4 ms·

You joined the military and had a much lower chance of being injured or killed than the person of your parent's generation who was forced to join the military w

by jvdh 16y ago

You joined the military and had a much lower chance of being injured or killed than the person of your parent's generation who was forced to join the military whether they wanted to or not? I have no idea what you're talking about here. 25-35 years ago there were virtually no wars, there was a near zero chance of getting killed in the military. Whereas now, there are very reasonable chances for soldiers to get shipped to fight "terror" and get injured.

robk 16y ago
Vietnam ring a bell?
- jvdh 16y ago
  Vietnam war ended 35 years ago.
  - billswift 16y ago
    And a twenty-something's father who was in his 30s when they were born (not at all uncommon) was draft-age back then.
arethuza 16y ago
Maybe, but there was the ongoing Cold War - which got very close to going very hot indeed in '83: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83
- jvdh 16y ago
  True, but the risk of getting injured in the Cold War was significantly lower than what we see today in warzones.
  - randallsquared 16y ago
    That's not clear. US military deaths in the 1980s were higher than in the 2000s, in spite of the fact that the active military in the 2000s was considerably larger.
    - jtbigwoo 16y ago
      The active military was ~2.1 million in the 80's as opposed to ~1.4 million now. The death _rate_ in the early 1980's was slightly lower than the death rate today. Of course, the active military in the early 1980's had a ridiculously high accident rate. It would be a fairer comparison to look at the mid-to-late 90's. In the link below you can see that the death rate for active duty soldiers was about half of what it is today. DOD numbers: (http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/death_Rates.pdf http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/death_Rates.p...)
      - yummyfajitas 16y ago
        Isn't the comparison supposed to be to his parent's generation? They would have been in the military in the 80's.
  - arethuza 16y ago
    I'm probably having a bit of a downer on the subject as I watched Threads last night - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/ While quite possibly the least cheerful film ever made - it was based on a UK military planning exercise (Square Leg) that was actually pretty optimistic. In the optimistic version - only 90% of the population of the UK is killed, in the realistic ones it is much worse.
yummyfajitas 16y ago
I was implicitly assuming his parents generation is the same as mine (my dad was of vietnam age). However, after some thought, I realize I'm an edge case (I'm at the high end of the 20-somethings, my dad was 32 when I was born). My mistake.

by jvdh 16y ago

robk 16y ago

Vietnam ring a bell?

jvdh 16y ago
Vietnam war ended 35 years ago.
- billswift 16y ago
  And a twenty-something's father who was in his 30s when they were born (not at all uncommon) was draft-age back then.

arethuza 16y ago

Maybe, but there was the ongoing Cold War - which got very close to going very hot indeed in '83: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

jvdh 16y ago
True, but the risk of getting injured in the Cold War was significantly lower than what we see today in warzones.
- randallsquared 16y ago
  That's not clear. US military deaths in the 1980s were higher than in the 2000s, in spite of the fact that the active military in the 2000s was considerably larger.
  - jtbigwoo 16y ago
    The active military was ~2.1 million in the 80's as opposed to ~1.4 million now. The death _rate_ in the early 1980's was slightly lower than the death rate today. Of course, the active military in the early 1980's had a ridiculously high accident rate. It would be a fairer comparison to look at the mid-to-late 90's. In the link below you can see that the death rate for active duty soldiers was about half of what it is today. DOD numbers: (http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/death_Rates.pdf http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/death_Rates.p...)
    - yummyfajitas 16y ago
      Isn't the comparison supposed to be to his parent's generation? They would have been in the military in the 80's.
- arethuza 16y ago
  I'm probably having a bit of a downer on the subject as I watched Threads last night - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/ While quite possibly the least cheerful film ever made - it was based on a UK military planning exercise (Square Leg) that was actually pretty optimistic. In the optimistic version - only 90% of the population of the UK is killed, in the realistic ones it is much worse.

yummyfajitas 16y ago

I was implicitly assuming his parents generation is the same as mine (my dad was of vietnam age). However, after some thought, I realize I'm an edge case (I'm at the high end of the 20-somethings, my dad was 32 when I was born). My mistake.