Did your miliitary services change the way you eventually lived your life.

[dutch508]

Star Member usaf-vet (4,545 posts)


Did your miliitary services change the way you eventually lived your life.

Was it different than your high school predicted where you were headed?

Note 1: This was originally posted as a comment on this Atticus OP earlier today.

Here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16343970

Note 2: It now is offered as an OP on its own, prompted by this comment in the Atticus thread above.
This should be an OP on its own, because its thought-provoking in a different direction.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16344995

My story: the school's views and the military experience.

The schools told me not to expect to go to college. Find a job working with your hands: mechanic, laborer, carpenter, or factory worker. I was five year HS student just squeaking by.

It was 1965, and my dad was a WW II vet and his dad a WW I vet. So it seemed to be that my best option was the military. So I enlisted the week after graduation in the USAF. Of course, Vietnam was raging then, and I was surprised at how vehemently opposed my dad was to my 18-year-old independent decision to enlist. I should say I was opposed to the war then and still believe in my decision now.

Well, here is the question I would like to pose to others. Did the military change your outlook toward your ability to do more than what the school experts predicted? I chose the USAF because the recruiter asked me what job I wanted. My Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test scores were respectable and opened many options. I told the recruiter I wanted to be a medic, and he said that that was a viable choice based on ASVAB scores.

Two months later, I left for basic training. At the time, 57 years ago, I was in great physical shape, having worked through high school in physical jobs. Basic training wasn't a breeze, but it wasn't overly challenging either. I started to realize that you knew exactly what the military expected of you, and if you met those expectations, you succeeded and advanced.

We the day came to see counselors about your job wishes. There was a bit of a surprise waiting for me. The counselor said, so you want to be a medic? I said yes, sir! He said, tremendous so, your first choice is medic, your second choice is air traffic controllers, and your third choice is air police. This was the moment I found out the recruiter wasn't completely honest with me. I didn't realize there were three choices. You got one; the military got the other two. Ok, so let's see, the counselor said as he shuffled through the papers. Hey, you are in luck; medics it is. You will get orders shortly and will be headed off to medics school.

Ok, off to the question with one summary statement.

I graduated from introductory (basic) medics school, 2nd in the class. I graduated 2nd in an advanced specialty school. I went on to put in my four years loved the job. I got discharged in 1969, married in 1970, and started a family. Earn two college degrees. Fifty years later, my wife and I are still married (she has a BS degree). We are retired and financially comfortable. She spent her career working as a specialist in public schools. And I became a school board member and worked for those eight years to try and change how we teach in schools. Along with eight other board members, my name is on a plaque in the newest elementary school at the school's front entrance.

My question. Did your time in the military become a turning point in your life and your own expectations of what you were capable of doing in life? My time did.

I know that the Vietnam war created a lot of pain and sorrow for eight families in my hometown community. I like to think that I have tried to honor my eight high school classmates that were KIA in Vietnam by doing all I could do to make life better for those in my community today and every day.

 

Star Member Aristus (57,891 posts)

1. I was already a neat-nik years before I joined the Army, so that didn't change at all.

But when I was in, I learned what I've come to call "mission mode", getting the job done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Gives me more time to crash and vedge out

Star Member William769 (51,564 posts)

2. I tried to get into the military, but they would not accept me.

One of the questions I was asked was something to the effect was I a homosexual? This was 1982.

I spent the rest of my life fighting for LGBTQ rights. I will admit before this moment, I probably would not have fought like I did, but this one instance really pissed me off.

Star Member 11 Bravo (23,023 posts)

4. It imbued me with a contempt that occasionally morphs into rage directed toward ...

chest-pounding chickenhawks who have no concept of the horrors of combat, yet are more than willing to employ the thinnest of pretexts to send someone else's kid into the meat grinder.

   My guess is this idiot never served in a combat zone and probably isn't an Infantryman.

DVRacer (570 posts)

6. My story has some similarities

Dad’s dad spent 30 years in the Marine Corps April 1942 he turned 20 in June of that year he hit the beach at Guadalcanal and changed according to family.

Dad spent 30 years in the Army in Special Forces his 20th birthday he was in Viet Nam as an advisor at first he was different afterwards.

I got a little ahead of them because at 19 I went to Bosnia in the Navy as an Intelligence Specialist. I saw the best and worst of humanity in that deployment and it too changed me. I saw genocide first hand in mass graves also people sharing the last bit of food to a stranger because they were hungry. I understand even in our struggles here things can be much worse. I learned to listen more and offer solutions once I have evaluated the consequences heavily. The 2000’s were hard for me to watch and I have not forgotten them as quickly as some. I just want a better world for my children like most but I see dark clouds on the horizon in many forms. The biggest threat I see is Authoritarianism and absolutism in politics around the world here at home the tribalism. Trump was a power hungry idiot I’m more concerned about what comes next if it’s smarter.

Star Member lpbk2713 (40,515 posts)

13. It was 1969 when I was released from active duty.

I thought I knew what I could expect from friends and family. I'd rather not elaborate.