I had a marine recruiter see me hitting a heavy bag at a gym and decide that I was the 2nd coming of Smedley Butler or someshit and it took a long damn time to convince him that I wad serious about going to college. Good thing too or I'd have been in during 9/11 and prolly woulda ended up in Iraq.
Shout out to a recently passed family friend who got drafted for Vietnam, rejected and told he needed to gain weight, and promptly changed nothing about his lifestyle and got rejected two more times before they gave up. 🫡
Enlist today and you can bomb dirt-poor Houtis for attacking the wealthy Saudi-backed Yemeni government! Or help to guide Israeli air strikes against a people that's been living in an open-air prison for decades! Or maybe pilot a drone headed for a wedding party in Pakistan.
I think the funny thing about this is that over 90% of the things that make a person unqualified and illegible to join the military for the past several years were things that you could join if you had it 60 years ago. It is a lot like how corporations deny jobs over pointless stuff now adays.
We're in such a god awful job market that people get denied employment over having bipolar disorder... yes... I have been denied entry into the military over that, and denied employment at a bank as a phone operator over it. Denying employment over petty things is the US corporate way of life.
I had an argument with a friend who was insisting I should join the military to get rid of my student loans. When I pressed him on how I’m supposed to get in with all the mental health issues I have, his answer was “just don’t put it on the application.” Yeah, definitely don’t see that going wrong!
If you don't put it in the application the military can gain the right to deny you medication, therapy, and other benefits that are mandatory to give out to active serving officers and veterans with those mental health issues. Serious issue when applying and getting many military benefits.
Exactly, he didn’t seem to have an answer when I asked what happened if I failed a drug test after I fail to disclose the prescription drugs I’m on. I don’t imagine it would lead to them shrugging and letting me join anyway. Regardless if it’s a combat role or not, which he kept trying to point out.
They will of course use it as justification to restart conscription. Which is self defeating. The volunteers they get now are selfselecting and drugfree is understood (not obeyed by all to be sure) but enough and if they would increase pay and benefits they could meet their recruitment goals.
I served. And when I went in the deal was 20 years / half-pay retirement and VA for life (I was at the local VA I talked to guys there from WW2 and Vietnam. VA takes their care seriously) Now it's 40% and "privatization"
A retiree parent of one of my dates said "I'd never recommend to anyone again."
