US Military Handing out "OTHD" like they are candy...

old men start wars, young men fight them
the old men get very well taken care of
the young men...not so much

funny that innit

reply to post by BobM88

It was tiring, man, it was honest-to-God physically exhausting. But I'm home for good now.

I was wondering but didn't want to pry. Glad to hear it. If you carried all that on your shoulders and kept sane and all your body parts, thats preety good. The high blood anxiety may even fade with time. Thanks for sharing. You should write a book. Or share stories. I would read them. Maybe ATS should start a vet war stories forum about their mad minutes and endless boredom.

The brass and the politicians know what the effects of repeated deployments does, but there's no choice given the status quo. There's no stomach politically to reinstitute the draft...

I hope not. I have a preteen nephew and I wonder about his future. I know that despite all the "we're getting out soon" talk in the media, they are continuing to build new bases in the middle east and Afghanistan. I sure hope that he don't wind up there in 10 years. Any advice?

intrptr
reply to post by BobM88

 

It was tiring, man, it was honest-to-God physically exhausting. But I'm home for good now.

I was wondering but didn't want to pry. Glad to hear it. If you carried all that on your shoulders and kept sane and all your body parts, thats preety good. The high blood anxiety may even fade with time. Thanks for sharing. You should write a book. Or share stories. I would read them. Maybe ATS should start a vet war stories forum about their mad minutes and endless boredom.

The brass and the politicians know what the effects of repeated deployments does, but there's no choice given the status quo. There's no stomach politically to reinstitute the draft...

I hope not. I have a preteen nephew and I wonder about his future. I know that despite all the "we're getting out soon" talk in the media, they are continuing to build new bases in the middle east and Afghanistan. I sure hope that he don't wind up there in 10 years. Any advice?

Just reading your reply, the way you phrased it is great - 'mad minutes and endless boredom' made me think of two separate events. The first is when a car kept coming at our station, not fast, which was the first thing that raised the hackles because most drivers there were at a dead stop or as fast as they could manage. But he wouldn't stop, repeatedly told to stop, he wouldn't. So as we started to fire at the car he blew himself, and it, up. The next piece of time following that was a blur for a bit that day. The next clear memory after that was eating lunch and noticing pieces of bone with hair and scalp still attached on my pants and boots. I just sort of casually scraped it off with a knife and went back to eating. I don't know, now, how I didn't go nuts. lol

The 2nd thing, the boredom, I remember one of those god awful endless days with the sun beating down like a million degrees of suffering - I hate the heat, always have...just my luck, huh? - and watching sweat drip in front of my eyes off the front edge of my helmet because I had my head tilted down a bit to keep the sun out of my eyes. I noticed the sweat dripped at a steady, regular, pace and wondered if Archimedes got the idea for that water clock from something similar. I spent quite awhile then lost in thought imagining if that *was* how he did, and could I make one then just for something to do. I tried to adjust the angle of my head to get the sweat drops to drip at exactly one second intervals. Yes, it was a VERY boring day.

ETA: sorry, I got so wrapped up in myself I forgot to answer your question about "advice". Yes, what I told my son was that if he wanted to serve in the military:

A. Go to one of the academies. They take care of their own and their time in actual combat is limited to just getting them exposed to it, after that, its back to grooming their careers.

B. At the very least, get commissioned through an ROTC program. Avoid the Army or Marines. Get a commission in the Navy or Air Force, and focus on technology. For example, Space Command in the Air Force, or the Navy's apparent future with kinetic and energy weaponry. Not to mention the Navy will likely be one of the first places that advances in energy, such as fusion, will occur. I don't know that, that's just my opinion because to push something the size of an aircraft carrier across the globe takes a lot of energy, hence their use of nuclear reactors now.

reply to post by BobM88

That was awesome. Thanks for letting me see that.

question: Did that make you feel a little better airing those moments? Or did it make you feel uncomfortable putting you in a worse place? I was wondering about the possibility of starting a thread along those lines, if it would help veterans or not.

Thanks for the advice about careers in the military. I more am inclined to send him to Alaska, lol.

reply to post by intrptr


Ha! I don't blame you regarding your nephew. I'd love to go to Alaska myself :thumbsup:

Sharing those stories is cathartic, for me, but I'm older than most vets. I joined the Army in '88. Went over there for Desert Shield/Desert Storm in '90, back to the states in '91. I spent several years in Germany, I loved it there....anyways, I don't know that the kids that are what most vets of Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom are find it to be so, yet. But, its easier to share in a more anonymous setting too, so if you want to start a thread like that, what's the worst that happens?

I've got to run errands with the wife for the afternoon and early evening, she's barking like a Top from the other room now, lol, so I won't be able to share on it 'til later this evening if you do make one.

reply to post by BobM88

Thats what I was thinking, anonymity and a chance to clear the deck. Thanks for your input. I'm not a vet, I don't know if that would be as well accepted (I have this antiwar rep) by those that have been there. I share a computer and am in and out too.

reply to post by Cherryontop


Would that include medically unfit? And if so, do they get a pension.

