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I have maintained the pedestal crap needs to stop, its disingenuous and we volunteered. Most of us were rewarded handsomely and had opportunities no civilian in our former situation would have been rewarded. Free college, world travel, one of a kid of experiences on highly advanced one of a kind technologies and machines.
I was Air Force enlisted for 4 years and Air Force commissioned officer for 8 years.
My friends know I am a vet but I have never talked about it.
Some vets can't let go, some can't deprogram and those are the ones that will end up in soup kitchen line.
Every vet is given astounding opportunities but it's up to them to put in the work. If you could see me in 2002 I would be sitting on a cot in Afghanistan doing math homework through U of Maryland distance learning. I would always get tired of people telling me they couldn't go to school in Iraq or Afghanistan. They were sure able to put on 40 pounds of muscle during that time, they obviously had free time.
That said I do believe grunts have the worst opportunities when getting out, but no one held a gun to their head and said you have to be a grunt. Many just wanted to play with weapons without thinking of future implications.
I do see a lot of ignorance about the military here and people painting the military with a broad brush.
I would like to say that there are two militaries. One that is highly technical and brainy and one that is not.
I use to get paid $437 every two weeks to do the same thing a Northrop Grumman college educated union worker got $30 an hour to do. After my 6 week tech school I had learned the same thing that earned in my first year of engineering classes condensed into 6 weeks. Also, not all jobs in the military are military oriented. I have a friend who is a java app developer he was computer specialist in the Air Force he had no trouble getting a 6 figure job after getting out of the military. Many of my good friends had transferred to great positions, One who was transferred to contracting and now works as a materials specialist. The military is just like the civilian world. you can sit back and collect paychecks or you can follow advice, find a mentor, apply for new jobs, study your ass off and get and education and move up. To me the military is actually a representative slice of America as a whole. Well the Air Force is anyway. The Army and Marines I'm not so sure. The Navy is hit or miss but better than the grunts.
I remember one time talking to my wife's twenty something teacher friend who said my dad is in the Air Force we don't see eye to eye on anything. She said something to allude that he was not a professional and that he didn't make much money. She was on her little "educated" teacher high horse and you could tell she had contempt for the military. I said what is his rank. She said well he's been doing it forever so now his like the chief or whatever.
I thought $7000 a month, no biggie chump change compared to what elementary school teachers make.
Just so you know as an OE-3 with 10 years I made $7400 mo. Now, as a civilian I make $7100 a month. I took a pay cut. If you asked me, I'd take a thousand less to not be in the military anymore. I once worked 42 hours in 48 hours, After a while I actually just assumed I would be working 12 hours a day. 14 with PT. The stress, the bureaucracy, the level of performance required, they all take a toll after a number of years. Even though my job as a prototyping engineer is stressful its nothing like being an ops officer at a large fighter squadron.
Doing the bidding of a rich and powerful few. Our military are mercenaries working for the private sector exploiting them to squeeze every dollar on a global scale. It's pathetic to be honest. I have nothing against the actual soldiers, airmen, etc.....
They are sacrificed like feeder rats and they glorify them post-mortem by calling them heros and draping flags over their caskets. While the family is mourning, an executive is taking orders on more equipment from the government and receiving his bonus from his companies exploits. It's disgusting to say the least. The military are treated like dog crap and the ones putting them out there, aren't exactly encouraging their sons and daughters to go.
We find the lowest common denominator and put them in the military. It's no loss when their blood is spilled. God bless America my arse.
That's not always the case and you know it. On the other hand, when the military is hiring, they'll take people they don't necessarily like.
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