What convinced you to join the military?
I don’t mean “Duty” or abject sense of “honor” or anything like that, I mean more like what things drove you towards service?
For me it was two things. The first was the book “Ender’s Game” which was largely responsible for landing me in a military school. But the second was the 1987-1990 TV series “Tour of Duty.” To this day when I hear Paint it Black I want to head off into the jungle and hunt Charlie.
Anyone else have some sort of thing that pushed them in this direction? Probably most of you were relatives, but I had none that served except my grandfather and he never even told me he served until I was in.
Category: Politics
9/11 + Saddam. I wanted to support the war effort. Nothing more complicated than that.
A history of service in my family going back to WWI in both the US Military and the British Military.
So call it family tradition, and my son will make it the 4th direct generation to serve. 5th if you count cousins and such.
@50.
The old “Drink Beer and Shoot Guns” analogy.
For me, probably six main reasons. One of them is that it would pay for college.
I’ve written about the other five reasons here. I’d guess those were the more important ones.
Growing up near a major military installation probably helped, too. I had a fair number of friends who were kids of active duty or retired military.
Jump out of airplanes and blow things up.
@48 That was an interesting read. Thank you for that.
After trying to join in 1964 and being declared 4F I was drafted in November 1966. 26 years, 7 months and 20 days later I reluctantly retired.
Starship Troopers and my Grandfather
Unlike so many here, I didn’t realize my destiny or my ancestry was in the military. The future and past slapped me in the face, after the recruiter worked his butt off, and shamed me into swearing the oath. I should have seen it, but I didn’t. Chuck Norris (MIA), Sylvestor Stallone (Rambo), John Wayne, and SGT Rock had all had a part, but I had only viewed them as entertainment. Friends had an influence, as they told of how they were going to join and be SF or Recon, though I didn’t put much thought in it. There was the co-worker in the Reserves, who I hadn’t thought much about and the hot chick’s 82nd ABN boyfriend, who I’d dismissed as a fluke. And Family? Yeah, all the ones I knew of (then), had been kicked out (punching LT’s, going AWOL, or other shaningans). As a kid, I had bought the AF line of flying jet fighters, but had long figured out that was unrealistic percentage wise, and then out of the picture eyesight wise. I had at other times bought the whole “Officer and a Gentlemen” line, but in the end, a poor set of HS counselors had put me a year behind in getting admitted to colleges, much less in ROTC. My Recruiter was relentless, and what had done me in was socks. I had been sending in the “information cards” since I was 12 to get the free socks/t-shirts/etc. So when I turned 17, the recruiter was calling. “Just take the ASVAB,” he said. “Oh, that’s great. Just take the physical.” “You passed, what do you wanna be?” “Oh, it’s only good for 3 days.” Dayum, he was good. But he was also p-o’d that I hadn’t signed the first day of the physical. The College Fund was a clincher. I knew I wanted to go, and had dreamed of a ROTC scholarship to the path of officerhood, but the recruiter convinced me to go enlisted first. The two options were my best ways to actually pay for college. Patriotism? Army Values? Ancestral Record? Those were… Read more »
Comic books… and my dad’s four years in the Navy as an enlisted man.
I still have footlockers full of old comic books about World War II and Korea in my parents’ house. My dad always said to me and my brother that we owed the country a stint in the service to be good citizens…..I guess it worked because my brother did a tour in the Army and I’m still on active duty.
Dad’s side of the family has always been army, while my mom’s side has always been navy. I wanted to be in the army like my old man (drafted for Vietnam, served as a medic in Japan) when I was little. My older sister joined the army band right out of school in ’92, and she was doing some fun stuff, so I started talking with the army recruiter. I wanted to be a tank driver.
But my uncle had been an AW in the navy since ’85 or so, and right near my junior year in ’95, he had decided that he was going to try out for the teams. I didn’t know what exactly that was, but he flew in S-3s and P-3s, and if he was transferring to something even more cool than that, then I wanted in. He was home on leave and we got talking, and I signed up for the navy under the delayed entry program soon after. The idea was to follow in his footsteps.
Navy recruiter saw my test scores, had me take the NFQT, and fed me the line about being able to change rates if I didn’t like being a nuke. He probably knew that was bullshit.
So my uncle graduated BUD/S as a 29 year old AW1 while I was in power school, somewhere around ’97. The closest I ever came to being a machine gun rockstar was being attached to NOB while my uncle was out at Little Creek. He let me tour their spaces, check out a SDV mini sub, and run their obstacle course though, which was pretty sweet.
Well it all started about 7 months after I turned 18, and I got this letter from the government, see…
@68W58,
I’m originally from Clay County, right on the Georgia/North Carolina state line. Right now, I’m in Cullowhee finishing up a Masters in European History. I always promised myself I’d move back to the mountains when I got out and here I am (leaves are just starting to change too, will look awesome in another week or two.)
