Were you ever in the Armed Forces

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I can see that happening. I allways enjoyed sitting on the berm watching the tracer fires boune up into the sky.
 
Adler, I had never fired a big bore rifle until I went to basic. I had made life miserable for jack rabbits on a farm with a Winchester bolt action and a pocket full of 22 shorts(all I could afford) and I had limited a few times on doves with a 12 gauge Mod 97 Winchester. Anyway, when they turned me loose on the 1000 inch and later KD range with that lovely Garand #5182609 and lots of that shiny ammunition(which I did not have buy) I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I still marvel at how those NCOs could take some city boy who had never pulled a trigger and teach him how to shoot that hard kicking, relatively speaking, M1 rifle and actually hit the target a lot of the time. I don't believe in UMT. I treasure our all voluteer army but I almost would like to see it mandatory that all young men have to go and learn basic skills with a military rifle.
 
renrich said:
I treasure our all voluteer army but I almost would like to see it mandatory that all young men have to go and learn basic skills with a military rifle.
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I think that many of the liberals in this country would have a heart attack and stop breathing if subjected to military discipline. Well, I'm not opposed to the thought of that :D
 
That would be one way to handle them, either convert them or eliminate them. I wonder if a program where every able bodied male say at the age of 18 had to go through basic training would keep something like happened at VT from happening?
 
I guess I am not really advocating a return of the draft. For one thing I believe there are more technical skills needed in the US Army(where most draftees would go) Draftees probably would not have the educational background or motivation to satisfy the needs of an ever more technical military. Plus a draft system would have to deal with the female problem. In order to be PC you would have to draft females on an equal basis with males. My daughters are too old for the draft now, but if they were not, they would be drafted over my dead body, unless our country had run out of men. What I am talking about is some kind of National Service where 18 years old males would have a mandatory 10 weeks comparable to basic training where they would learn some thing about discipline, drill, teamwork, Code of Conduct, the rifle and marksmanship and the ethical and moral values of the US Military. Sure could not hurt anyone but I guess I am going against my conservative belief in less government not more. That sort of program would be a monumental undertaking and be very costly. Anyway, I am thankful for the short time I spent in uniform.
 
I think one of the biggest problem facing the military now is retention. We keep losing good NCOs and officers getting out because they're tired of seeing their children age in photographs. Obviously, there's not a whole lot that can be done about this right now...
Compulsory service would be massively expensive, and doesn't fit America's need right now, in my opinion. There's just too high of a volume of males coming of age annually... I know you weren't actually serious, though.
 
I was actually serious for a minute or two but realise that compulsory national service is neither practical or practicable. The left's answer to every problem in society is more government, higher taxes and more government control of our lives. I am not welcome in that camp.
 
mkloby said:
I think one of the biggest problem facing the military now is retention. We keep losing good NCOs and officers getting out because they're tired of seeing their children age in photographs. Obviously, there's not a whole lot that can be done about this right now...
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And that is why I got out. After being deployed twice for 22 months in a 29 month time period and knowing that another 15 months of deployment would 9 to 12 months down the road again, I decided my family was more important to me.

Another reason was money as well. I can do the same job that I did in the Army on the Civilian side and make more money and not have to be away from my family for months on end.
 
I can really lay claim to being in all three. When I left school in 1944, I started work as a Naval messenger on the Grimsby Naval Base, HMS Beaver, I was there for two years. Then came National Service in 1948, Royal Artillery Ack Ack. Being a glutton for punishment, I was in the Royal Air Force three months after leaving the army! I trained as electrical mechanic (air) and ended up on 617 Squadron servicing Lincolns and then, the Canberra. Hows that for service!!

Ken
 
Well then...
I served under ex-Yu flag from sep. 1990 till aug 1991, divided to 6 months as an AAA trainee, then 5 months as a commander of the Praga V3S 30mm self propelled gun .
Next I've served for 8 months in 1993 in Croatian armed forces in infantry, and one month in 1995.
 
Ex RCAF served 20 years. Started as an AC2 electricianin the RCAF . Ended up as a Captain Flight Enginer then Staff Officer AERE Air Command Command Headquarters in the Air Element Canadian Armed Forces.
 
Unfortunately individuals with Celiac Disease (an autoimmune reaction to a protein in wheat, barley, rye, and a couple other grains) can't serve, or I would have been happy to. Since I couldn't, I got into civilian flying instead and I'd like to get involved with CAP. I admire anyone who serves/served though...
 
I have just spent the last 2 hours reading this thread from Page 1, be interested to know whether P38 ever made it into the military and whther his views have changed since his first posts. Anyway, I have been in the British Army since 1983 and have reached the dizzy heights of Captain, although now I work full time for the TA as opposed to Regular service.

This is a most interesting thread as it has a real cross section of people and experiences.

Paul
 
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