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Hyperbole?

brezelgoring 5y ago
Not as much as you'd think. Not all army work is frontline work. You could be a mechanic fixing Humvees, or a comms-operator being the receiver for a radio post. At least those are the posts I could fill, there's more for sure. I'd pick it any time over working for Big Jeff.
- cortesoft 5y ago
  You can quit Amazon whenever you want. You can't quit the military.
  - sangnoir 5y ago
    If your aim is to get education benefits, then you can't quit Amazon anytime you want; you can only quit when you're done with school (typically 4 years)
    - cortesoft 5y ago
      That is a lot shorter amount of time than you are committed to the military
  - brezelgoring 5y ago
    I was putting both options side by side for a comparison, but you are strictly in the right with what you said. I still believe that for those that must choose between either option in order to access higher education with no option for an acceptable loan, it's not so clear to me that people (who am I kidding, able-bodied men) would choose Amazon first.
dsr_ 5y ago
Not likely. When the US is not at war, joining the armed forces is a viable path for many people: they don't pay you much, but they get your body in shape, take care of your food, housing and medical needs, and accumulate money towards education. In war time, total deaths per military FTE is often in the 1/1000 rate each year. Obviously your MOS and assignment area are going to be big factors in that -- get assigned to a US base and your risk is less than that of a construction worker.
- hihihihi1234 5y ago
  > total deaths per military FTE is often in the 1/1000 rate each year This might derail the thread but I'm genuinely curious to know: if I joined the US military during wartime, what's the statistical chance that I would suffer a non-fatal but still life-changing injury? And what's the chance that I would survive combat with such a severe case of PTSD that it drivese to suicide? (On the latter point, I've read that significantly more American servicemen have killed themselves after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan than were actually killed while serving in those countries.)
  - dsr_ 5y ago
    The rate of wounded-but-not dead is about 9x the death rate - if 1/100 get wounded, and of those about 10% die of those wounds. There are lots of available statistics. So the rate of major injuries falls between those, but the rate of severe PTSD is probably independent.

Hyperbole?

Not as much as you'd think. Not all army work is frontline work. You could be a mechanic fixing Humvees, or a comms-operator being the receiver for a radio post. At least those are the posts I could fill, there's more for sure. I'd pick it any time over working for Big Jeff.

cortesoft 5y ago
You can quit Amazon whenever you want. You can't quit the military.
- sangnoir 5y ago
  If your aim is to get education benefits, then you can't quit Amazon anytime you want; you can only quit when you're done with school (typically 4 years)
  - cortesoft 5y ago
    That is a lot shorter amount of time than you are committed to the military
- brezelgoring 5y ago
  I was putting both options side by side for a comparison, but you are strictly in the right with what you said. I still believe that for those that must choose between either option in order to access higher education with no option for an acceptable loan, it's not so clear to me that people (who am I kidding, able-bodied men) would choose Amazon first.

dsr_ 5y ago

Not likely. When the US is not at war, joining the armed forces is a viable path for many people: they don't pay you much, but they get your body in shape, take care of your food, housing and medical needs, and accumulate money towards education. In war time, total deaths per military FTE is often in the 1/1000 rate each year. Obviously your MOS and assignment area are going to be big factors in that -- get assigned to a US base and your risk is less than that of a construction worker.

hihihihi1234 5y ago
> total deaths per military FTE is often in the 1/1000 rate each year This might derail the thread but I'm genuinely curious to know: if I joined the US military during wartime, what's the statistical chance that I would suffer a non-fatal but still life-changing injury? And what's the chance that I would survive combat with such a severe case of PTSD that it drivese to suicide? (On the latter point, I've read that significantly more American servicemen have killed themselves after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan than were actually killed while serving in those countries.)
- dsr_ 5y ago
  The rate of wounded-but-not dead is about 9x the death rate - if 1/100 get wounded, and of those about 10% die of those wounds. There are lots of available statistics. So the rate of major injuries falls between those, but the rate of severe PTSD is probably independent.