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As an Army vet myself, the truth is is that the Army will never miss an opportunity for fucking you over. Its the nature of the system. If you can make it to 20

As an Army vet myself, the truth is is that the Army will never miss an opportunity for fucking you over. Its the nature of the system. If you can make it to 20 years, you are some combination of exceptional/lucky/broken from years of fuckery. "We just can’t do it. We’d be breaking the law" Yeah, I'm sure the California National Guard tried really, really hard not to go after their bonuses.

dominotw 10y ago
Is this merely a reflection of general American population that views the army as a major drain on national resources that can be better spent elsewhere. Or is there something more sinister going on inside the National Guard.
- snerbles 10y ago
  Support from the American populace consists of flag-waving and slapping "Support our Troops" yellow ribbon magnets on their cars. Unless they're personally related to someone in the military, servicemembers and veterans are invisible at best, or seen as deranged reactionary boogiemen at worst. EDIT: I should really note that this depends on where you live. Support is certainly more sincere in the South, over here on the West Coast people by and large don't give a shit.
  - Implicated 10y ago
    As someone who has traveled the country pretty extensively, I can't agree. As someone who grew up in a large western coastal city, I would agree that perception is accurate to that locale.
    - snerbles 10y ago
      Maybe I just need to leave California, then.
      - saryant 10y ago
        Depends on where you are in CA. San Diego will have a different attitude than San Francisco.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
    30 years ago the Army wasn't quite so concentrated in the states of the former Confederacy.
- sotojuan 10y ago
  > Is this merely a reflection of general American population that views the army as a major drain on national resources Maybe on HN/Reddit and big cities in the coasts. Elsewhere it's all about "support our troops". But yes, like snerbles says, it's not much than that.
  - pessimizer 10y ago
    > Elsewhere it's all about "support our troops". It's also all about "lower our taxes. Cut public spending."
apsec112 10y ago
Can you go into more detail? I'm not trying to dispute what you say, but as someone who's never been in the military, I'm curious what kind of trouble soldiers are likely to run into.
- ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
  That's a really good question-I'd need to stop and think about a decent reply, because a lot of what I'd say wouldn't make any sense to someone who knows nothing about Army life.
- ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
  Off the top of my head I'd recommend this: https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/2vlug2/what_is_a_fuckfuck_game/ https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/2vlug2/what_is_a_fuck... The Army combines the worst aspects of civilian life back stabbing politics with the most stereotypical portrayals of inefficient and uncaring government bureaucracy. To top it off, what really does set it apart from both the civilian world and normal government is of course a hierarchical rank structure, which shit freely flows downhill towards those who can't stand up to it.
- marktangotango 10y ago
  Note he's talking specifically about active duty Army, not necessarily any other branch. I can relate a story as an example. I was enlisted in the late 90's and stationed Germany. I had a POV (personal vehicle) that I had to license/register. I had to drive to a neighboring facility to get to the license office. The office was closed, for some stupid reason (they where short staffed, and someone was out sick). The Area Military Police where in the same building, and I (stupidly) stopped a the desk sargeant and complained. I was escorted in to see the MP Sergeant Major, who yelled at me for a while, and took my ration card and confiscated my license plates (for no reason other than he could bully a lower enisted). So this all meant I had to leave my car, and take the train back to my home base. I was late, and got into a lot of trouble for that. Then, I had to beg and finagle to go back and get my car properly licensed a week later, when I was supposed to have already had it done. This all contributed to me getting a reputation as 'shit bag', do nothing low life of a private. You get a lot hell when you have that type of reputation; a lot of 'extra duty' and unfair treatment. Like being ordered to crawl through mud in near freezing weather, with no change of clothes and no oppurtunity to dry off for DAYS. But yeah, normal humans can't comprehend; fuckery. The term "fuck fuck" games from the reddit link is very fitting.

dominotw 10y ago

Is this merely a reflection of general American population that views the army as a major drain on national resources that can be better spent elsewhere. Or is there something more sinister going on inside the National Guard.

snerbles 10y ago
Support from the American populace consists of flag-waving and slapping "Support our Troops" yellow ribbon magnets on their cars. Unless they're personally related to someone in the military, servicemembers and veterans are invisible at best, or seen as deranged reactionary boogiemen at worst. EDIT: I should really note that this depends on where you live. Support is certainly more sincere in the South, over here on the West Coast people by and large don't give a shit.
- Implicated 10y ago
  As someone who has traveled the country pretty extensively, I can't agree. As someone who grew up in a large western coastal city, I would agree that perception is accurate to that locale.
  - snerbles 10y ago
    Maybe I just need to leave California, then.
    - saryant 10y ago
      Depends on where you are in CA. San Diego will have a different attitude than San Francisco.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
  30 years ago the Army wasn't quite so concentrated in the states of the former Confederacy.
sotojuan 10y ago
> Is this merely a reflection of general American population that views the army as a major drain on national resources Maybe on HN/Reddit and big cities in the coasts. Elsewhere it's all about "support our troops". But yes, like snerbles says, it's not much than that.
- pessimizer 10y ago
  > Elsewhere it's all about "support our troops". It's also all about "lower our taxes. Cut public spending."

apsec112 10y ago

Can you go into more detail? I'm not trying to dispute what you say, but as someone who's never been in the military, I'm curious what kind of trouble soldiers are likely to run into.

ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
That's a really good question-I'd need to stop and think about a decent reply, because a lot of what I'd say wouldn't make any sense to someone who knows nothing about Army life.
ZanyProgrammer 10y ago
Off the top of my head I'd recommend this: https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/2vlug2/what_is_a_fuckfuck_game/ https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/2vlug2/what_is_a_fuck... The Army combines the worst aspects of civilian life back stabbing politics with the most stereotypical portrayals of inefficient and uncaring government bureaucracy. To top it off, what really does set it apart from both the civilian world and normal government is of course a hierarchical rank structure, which shit freely flows downhill towards those who can't stand up to it.
marktangotango 10y ago
Note he's talking specifically about active duty Army, not necessarily any other branch. I can relate a story as an example. I was enlisted in the late 90's and stationed Germany. I had a POV (personal vehicle) that I had to license/register. I had to drive to a neighboring facility to get to the license office. The office was closed, for some stupid reason (they where short staffed, and someone was out sick). The Area Military Police where in the same building, and I (stupidly) stopped a the desk sargeant and complained. I was escorted in to see the MP Sergeant Major, who yelled at me for a while, and took my ration card and confiscated my license plates (for no reason other than he could bully a lower enisted). So this all meant I had to leave my car, and take the train back to my home base. I was late, and got into a lot of trouble for that. Then, I had to beg and finagle to go back and get my car properly licensed a week later, when I was supposed to have already had it done. This all contributed to me getting a reputation as 'shit bag', do nothing low life of a private. You get a lot hell when you have that type of reputation; a lot of 'extra duty' and unfair treatment. Like being ordered to crawl through mud in near freezing weather, with no change of clothes and no oppurtunity to dry off for DAYS. But yeah, normal humans can't comprehend; fuckery. The term "fuck fuck" games from the reddit link is very fitting.