The U.S. Army is planning a historic parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., on June 14 that will coincide with and be part of the Army’s long-planned 250th celebration.
The parade will involve some 6,600 soldiers, tanks and infantry vehicles, helicopter flyovers and parachute jumps, according to several people familiar with the planning effort, and will also occur on Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
The timing and White House involvement in planning efforts have stoked speculation that Trump is using the Army’s birthday as an excuse to get the kind of grand military parade he wanted during his first term in office. That event was scrapped after estimates topped $90 million.
We learned after Vietnam that we needed to support the troops and not condemn them for our President’s actions. We might have to re-evaluate this approach if they continue down this path. If the military does this and supports deporting American citizens, then we need to start booing them in public.
“Need to”? No we don’t. Some military people will insist we thank them for their service, but everyone in now is a volunteer that saw what the military has done and is used for and decided to sign up. It’s a job, with benefits and pay, and we don’t need to support them any more than we need to support any other job, especially as this job involves a willingness to kill someone just because someone else says so.
The military preys on the poor and desperate. It brain washes those that don’t know fully what they are getting involved with.
True U.S. history isn’t taught until you hit college, which most enlistees have not done. However, being asked to attack your fellow citizens after being told to protect them is a choice.
Exactly this. In 96/97 I was supposed to have gone to college and fucked that whole thing up and had to look for a job. I was having a really hard time trying to find a job and thought about the military.
Out of the blue I got a phone call from one of the military recruitment centers (you’re lucky I remember this at all, let alone what branch) telling me about military service since I had turned 18. I told them I was hearing impaired and wear hearing aids as well as legally blind in one eye. I was told I was not a good candidate and would be denied despite my willingness to take the offer since I couldn’t find a job fresh out of high school.
This comment connected this memory of that call and the Iraq War in a way I hadn’t thought of before – I no doubt know now that if I had been accepted into the military I would have gone to Iraq in 2003. At this moment, I am grateful that I have an unusually heavy burden of medical issues when I normally don’t find much to be positive about in life.
Thank you for this unintentional reminder.
You are a story that is repeated over and over.
My grandfather was given the option of jail or the Marines during Vietnam. I joined in 2010 after the economy shit the bed. It was the only thing left that paid a livable. They did some creative stuff to get me in. It is the military way.
they target alot of middle-class neighborhoods, on the low side, almost everyone in my former hs are not eligible for universities, even if they are none of them can pay for it. its not a poor, and not so rich neighborhood. i said they are sneaky in that they place thier recruiting stations just enough that you wouldnt notice its there unless you know where to look. i said they can only get so much from rural areas, as alot of them might not even pass the asvab, so they targeted the more educated but “poorer” minorities.
And they can freely walk away at any time. Yes, there may be financial penalties, but they’re not going to prison like when the draft existed, which makes this a question of “how much money do you need to be paid to do this”, not a person forced to participate against their will.
We owe them psychological counseling and healthcare for injuries inflicted during their time, but they aren’t special people we have some inherent duty to respect and provide for.
You walk away without permission is called awol. That will get you arrested and put in the brig.
Edited: Spelling
Are you an asvab waiver? It’s AWOL not AWAL.
Nope, just dyslexic and educated by a southern state. Also I don’t use spell check.
Fair enough. Sorry
You can literally just resign.
You must be a nonAmerican or never been in the military.
AWOL - Absence Without Leave. A violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. May result in an Article 15 Hearing, AKA Non-judicial Punishment, or Court Martial. Confinement may be one of the resulting punishments. Deserting assigned duty is absolutely not taken lightly. Anyone wishing to separate should find a different, more legal, way to do it. I’ve heard failing to pass the body composition or fitness standard is one of the easier ways to get a discharge prior to contract fulfillment. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title10-section886&num=0&edition=prelim
No, like you can just quit. Not disappear without leave. Resign
I think someone can ask to resign, and officers may have a little bit easier of a time resigning a commission, but typically most service members are on a contract for a certain term of service. Quitting before the contract is up…I’m not certain it’s as easy as just quitting, based on posts I’ve seen in r/army.
I personally support the troops and condemn the military.
If I meet an individual, that’s a person who has oftentimes been sent to places where their lives were in danger whether they really wanted to go or not.
However, I don’t support the leadership or the organization. I don’t believe we’ve needed to maintain such a large military force or use it to advance national interests. The USA has always been in a unique position geographically where a war couldn’t easily reach us.