A few questions about San Antonio? (Houston, Mart: lawyers, to buy, high school)

[lemonfresh]

Originally Posted by V3rtigo

the majority of servicemen i know spent their time abroad picking up women and drinking. none have ever mentioned exploring the region.

It's a good thing you don't generalize then.

i don't know anyone who was stationed in japan who speaks any japanese, ditto for german. thats a telltale sign they didnt explore.

Yeah that's also the tale tell sign. Wait, no it's not.

as for the pot and kettle, i dont care what people do and where they go, i live my life. i'm not telling anyone to do as i've done.

Um, that's not why I said it.

but the notion that military folks are well travelled is absurd.

Some are, some aren't.

What's absurd is the bar you've set or the rules that qualify someone as well traveled.

[V3rtigo]

then you are an exception. i have no problems with anyone in the military. i am the first male in the family to never go to the military and that was at the urging of every other male. i've lived abroad, visited 5 continents and probably 30 countries. i realize that i am the exception as well. i know that most people don't travel that much whether they are in the military or not. i applaud you for trekking off the beaten path but realize that you are the exception.

in all my travels, i can count on one or two hands the number of americans i've seen or met. i've met tourists from dozens of other countries in that time as well.

[lemonfresh]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

If I may ask, were you ever in the military? I ask because those are some pretty ignorant comments you made. If you had been in and were stationed overseas, you would know that most military members and their families are very well traveled! And they also tend to visit those places off the beaten track, unlike tourists. I have encountered American military members in the oddest of places, but most times I run into American tourists it is where I would expect to see them.

Come on guy, don't use logic and facts with this poster. The five military guys he met didn't speak Japanese or explore some obscure mountain .

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by V3rtigo

then you are an exception. i have no problems with anyone in the military. i am the first male in the family to never go to the military and that was at the urging of every other male. i've lived abroad, visited 5 continents and probably 30 countries. i realize that i am the exception as well. i know that most people don't travel that much whether they are in the military or not. i applaud you for trekking off the beaten path but realize that you are the exception.

in all my travels, i can count on one or two hands the number of americans i've seen or met. i've met tourists from dozens of other countries in that time as well.

For someone so well-traveled you don't clue in very well, do you?

I spent my youth as a military dependent, went into the military at age 18 and served for almost a quarter of a century, and now I am a defense contractor working with the military. So, I've been in and around the military for over 46 years now, and have known thousands of people in the military. As such, I feel I am somewhat qualified to refute your comments.

I am NOT the exception. Got that? NOT the exception! If anything, I am about average for a “traveled” military person.

The majority of military people stationed overseas get out and about in not only the country they are stationed in, but others as well. At my last overseas assignment, with NATO in Belgium, it was rare that a weekend would go by that nobody in my office traveled someplace. And I can poll around the office I work in now and probably hit every continent on the planet as a place where someone has lived and traveled.

Yes, for the average American you have traveled a lot; but as I stated there is a huge difference between visiting someplace and living there. Have you regularly bought groceries in a Belgium supermarket? Know where to buy aspirin in Bratislava? Bartered with a trader in Afghanistan? Had coffee in a remote region of Bosnia? Driven across the UK in a car or motorcycle? Bought train tickets and traveled across Bavaria because you missed a bus? Run an Olympic torch in Antwerp? Jumped out of Soviet-build helicopters in the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia? That is just a small representative sample of things I’ve done in places I’ve lived, the list for places I’ve simply visited would fill several books!

I am not trying to brag about what I’ve done, I am just very grateful for both the experiences and education I (and many others) have gotten while in the military. You paint a picture of drunk, ignorant Americans i nuniform badmouthing the local culture all over the world. I’ve seen the outstanding work done by the men and women of our Armed Forces that have improved the quality of life and positively represented our country to millions of people worldwide, and I am proud to have been a small contribution to that overall effort to make the world a better place to live. So you will have to excuse me when I hear ignorant comments such as yours and counter them.

The next thing you are going to try and convince us of is that all military people are stupid…

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

The next thing you are going to try and convince us of is that all military people are stupid…

That phrase is tossed around sometimes in my corporate circles. Don't know how true it is, since our circles of friends are not military. I would like to think that there is no truth to it, but I see many military folks in uniform acting like jackasses in the airport (usually DFW, because I connect there very frequently)....maybe it's just the maturity level. Hopefully these men and women have good heads on their shoulders.

[V3rtigo]

@majormadmax

i've actually done 2 of the things in your list. i also GUARANTEE that you couldn't find another person on here that has. so yes, you are the exception.

[V3rtigo]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

That phrase is tossed around sometimes in my corporate circles. Don't know how true it is, since our circles of friends are not military. I would like to think that there is no truth to it, but I see many military folks in uniform acting like jackasses in the airport (usually DFW, because I connect there very frequently)....maybe it's just the maturity level. Hopefully these men and women have good heads on their shoulders.

having worked at 2 military installations, i'd say it's 50-50 just like the rest of the world. i've got military friends that are brilliant, working as doctors, DBAs, etc. then again, some of the kids fresh out of the service are absolute tools. unfortunately, a lot of those tools get jobs because of having a hiring manager from the same branch of the service (just like a UT grad hiring other UT grads.)

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by V3rtigo

having worked at 2 military installations, i'd say it's 50-50 just like the rest of the world. i've got military friends that are brilliant, working as doctors, DBAs, etc. then again, some of the kids fresh out of the service are absolute tools. unfortunately, a lot of those tools get jobs because of having a hiring manager from the same branch of the service (just like a UT grad hiring other UT grads.)

I've done 2 of those things on his list too...(but I'm not military). I've also been to all continents (yes Antarctica-twice)...something not even a lot of these military guys have done.

[firstclassflyer]

Sometimes they upgrade some of the military guys/girls on my flights when there is an extra seat or two, and they end up sitting next to me. You wouldn't believe how much I have to dumb down my conversation. Hope they are new to the military and will learn from it, for later on in life. I'm sure that there are some fine military folks out there (MMM does not sound like a dolt), I just don't get the chance to meet them.

[perticusrex]

Originally Posted by V3rtigo

@majormadmax

i've actually done 2 of the things in your list. i also GUARANTEE that you couldn't find another person on here that has. so yes, you are the exception.

care to put a wager on that????