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As a Viet-Nam "vet", this would have been simple to answer a few years ago....but I've been doing a lot of 'thinking". While the military is certainly a respectable pursuit, and we HAVE to have these folks, I'm not sure I'd 'encourage" a loved one to join. I wouldn't try to 'besmirch' the job, but wouldn't 'push' it, either.
I will never be convinced that we don't need a military to defend our freedom and independence. But increasingly, in the coming decades, it's my sincere belief (I've done extensive 'study' on this) that wars will be less and less a matter of clear-cut "Good Guys" against evil "Bad Guys", and will be less and less about "us"....and "war" will come to mean scattered, ugly, disorganized and hard-to-define "cultural battles" in obscure corners of the world, most of which have no clear "objective", and participation in which would be an arbitrary "open-ended" affair.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor was pretty clearly something to get "mad" about...and so was Hitler. But today, I'm not sure who the "good guys" are, and I'm not clear as to exactly how they're any better that the "bad guys"...For that reason, I'm not anxious to 'donate a son'....especially for no clear reason...
AS I asked on another thread...Please define the term "winning", in regard to the Iraq war. When will we have 'won', and who says so?
Yes...
I'd also encourage them to become Firemen, Policemen.....Paramedics...Veterinarians....
Nurses....E-Room Doctors....[emergency medicine]....
About the only thing I'd try to get them to avoid....is the US Merchant Marine.....
If they want to ship out....see the world they should go into the Navy....
I was never encouraged although I made small inquiry before grad school back in 1980. I wish I had because I feel I didn't have enough toughness in my upbringing.
I have three little boys now and I am trying to flush out ideas.
Macmeal - I know what you mean. Todays world is so complex.
I hate to say it because I am pro military and from a military family but the more I see things going on in the world with our troops being used not for service to the country but as political pawns for nation building,I mean just look at the Balkans flare up besides the middle east and I say no.
About the only place we belong these days is Afghanistan.
bUT i DON'T HAVE KIDS,BUT i SUPPOSE IF THERE WAS A DRAFT i'D GO IF CALLED..........eh to lazy to retype that,caps hit
Yes...
I'd also encourage them to become Firemen, Policemen.....Paramedics...Veterinarians....
Nurses....E-Room Doctors....[emergency medicine]....
About the only thing I'd try to get them to avoid....is the US Merchant Marine.....
If they want to ship out....see the world they should go into the Navy....
On another topic I asked if Americans would perceive Mohammad Ali a traitor because he refused to fight the Viet Cong. If I was a black American like Mohammad Ali who also refused to be treated like a slave or a 2nd class American citizen by his own government, I would have refused too. If I as a coloured American citizen would not get the chance to become an officer because of the colour of my skin I would've refused too. If I'm not mistaken coloured people at that time could not become an officer so they became nothing more than 'meat shields'.
So I guess it depends on how the government treats its own citizens, before I would encourage my child or other family to join the army.
If you knew eather of my sons you would know in a heartbeat that no one (especially me) could influence them to do anything they didn't believe in. When at an early age they asked me why I served, I told them that I was influenced by JFK, 'to ask what you could do for your country', and that I felt and still to feel it is one's obligaton to serve their country in the military. One of my guys chose not to, is an honest, law-abiding citizen and successful (I think) in business and I am more than fine with that. The other is in an elite Army unit as I've said in other threads and I think he'd admit that the form of "tough love" I used to discipline both he and his brother when they misbehaved (push-up & running rather than physical or verbal abuse) guided him. Kids won't listen to you, they'll watch you and judge accordingly. I didn't always get it right (far from it) and neither did my dad, but we tried. My apologies if I've deviated from this thread somewhat. Lou
Last edited by Loujr; 02-22-2008 at 05:58 PM..
Reason: forgot word
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Influencing your kids
