicated on access to force. Without force, you can only have those rules to which everyone voluntarily agrees, and continues doing so. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine#National_Gu...

> When push comes to shove, it's about power. F.ex. the desegregation of Arkansas schools [0]. If don't have force to command, you don't have authority.

I would point out that segregation itself was hold by forces. The particular unit went there, because local ones were onthe other side.

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

#497

Post by watwut »

ethbr0 wrote: post #471
watwut wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Had the Third Reich persisted with a truce, do you really think they would have been charged, convicted, and sentenced? Pre Nuremberg expectations on soldiers were blind obedience nazi or not. Nuremberg set the expectation on soldiers from then on. WWII changed that. It could not happen due to their own ideology. It did not allowed for lasting compromise which everyone else knew. Third Reich would not prosecuted th…

> WWII changed that Bullshit. Who was prosecuted for the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo? How many of the German rocketry experts scooped up during Paperclip were convicted? How many US military members have been delivered to the ICJ?

> Bullshit. Who was prosecuted for the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo?

Neither of these is comparable for what Germans did and you know it.

> How many US military members have been delivered to the ICJ?

US did not signed membership.

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

#498

Post by watwut »

PeterisP wrote: post #404
uxp100 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One country designating another country an enemy is not, in fact, a war crime. But an illegal war of aggression is a crime against humanity, right?

Starting an illegal war of aggression is a crime for which some people were convicted in Nuremberg Tribunals. However, all the soldiers fighting in such an illegal war of aggression are not considered responsible for that crime. For "simply" fighting a war and killing uniformed enemy soldiers "I was just following orders" actually is a legitimate excuse, and should not result in any convictions (of e.g. murder) unles…

> For "simply" fighting a war and killing uniformed enemy soldiers

But, that is not how those wars happen. Like, literally none of those wars was limited to killing uniformed enemy soldiers. That might be Hollywood idea of war. But pretty much all of real ones involved units killing/torturing locals. Sometimes more and as a strategy, other times less so. But it happens literally every time. It is not that all armies are the same, they are not. Some are much much better then others.

But, in general, worldwide, "simply" fighting a war and killing uniformed enemy soldiers is not what war is.

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

#499

Post by watwut »

monocasa wrote: post #286
watwut wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soldiers claim they arw willing to die as part of job. If one brags he is ok to go on super dangerous missions, he should be OK also to die in order to not commit attrocity

True, but there are plenty of soldiers who are simply trying not to get killed. The calculus of "if I don't commit this war crime, I'll for sure die, but if I do, the US has pledged to literally invade countries that try to investigate us war crimes, and don't have a great track record of internally policing war crimes" is pretty clear. My point isn't to defend the actions of war criminals, but instead point out that…

> point out that relying on foot soldiers to become conscientious objectors at the spur of the moment against the structural pressures against that is well documented to not be a great strategy for reducing war crimes

Nor is excusing all those as a result of them all being scared of forced to do them. A lot of those are committed, because soldiers on the ground in fact want to commit them. Sometimes you have no choice and would be shot otherwise. And many times you do have choice and can choose to not rape or not kill that civilian. That is something that former soldiers report on too - if you read their accounts.

> but if I do, the US has pledged to literally invade countries that try to investigate us war crimes, and don't have a great track record of internally policing war crimes" is pretty clear.

For all US faults, US actually has better track record that ISIS or Russia or China. They are not bunch of angels, plenty of sociopaths all around.

But specifically in US army, you are unlikely to die or be tortured of you don't commit war crime.

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

#500

Post by mach1ne »

As a male Finnish citizen, I have gone a year of conscript military training and am now in the reserve. Army life is perhaps the single most bizarre experience you can have in the West. Practically nowhere else do you lose control of your own life so completely.
Post reply on HN