Things The Military Won't Tell You! - AskReddit

it is arguably a professional welfare system soldiers what is something you wish you had known before joining the military if you see combat especially real combat not a day of your life will go by from there on where you don't think about it it will go away when you're busy or preoccupied but when you're just sitting there lost in your own thoughts your mind will be back on the battlefield it's training i miss being with the boys and making our way through shared hardships and i miss the extreme adrenaline rush of harmless combat where only the enemy got hurt there's nothing like it it's the days where the firefights weren't so harmless that have stuck with me though i'd still go back in a heartbeat iraq and afghanistan were simultaneously the best and worst experiences of my life just know garrison bs please know that when you join your life is owned by the government it's fairly obvious but when you actually experience it it can be pretty surreal doesn't matter what you want all that matters is what the government wants from you my old man was terminally ill and trying to get home was a nightmare if i had been a civilian i could have just quit i have had a good career with the military i'm releasing in the next few months because this has started to really bother me form a marine here you will be treated like whoever the lowest common denominator in your unit is if that dude is a f head that gets arrested every other weekend or some bs get ready to waste literally hours of time attending don't be af head training mandated by hire also enjoy your tobacco addiction especially if you're in a victor unit you feel so damn old and weathered going back to college with your gi bill after an enlistment this is legitimately what it feels like and you're only a couple years older than them volunteer for nothing especially if they are looking for volunteers for a course that on the surface sounds amazing but when you look around you are the only one with your hand up and suddenly you are cleaning some for someone else recruiters lie it's a numbers game to them iraq was about oil if you are a skinny 10 stone 18 year old expected up to carry 100 pounds of kit your knees will feel like a 50 year olds by the time you are 25. a uniform doesn't guarantee success with chicks you aren't harder than a bouncer after six months training you aren't an expert in all things military after a few months in the job and you aren't a hero for simply volunteering to be in the military basically be realistic about who and what you really are it's the navy and air force that get to see the world in the army we just get to clean it there's plenty of time to join i didn't really need to join at 18. i could have gone to uni traveled had positive experiences and then joined to become bitter twisted jaded and disgruntled at the state of humanity you matter to your friends and family to your platoon and company maybe to your battalion but to the wider military you are a number a tool to be used and discarded the mission comes first and your piddly butt problems come second you become different your entire viewpoint on everything from sex to politics to morality to notions of comfort change drastically you will come to despise certain character traits and types of people i wish i had known how important my hearing was every time you go to the range they provide disposable ear pro but you're better off bringing your own high quality reusable plugs also if you go into anything aviation related you will need two layers of ear pro i was a 15 you and after six years i cannot hear my wife when she is more than ten feet away and my ears ring non-stop some hearing loss will happen but it can be mitigated if you plan ahead i've never been to prison but i have to imagine that deployments are damn near close to it bored out of your mind getting swole at the makeshift outside gym counting down the days surrounded by dudes and every now and then some a-hole tries to kill you como and logistics always boggled my mind hey grunts here's the schedule for the sat phone connection drops every minute barely readable god order some protein powder get amazon packaged straight to the op in a week most of sniper school involves a lot of math there's nothing glamorous about being sniper most of the time you're waiting around in the heat it's nothing like the movies all the people and books that say they can remember the faces of everyone they've shot are full of it the big one not only can you not smoke you can't use tobacco in any form good luck if you're another nicotine addict i've been shamed and dismissed when i went in for simple [ __ ] like a yeast infection even birth control when i was trying to get on paragard because the pill was ruining my life was denied with a lecture on how unusual it is for a young woman to not want children f them go to a civilian accountability if you're sick you notify your fire team leader or squad leader if you don't not only do you get in trouble you get them in trouble which in turn will get you in more trouble in addition save every bit of info you're given because it may one day save you but it could be a signature for an order acknowledging your seek anything that would you might get questioned for doing something or not being somewhere how very very likely you are to get irrevocably hurt doing the things you do every day that's how most people get hurt in fact for me it was pt i've had any repair a shoulder repair stress fractures a hideous staph infection the list goes on i wish someone would have told me to get in shape before i joined all that running sucks if you're not used to it when i was in basic there was probably four or more tubbies in my platoon who thought basic would make them skinny i'm not fat but i didn't bother to run a lot beforehand because i thought the same thing and it did get me in shape however it was painful finding out how out of shape i really was if someone just said to me hey run every day for a month before you ship out it will make a big difference i would have been a lot better off also anxiety anxiety about passing a pt test no matter how hard i train or work out i always get the worst anxiety that i won't pass my pt test and it's the worst first the bigger the military base you're at the lower your standards just got 10 000 extra dudes means a girl you use to date is now out of your league that one night stand is now girlfriend material and you don't want to know how far down you'll have to go for a one night now next research the job i recommend calling a private recruiter who specializes in placing ex-military and civilian jobs they'll know the best jobs to go for i'm an engineer but my brother makes more than me based on his navy nuke experience with no degree the only pro skill i learned in the army guard is how to really really kill people with rockets danish army how civilian life feels after don't get me wrong civilian is a lot easier than what i ever had to go through in the army but no one ever taught me how to readjust back to how everyone else is but when you're in the army you become mentally adjusted to a way of life and while that way of life might be very challenging you almost always know what it brings or you are trained how to meet any eventualities no one ever trains you how to meet life no one can do that the army manages to put a very structured personality into you and then when you get out a few years after no one else follows that structure i still remember a day seven years ago at business school during a group 72-hour exam where we'd all agreed on stuff to do during the night now it was 2 a.m and we were to meet at 7am but when we met again at 7.16 i was really pissed at by 