Tell me why did you join the military? (Not a US only thread)

#1 Why you join the military? I know there are UK and other European countries on this website. Including the world.

#2 What did the military tell you when you joined?(Ex. reason for joining, and about the world, etc)

#3 Do you truly think the East is a major enemy especially, China? (Since all western media says that). Optional: Don't have to comment if you don't feel like it.

This is more of a comparison survey to get to know the world more, so don't be ignorant and say they pay well like a brainwashed zombie. There has to be more reasons.

Dam title bug doesn't accept "?" and "(" or ")". If the title seem weird to you its not my fault.

Netherlands here:

A letter from my government:

"Now you have reached a certain age, and are ready with school, you will have to report at a certain location."

And I was at the end a SGT in the 131 Rayon Verbindings Compagnie , 14 months.
I enjoyed it, i have to admit.

But it was not voluntary.

Ad that time ( 1992) i just accepted the MSM, cold war retorica.
Besides that "defending" my country, had a good feeling.

It all changed when we started to become active in other countries, with an all time low in Srebrenica.

well, Jimmy Carter was president and I needed a job,jobs were hard to find during the carter administration he was almost as bad as Obama.

no I don`t think china is an enemy, if they were an enemy why do they lend the U.S. so much money? and why does the U.S. buy so much stuff from them? in the real world enemies don`t lend each other money and trade with them.

Canadian here .dropped out of school back in the 60's with not much hope for a job so why not join .Canada at the time was more of a peace keeper and really didn't have any enemy's . Long story short ,I was too small 4 foot 11 and 76 lbs and they rejected me . I found a job and 6 months later got a request from the forces to join the navy for miniature subs . didn't bother replying .

Oops.. I did something wrong...

Flagged you twice...
But minus 1 ?????
Is that even possible ?

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Wow does Canada still have and operate mini-subs ?

originally posted by: EartOccupant
Oops.. I did something wrong...

Flagged you twice...
But minus 1 ?????
Is that even possible ?

No idea, but I flagged it to get it back to zero...

In my country there use to be draft operations from time to time, it was scary, controls in the middle of the roads would stop you and if you could not show you were a student, working, or sustaining a family you would get drafted and people would not even knew what happened for you.

Men from 18 (if you don't had ID on you you could even be younger, you just needed to look 18) to 20 some would hide those months, it was truly an scary time.

Some times the soldiers would just be bitter and take you anyways, even if you could show you had a reason not to be drafted.

I remember I went a few times to the barracks to get a permit for being a student (I'm a draft dodger who knew )

One of the few things Chavez changed for good, other was the obligatory vote

Um the Military joined me and my family in 1977 after our meet of alternate beings.

a reply to: the owlbear

Lots of bugs lately on this website forum.

originally posted by: Naturallywired
Um the Military joined me and my family in 1977 after our meet of alternate beings.

Come on, this could be longer. More reasons would be nice and how long the military stayed?

originally posted by: makemap

originally posted by: Naturallywired
Um the Military joined me and my family in 1977 after our meet of alternate beings.

Come on, this could be longer. More reasons would be nice and how long the military stayed?

I would go longer but it would just turn into a ATS piss match. Not going to go there, not the way ATS is now.

I joined the US Army to serve the country that has given my family so much since 1888.

a reply to: EartOccupant

I have no idea to tell you the truth .I never looked into it as I like my feet on the ground and get sea sick .

a reply to: makemap

I joined a month after my 17th birthday, because I knew it was the only way I would be able to afford to attend college. In the mid to late 80's, it was already true that if you were not a woman, or black or Asian it was very unlikely you would get any financial assistance other than simply taking out loans. Serving in the National guard and working two jobs and periodically sitting out to work off shore full time, though it took me 7+ years, I was able to graduate only owing $20K in loans.

a reply to: makemap

Tradition, all male family members joined.

Uncle Sammy paid for college.

Wanted to do good in the world.

Money, pure and simple. Grew up poor and saw it as a way out of the crappy hand life dealt me. Acquiring a skill set that could come in handy someday was a nice bonus. As for patriotic reasons or "defending freedom" of those back home, nope had nothing to do with that.As for what the military told me, the usual line of bs about patriotism and duty, defending freedom blah blah blah, just nodded my head did my job and collected all the benefits I could. Iraq and Afghanistan were a threat to our countries freedoms about as much as a fly is a threat to an elephant. The real threat is in D.C.

Very rarely do I respond to posts, but I feel compelled to respond to yours.

I decided to join the military right after 9/11, after I saw so many countries celebrating the towers being destroyed, our entire country was in shock. I believe I was in social studies, I think in 10th grade, when it happened. In all honesty, I though fu** those guys, we need to get em. I walked into the army office and said, verbatim, "I wanna shoot sh*t, blow # up and get those mother fu**era responsible". I was young and didn't know # about the world, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

Looking back, I don't regret any of it, and no one should ever be ashamed about joining the military, regardless if why they did. Some people join because if patriotism, some join to become citizens.

Our (us) military is the best in the world for a number of reasons ( yeah yeah, I'm sure we can debate that, but I won't), because if we do a bald eagle will end up killing you

Not sure why I responded or if it makes sense, I just felt like I should share which is something i dont do often.

I joined the navy at 15 years and 11.9 months old to complete my education and get a trade. Traveled a lot. Saw the world and so on. First split up with a wife/partner. (The navy doesn't issue you with a wife!)

Left after my 9 years stint but don't regret it. Set me up for life.

Kind regards,

bally