I don't want to get off topic in here but can anyone give me an idea of why they are (or would be) sending Marines to Japan right as they begin the work on Fukushima. All I know is they have been receiving nuclear training - started a few months ago, and have or currently are shipping out. Will be there a little under a year. To me it seems to coincide with the work there (the training, the timing).

I have this information through a friend as well as from a recruiter with the Marines who is close to a family member. I ask when I think it's ok to ask. The last time I asked; "why are you being trained for nuclear emergencies" it was answered with "I don't know". That either meant he wasn't allowed to talk about it or he truly didn't know. I realize this is likely to deal with unrest should something happens but if something happens people die so what are they doing with our soldiers?

reply to post by Dianec


Good question. Though it seems like you answered it yourself, they had nuke training are headed to Fukushima. What did I miss?

I guess people forget about Agent Orange. That guy who ran for president talking about "The Rent is Just to Damn High" he spoke of it as one of his things he would do if he became president.

reply to post by JBA2848


Agent Orange is seriously messed up, there is a new study that shows previous levels thought to be safe were grossly wrong.

I believe DOW wanted approval (not sure if granted) for "2,4-D" GMO corn. 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is a major component of Agent Orange

BobM88
reply to post by Dianec

 

Good question. Though it seems like you answered it yourself, they had nuke training are headed to Fukushima. What did I miss?

Your right - I did answer it myself. I think I want to hear it's for anything but to die if something goes wrong. I mean what are they going to do with guns if that thing blows up? I think exposing more people to that area now is irresponsible. I guess it is what it is - if something goes wrong they know how to put on gear (hopefully in time), and maybe help others as well. It doesn't jive with accounts of what would happen though - with no one surviving if a mistake is made. Will just pray that they don't make any, and no agent orange scenarios - coming home and dying from exposure.

reply to post by Habit4ming

I have been peeved many times trying to figure out what people meant with abbreviations and so on, most annoying is when asking directions. Take a right on ISB, go to LPGA....Huh?.

I was asking directions because I don't know where I am, and you give me short-speak?.

Anyway....

Looks like Canada is following the US lead, surprise, surprise.

Canadian Military Dismissing Injured Soldiers

MrSpad
This is pretty common when you move from war time to peace time. Believe it or not is a much harder transition coming from a war zone to garrison than the other way around. While deplyed lots of the BS stuff goes away and you feel like you are doing something important. When that ends it is very hard to come back to the daily grind and things you see as a waste of time. It is the same problem people have getting out and then taking a job somewhere and having to take orders from somebody they see as never having done anything. You have many soldiers who in wartime excell but, in peacetime they just do not fit. Sad but, true. Seen it many many times.

Yep, take a heroic combat vet that has seen men die, fought many battled ect, bring him back to the rear area to be ordered around by a jackass over mundane things and tempers will flare.

I had an old vet visit our barracks. He showed me where some guys in his unit, just fresh back from combat duty in VN, took some hardass stateside Sargent, stuffed him in a wall locker and rolled it end over end down a flight of stairs. None of this had to do with PTSD or anything other than you should watch how you talk to vets just off the battlefield.

reply to post by canDarian


Is the US a Banana Republic yet? I bet most of them end up in jail. Then (by design?) they will work in those shops selling cheap furniture to government run programs.

Wow.

When it's all said in done, the last 30 years and the next 20, is going to go down in history as an abysmal failure…

Think about how much criticism there is on third world and developing nations when this kind of thing happens. Maybe it's status quo, as Vietnam is still a sore spot for many who fought in it, but I thought we were supposed to improve over time.

Habit4ming
I'd love to respond, since I support our military; however, I don't know what OTHD means NOR what TBI means! This is one of my pet peeves: People using acronyms/abbreviations and expecting everyone else to know of what they speak! I am rather busy today and don't feel like doing research to POSSIBLY ascertain the meanings of OTHD and TBI, so that I can perhaps make a reasoned response. Besides, it's your thread and it's your responsibility to be clear.

Nothing against you personally, OP--I complain about this issue a lot!

TBI = Traumatic Brain Injury

Typically happens in side-on collisions in cars when a high-velocity car would hit the slow moving or stationary car side on. The consequence was that the passengers and driver in the slow moving car would have their heads shaken sideways. The force was strong enough to not only shake the brain around enough but to cause bruising on the outer perimeter (the gray matter portions of the brain where all the actual processing is done) and tearing the white matter (the inner part where all the connections are made). This would be enough to put a person in a permanent coma if not kill them outright.

In a civilian environment, everyone I knew would get fog-head from traveling on the top-deck of double-decker buses that got the line up over speed-bumps wrong. Half the bus would be on the level part of the road, the other half would go 1.5 feet in the air. Then that side would come down again, and the whole bus would shake three times. This would always happen twice due to two sets of wheels. Anyone leaving the home with a clear crystal clear mind, would have fog-head by the time they got home.