Khan, that is awesome that you are willing to step up and serve your country. I commend you. To the liberals (shocking...) in here who are discrediting our proud armed forces - you are pathetic.
I agree. Go Air Force or Navy. Also, it sounds to me like the reserves would be the best option for you. That's pretty much the only way to get a short term committment while still maintaining a respectable (ie: Officer) position. Don't go in as a grunt. With your professional background (credentials, etc..) you will feel totally out of place.
The Muslim / Arabic translators at Qitmo would disagree. There the ones that got court marshalled for having p*rn on their computer (which if really was an offense would decimate the ranks ) And my friends that served agree with my opinion that it would be very difficult to serve as a Muslim. It is not printed in any manual and the armed services don''t make it part of their PR but ...
No wonder I don't spend that much time in here anymore. It's difficult to try to voice your views around here without being screamed at like a guest on the old Wally George TV show. Have a wonderful life, Hayes.
What? Who's screaming? You make points, I reply. That's what debate is last I checked. I didn't figure you'd want to back up your glynch-like 'we're going to invade the world' rants with dollars or donuts. Shocking.
Are you a "literal translation" type of guy, or are you simply unable to recognize a colloquialism when you see one? And show me where in this thread I said "man, you're too intense". I don't see it.
Look, if you don't want to defend your assertions that's ok. Its up to you. But don't expect to be considered credible if you don't. You expressed an opinion that at a minimum alluded to us invading Iran or North Korea. You indicated both that you thought soldiers were dying for no reason, AND that they were defending the country against AQ. If that's not what you meant, and you were just flapping your gums (is that colloquial enough for you), then why bother? It doesn't add anything to the conversation. Certainly this is a forum for a clash of ideas and opinions, but at this point it just looks like you're either trolling or unwilling to face you own contradicting opinions. Well, one would think your 'Stripes' reference indicated that. But maybe you were just saying I'm a psycho , which I wouldn't really appreciate either I must say.
Such people only think that way because they were told to. The American public is one of the most misinformed and ignorant in the world. Preemptive strikes? Because that makes a lot of sense. If someone hasn't attacked you, but there is a chance they might, then you should attack them. Go try that at the mall. You won't be arrested. You don't attack unless you've been attacked. In this case, Iraq did not attack us. Nor did they show any signs of doing so. Saddam's finances were dwindling, we had their air space firmly on lock, and there was no way in hell that they could have financed a project to build a nuclear weapon. It makes about as much sense as killing your neighbor's dog because it might bite you some day.
'If you think that way its because you're ignorant.' That's persuasive. Sure, it's much better to wait, for example, for 9/11 to happen. I'm pretty sure Bosnia doesn't agree with you. Add Kosovo to that list. Add Kuwait to that list.
You 'want to scream,' are 'sick and tired,' and feel like people are 'screaming' at you. Maybe you should stay out of the D & D because you sound really stressed. Happy Holidays
FD- You sound like a neighbor of mine. He is probably about 27-28 was doing very well for himself at Accenture after college and after a few years tired of the travel. He took a good position in town 2001 and seriously started getting into shape. He also has several realtives in the service and other public services (firemen, police, etc). 9/11 occured and he decided it was his calling. The joined the reserves knowing what he was getting into. He just arrived home a few weeks ago and said he would probably be going back in 6 months. All I can say is I'm proud of him. Makes it easier that he is single and he can give up nearly a 6 figure income to go to the desert and make $20 some thousand to defend our country. The funny part is he keeps telling me he owes me for cutting his grass while he was gone.
C'mon Guys, I really didn't want this thread to turn into an Iraq war: Right or Wrong scenario, but instead that of feelings of many of us that we are not doing enough and have benefitted from others before us rather than working to create more for the future. Many people in the US would rather just go on living and not worrying about how that freedom was secured and how hard it is to maintain. They worry about tangible goods and how they can get more (which isn't a bad thing), but lack that passion towards what system allowed them to do so. After speaking with a cousin of mine who was in the Navy and others, I really don't think I could do what I had envisioned: a one to two year mid level ground forces situation. I really wanted to be in a more physical situation, rather than an analyst role which I would probably be deferred to. I really don't want to be in this situation for 6-7 years as I feel my usefulness to this country is more on the commerce side as I can undoubtedly create value and jobs with my work. I am still going to meet with a recruiter and hopefully I can get some clarity. I was also advised that recruiters will sometimes be murky in regards to commitments, and simply want people to sign up and sometimes will bend the truth to do so. What I plan on doing now is contacting specific branches that are attempting to create a financial and economic infrastructure within Iraq and see if my background would allow me to serve in a more passive manner such as business consulting and commerce education. Its not as gritty as I would've preferred but I will continue to strive to find opportunities to do what I can to help fight for the freedom and the system that we all enjoy.
