Recruiting is in the tank! (AF, deployed, graduate, intelligence)
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In 79 when I joined I almost didn't make the height/weight requirement because I was too skinny, 5'8"at 115 lbs soaking wet. But 1 year later I went home on leave at 6'1" at 190lbs strong, boy did the Army know how to build you up back then.
The Army probably didn’t have a lot to do with your height gain. Muscle and general cardio, probably quite a bit.
The Army probably didn’t have a lot to do with your height gain. Muscle and general cardio, probably quite a bit.
Well all I know is that being born the smallest of a family of 10 kids, I turned out to be the largest one. And the Army had a huge influence on that and I'm glad of it too.
With fewer planes and long heard predictions that the last fighter pilot had already been born perhaps. But maybe more important in the story
Spoiler
the Admiral was just fine sending them on a suicide mission like 633 Squadron, where the pilots all were shot down if the unit name survives. It was only Maverick who thought the mission was survivable and they lost half of the flight. By sheer luck the stars didn't die as they might have during a war movie made in the 1950s
Not many people want to serve anymore. Many different reasons, but I feel that it is civilian leadership in DC that is the main problem. They are an absolute embarrassment and what happened in Afghanistan was also an embarrassment. The Generals who have to take a knee to the politicians in power in order to keep their stars aren’t helping either, if we are honest with ourselves. Allowing CRT in the ranks?
Can you blame a young kid for not wanting to serve under that? A big part of the reason why I joined up and served nearly 25 years is because I believed in the ideals of this country. What are the main ideals of the United States in 2022? To spread LGBT across the globe? To enflame Russia by coercing Ukraine into goading them to war?
But if (when) we elect new leaders in DC, I suspect recruiting will get back on track. Of course, NBC and the rest of the media will never tell you any of this. To them, it’s all obesity, drug use, and criminal activity. But recruiting goals have been met as recently as 2020. What’s changed since then? I think we all know the answer.
Mandatory experimental shots in the arm, mandatory wokie training, "leadership" like Silly Milley a pathetic example of a four star if ever there was one. SecDef is a PC wokie moron, idiots abound in the upper echelons, Marines show the rainbow colors.
Yes, this is a real head-scratcher. Until January 2021, our military's mission was to deter wars through strength and win wars by killing people and breaking things. These imbeciles at the top have no concept of the military. That fatass Milley should be the first to go.
I am not up on what is required in K-12 for physical activity.......but is that part of our problem, too? Did we do away with required PE & recess for our general population in schools?
There is still PE in school, but 30 minutes of kickball (or whatever) twice a week is not going to get an obese kid into shape.
I guess I fit into the category of 'old, grizzled' retiree.
I see a lot of young people who would NEVER meet requirements to serve. They did it all to themselves, or maybe our society has done it to them.
Right about the time I became a sergeant, I read Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War." This was a unique science fiction war story that heavily involved the time dilation effect of faster-than-light space travel. Because the soldiers of this future war travelled faster-than-light between battles, their subjective time was hundreds of time slower than time on earth.
Thus, the protagonist of the story spends what is to him one year in combat, while thousands of years pass on earth. Toward the end of his subjective year of military obligation, he had been born thousands of years before the new recruits coming into his unit. So they were almost like a different species.
I started to feel a bit that way by the time I retired. I recall going to the airport to greet what would be the last "new troop" I'd get before I retired, a woman and her husband. I walked through the airport where we were supposed to meet...but didn't see anyone who looked like an Air Force woman and husband.
Then I had a thought...could it have possibly been that outlaw biker couple I had just passed?
I turned around, and, yup, it was that outlaw biker couple...full of tattoos and piercings, including tongue piercings. Of course, when she came in for duty, her piercings were removed and her tats were covered. And she was a pretty good troop, too.
That was over 20 years ago. Things are a whole lot different now even from then. No point in us grizzled old retirees getting our blood pressures high about any of that.
Last edited by Ralph_Kirk; 06-29-2022 at 09:05 AM..
Right about the time I became a sergeant, I read Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War." This was a unique science fiction war story that heavily involved the time dilation effect of faster-than-light space travel. Because the soldiers of this future war travelled faster-than-light between battles, their subjective time was hundreds of time slower than time on earth.
Thus, the protagonist of the story spends what is to him one year in combat, while thousands of years pass on earth. Toward the end of his subjective year of military obligation, he had been born thousands of years before the new recruits coming into his unit. So they were almost like a different species.
I started to feel a bit that way by the time I retired. I recall going to the airport to greet what would be the last "new troop" I'd get before I retired, a woman and her husband. I walked through the airport where we were supposed to meet...but didn't see anyone who looked like an Air Force woman and husband.
Then I had a thought...could it have possibly been that outlaw biker couple I had just passed?
I turned around, and, yup, it was that outlaw biker couple...full of tattoos and piercings, including tongue piercings. Of course, when she came in for duty, her piercings were removed and her tats were covered. And she was a pretty good troop, too.
That was over 20 years ago. Things are a whole lot different now even from them. No point in us grizzled old retirees getting our blood pressures high about any of that.
I read that book during senior cruise for my first undergrad .... and being a reader, remember it well even after almost 4 decades. How appropriate that when he was the commanding officer, it was not that he was tolerant of everyone being gay but that since everyone was, they probably saw him as the deviant.
As to your experience, could that be me? No-o.......but not because I am "with it" but a far worse reason....at least to them. Je suis une espionne. That is for here, in the worlds of camouflage, they taught me how to blend in and how to detect.
..........................................bummer about the cat, though. Hope his shot found the mark.
"The Generals who have to take a knee to the politicians in power in order to keep their stars aren’t helping either, if we are honest with ourselves."
Disobedience to lawful civilian leadership is what's commonly known as treason. The military is subordinate to our elected officials, as is only fitting for a free country. Are you posting from Leavenworth?
"The Generals who have to take a knee to the politicians in power in order to keep their stars aren’t helping either, if we are honest with ourselves."
Disobedience to lawful civilian leadership is what's commonly known as treason. The military is subordinate to our elected officials, as is only fitting for a free country. Are you posting from Leavenworth?
Maybe yes, maybe no, such as what if one was in charge of Abu Ghraib prison when the orders came down that the gloves come off?
The Captain I was a Provost Marshal under asked me that question, of what would I have done. Had I stayed in, it was possible that I might have ended up in those shoes.
A few things. I know what the rules of war are, you do not torture prisoners. I know that in our information age, such things will be discovered, they will not stay secret. I know that in the end, the politicians that order such things are the ones who will not be punished but it will be the lower ones, such as "me", that are left holding the bag.
What would I have done? I would have refused to obey such orders or I would have incompetently obeyed such orders. If I was lucky, I would be relieved, dismissed from the service, and possibly kissing good bye 20 years of retirement.........but as said, I know it would be discovered had I obeyed such orders............and I have no wish to be a footnote about committing war crimes.
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