16-minute delay i really couldn't understand the guy when he told me that he was too tired to do it and just wanted to cuddle with his girlfriend he might as well have said those words in chinese to me i literally didn't understand the guy my mind had been so adjusted to that everyone around always would do what they were told or they would tell me that it would not be possible before that i had gotten so used to every person not working the same way as me that i forgot it that if they would be tired they would tell me immediately not tell me embarrassed later two things from a former 19 delta cav scout recruiter equals liar if it's not in your contract you're done i damn near maxed out my ads bob and could have had any job i wanted similarly i could have had choice of duty station or airborne my recruiter told me all of that would happen after basic half of my guys from basic got one or both those that didn't got lied to the recruiters are under tremendous pressure to get you in your interests are secondary i grew up poor without health care every dentist i ever went to said that i badly needed braces every single army dentist or orthodontist said that my teeth were fine and didn't need braces military medicine is not as good or comprehensive as civilian medicine you get the minimum i am glad i joined and served overall though you can learn to live with ptsd much of the time but no one can help you forgive yourself for who you've been or what you've done except yourself when you're out you can get help but you have got to be the one that takes the opportunity help doesn't come in 12 ounces bottles or pint glasses remember it normally doesn't build up all at once the cure doesn't happen all at once save your goddamn money do not go out and buy a new car do not do it you're not special the car salesman is going to f you over just like everyone before you save your first couple paychecks get a beater and save the hell out of your money i've seen guys save for four years and have enough to buy their dream car in cash watched an e5 buy the new corvette stingray as soon as it hit the market with cash he told us all that he had been saving for the past five years it's not about cars though it's about your future eventually you won't be army anymore you gonna be like some of us dumb idiots and be in debt looking for whatever job you can get just to make ends meet go to school f what anyone tells you go get signed up for classes do online don't bother with classroom as mission will dictate whether you get to make it to that class try telling one sg you can't go to the field because you got class so take as many online courses as you can shoot for a degree of any kind preferably one you want you'll be leagues ahead of everyone else finally get seen for anything medical keep the paperwork [Music] save all documents you get do not count on the military to save your stuff because they will lose it don't volunteer for things even if it sounds cool i made that mistake once thought it'd be great to get off base to deliver some vehicles a few hours away turns out someone picked the wrong vehicles and it turned out to be a 12-plus hour day call of duty wasn't around when i joined but so many folks joining the military think it will be like cod it's not you will clean toilets dishes and after others join an aviation unit the most fun i had was in an aviation unit forget driving we're flying pilots for the most part just want to fly and are pretty chill from my experience there are a lot of basic things you should research before you join any branch what job do you want to do and everything that it entails physically mentally and emotionally how difficult can it be what kind of benefits can you expect as well as the hazards of your chosen enlistment i was as familiar as i could be with these kind of things before enlisting as far as what i wish i'd known as light infantry how and what to pack for field training deployments and missions eventually you learn but some knowledge beforehand would have saved me a lot of trouble understand that while many people who choose to serve might be doing it as an act of patriotism most are not a lot of people who end up in the military usually have no way out of a crappy situation it is arguably a professional welfare system understand they will sell you buzz words like honor loyalty and integrity while many of the people who are grilling you about these principles do not practice them themselves it is one of the few professions in the world where people with no education can rise through ranks and make your life hell just because understand that the organization you join sole purpose in life is to exert and enforce the political will of the u.s government on whomever understand that they can give a lesser ref about you or your family or your situation you are a service member before you or a parent or a spouse realize that a lot depending on your branch of service of your time will be spent in classes being told things like don't snatch people please don't kill yourself or let someone else kill themselves over and over and over and over again as americans we are culturally desensitized to violence but when you go to work every day and see all the awful things that don't even make the news it really takes a toll on you i wish i was informed just how difficult the loneliness would be yay it starts off all fun and games you mess around party when you can but then you meet the love of your life if they are wearing a uniform you can pretty much kiss it goodbye if they're in a separate branch it's damn near impossible all those people you just spent the last few years bonding with getting close to they're gone pieces in the one thing you are never prepared for is the first time you lose a friend to a war you do not agree with but you are stuck and due to poor life choices and difficult circumstances especially when you watch as the host country doesn't even fight for what your friends sacrifice their lives for that is the most sickening part of it for me personally also if you plan on only enlisting or commissioning for a short time then do not have children that is the scare tactic that is how they get into your head to keep you the military can be a good stepping stone you meet people and can have some good experiences but it is largely dependent on the people your relationship with the military can be like an abusive relationship they will sweet talk you at first but once it has you it will beat you it will tell you or nothing and when you start to get the courage to separate it will tell it gets better dangle presence in front of you and once they have you again they go back to beating you until you say f it i am halfway to retirement sorry i didn't mean to make this so long and depressing also join the dam air force but be patient af recruiters are usually lazy cause they make quota easy from what i have seen they have the best quality of life thanks for listening to radio tts hit the subscribe button and activate the notification bell for more videos click the right box for the military playlist let us know in the comments what you think about joining the forces

Channel: Radio TTS

Views: 77,709

Rating: 4.9408941 out of 5

Keywords: reddit, reddit stories, best of reddit, askreddit, reddit story, ask reddit, reddit cringe, askreddit funny, reddit funny, r/askreddit, top posts, reddit best, r/, reddit top posts, askreddit top posts, reddit top post, radio tts military, military veteran stories, soldiers of reddit, soldiers story, r/askreddit soldiers, askreddit soldiers, reddit stories soldiers, reddit soldiers stories, reddit being a soldier

Id: E503NAq5HZ8

Length: 14min 38sec (878 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 23 2020