Monday, June 27, 2005
Raggin' on the Military
As you may have gathered from this blog, I tend to rag on the military quite a bit. I'd like to take some time to clarify that. It's not so much that I rag the military in general, but mostly only certain portions of it -- primarily the leadership and their policies.
Actually, I have many fond memories of the military, and actually wouldn't hesitate to advise anyone to enlist for a tour. Notice I said a tour, not a career. A career in the military definitely isn't for everyone and I wouldn't try to convince anyone it is. However, I think most people could be rewarded by a tour - one hitch and see if it fits. First of all, as you may have read a while back, the chance of actually getting killed in the military isn't really that high. I'd put my chances of surviving a military tour - even Iraq - as being better than surviving a trip through certain parts of Detroit or LA.
OK - my experience was the air force. Hardly the combat arms branch. If you're going to pick a branch to serve in, I'd advise the USAF. Not only is it safer, but you'll probably get a better education out of it as well. Living conditions are without a doubt better - even now. I spent 1973-1995 in the USAF and spent exactly two nights in a tent - and the tent had a wood floor and heater. The USAF paid for my Bachelor's degree and helped a lot on my Masters after I retired. While I was in, the USAF paid for two Associate degrees. My first technical school was 36 weeks long in electronics. I also spent 9 weeks learning how to drive heavy equipment and 9 weeks in planning how to handle disasters and NBC combat. That doesn't begin to count all the months I'd spent in leadership, refresher, and other technical training.
I did get to see the world. England, Greenland, Germany, Kansas, Alaska, Delaware, Mississippi, and Korea are just some of the places I've been. I've seen the northern nights over Fairbanks in -60 degree weather and watched the fog roll into the Stonehenge circle at midnight. I've roamed topless beaches in Italy, 55 gallon drum fields in the Aleutian Islands and seen rice paddies in Korea. I've also ridden a bike (quickly) through Gypsy camps in England, missed terrorist's bomb explosions by hours in London and months in Saudi Arabia. I've been one plane ride away from a bomb in Italy and watched the Italian Communist party blockade our base. Forest fires in Alaska, tornados in Kansas and hurricanes in Mississippi also rounded out my tour. Try getting some of that experience at MacDonald or Seven-Eleven.
2fers US Air Force and US Navy p.s. you're gonna have to find the army and marines on your own...
