At some point in my life I have considered joining the military. Even after Zeitgeist part one, lol. I compared Army and Navy, and was trying to choose a path in order to pay for college. However despite the money for college and all the other benefits and neat perks, I decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Why you say? Well, after weeks of thinking about it, here are my reasons why I wouldn't enlist.
1. You may be KILLED! (Enough Said)
2. You may have to KILL!
I don't know about you, but I believe no one has the right to take the life of another. (Vash and Rem lesson ^^) They might not even be a bad person to begin with. You never know. Would you really feel good about yourself if you had to kill innocent unarmed civilians? Men, women, and children?
3. You may SUFFER long-term health problems.
Can the military really guarantee you will be alive after you contract? No. Even if you live, you are more likely to suffer a number of things such as post-traumatic stress disorder, diseases, injuries, depression, etc. One thing that recruiters will never tell you is 1 out of 3 homeless people are veterans. The military doesn't seem to honor nor take care of you after your service now do they?
4. You HAVE to give up your some, if not all your CIVIL RIGHTS!
Once you enlist, you pretty much become a dog of the military. You are ordered around 24/7, and if you do happen to disobey; You can be punished without trial or jury. If your gay, bi, or lesbian you can be punished for being honest about it. Free speech is severely limited, and worst of all if you want to quit, you can't :(
5. The whole process is DEHUMANIZING!
Basic training is not training you for any civilian job, it is training you for war. They put you through a process where you lose yourself and become a dog. They want you to feel no remorse, and do what ever is ordered. They don't care about the psychological costs of killing or the horrors of war. They want you to feel nothing! The kind of discipline they teach is worthless to you. They teach you to blindly follow orders instead of you being able to make your own decisions. They don't care about your beliefs and values. Then when you finally come back to society, you are bankrupt of who you are. You look for a way to regain what you lost and try to become a part of society again. However, not everyone is fortunate to regain control of their life again. Why do you think 1/3 of homeless are veterans? Or what the reason is for the high suicide rate of veterans?
I'm not telling you all not to join the military. All I want you guys to do is do some research before you go through with this decision. It's a major life changing decision that affects you and your loved ones, and you can't turn back once you've signed the contract. Be prepared to go to war, even a war you don't agree with. It could be a war won or lost, but either way you can always find veterans who can't forget some of the awful things they have seen or done. Is it a risk your willing to take?
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