And yes, hillbillies do tend to join the military. A few months back, I looked through the local paper for Clay County and counted how many of the high school seniors had plans for the military. Out of 93 kids, 13 had plans to either enlist or take a ROTC scholarship to college. That’s a pretty high percentage, even for a rural area, I would think…
Destiny. I come from a long military line, dating back to the 17th century in another country so far as we can document, and my dad made sure I knew the family story nearly from birth. Our first American ancestor was at King’s Mountain, my paternal GGrandfather a “high private” in the AoNV (until he lost a leg at South Mountain), my maternal GGrandfather MWIA charging a Union battery at Peachtree Creek, and less direct relations in every other American war. Mom’s side had fewer, but one of her great-uncles died a year after a gas attack in WWI, the government death benefit was sufficient to buy her mother and all her uncles and aunts individual farms. Different time. The only real question was branch – Dad was USAAF, his oldest brother Army infantry in WWI, one uncle a Marine artilleryman in WWII, another uncle an Army tanker in Korea, another uncle a USAF staff weenie colonel up through the 1990s, a distant cousin a Marine KIA 1970 somewhere in SEA.
Vietnam was still winding down my senior year in high school, I skipped school on my 17th birthday to volunteer. I think I made the Army recruiter’s day, totally empty office save for the five recruiting sergeants when I walked in. I’d been in Civil Air Patrol for four years, got to “play” with PJ’s at Eglin and 75th Rangers at Benning and Camp Merrill during summer encampments, so something involving eating snakes was definitely in the cards for me! My AF uncle tried with all his might to get me to go Big Blue, but aside from the PJ’s and CC’s, nothing really excited me about them. Ended up as an Army medic, loved every second of it!
Pave Low…high? That’s insane. I came from a very pro-military community. In my HS graduation class of almost 500, we had 4 with service academy appointments and another 15 or so either in DEP or joined within a few months.
Yeah, I know, those numbers are something in the neighborhood of 15% of a graduating class. Back in 1988, I knew a couple of guys besides myself who enlisted (two Navy guys, a Marine and a few Army guys), but that was about 5 or 6 guys out of 80.
I think when you combine the fact that the mountains of NC are extremely pro-military, plus the lack of local jobs, it seems like a no-brainer for the young men (and a couple of the young women) to enlist for a few years or more and let Uncle Sam pay for their college later on.
Pave Low John-thanks. In my graduating class I think about 10% ended up in the service in one form or another.
Oh, and as an App State alum, just let me say-if you can’t go to college, go to Western! 🙂
A bleak future….
While my grandfather was Army in WWII and my Father and Uncle had both been in the USAF in the early 60’s, I really had no interest in anything remotely military. All that changed when my girlfriend told me she was pregnant. Can’t provide working in a drugstore. Guess I’ll talk to the AF recruiter… Twenty years later, I retired. The girlfriend? She lied…
My dad and uncles
http://www.powbook.com/Fighting%20Men%20of%20TX.htm
High school was too easy for me, so I never really learned how to study. Plus, I had no life in high school.
So, when I went to college, I not only had really bad study habits, but I wasn’t taking it seriously (not going to class). I ended up dropping out after my sophomore year, since my GPA dropped below what was necessary to keep my scholarships.
I bummed arond for a few months, odd jobs and staying with friends, until I woke up and realized that I needed some discipline. Went downtown and talked to the recruiter… who didn’t really seem all that interested in signing me up until I took his practice ASVAB.
Family History was a big one, Great Grands in WWI, Grandfathers in Korea, Father in Iraq he served until his recent retirement, took them 5 years to class him as a medical retirement due to breaking his back in a mortar attack so he ended up serving 25, bronze star recipient, my brother even went in after me as an Army officer, he’s out now, bronze star recipient. I had some family in the Army and some in the AF. I went in to the AF, kind of got strong armed into a career field I didn’t want because of a good ASVAB score and a hey, why don’t you take the DLAB without the caveat that if I passed it I had no choice in career, but hey, whatever the career field I did want was unavailable to women at the time and I didn’t know it. Sometimes I wish I would have listened to that Marine recruiter who tried to tempt me away after I’d taken the ASVAB, all the different services’ recruiters were in the same complex and had weekly why my recruits are better than your recruits meetings, actually they may have been daily. Jokes aside,compared to the rest of my family and y’all here, my service meant nothing really, I filled a space, that’s my only real regret, that I didn’t do more with my time, my only claim to fame was graduating basic with honors, woo flippin’ hoo. I have massive respect for all of you here.
You can call bullshit but….. joined the Navy @ 16 in 1973.Was found out 6 months later and was discharged with a Honorable RE4. When I turned 17 I joined again (same recruiter)Chief Cunningham out of Portsmouth NH – we had a great laugh. Served on the USS Vulcan AR4 and the USS America CV66. Was discharged after my enlistment and served several years in the SEABEES – RNMCB-27. Then joined the Army. I spent 20 years in the Army and retired in 2002. It was a great ride.
Comrades in Arms: As I saw it then, and in retrospect, still see it today, military service was my ONLY option, and my ONLY chance to redeem myself and live a normal, comfortable life. When I was formally inducted into my beloved United States Army on the afternoon Thursday 07 December 1976, mandatory military conscription was in effect, and our nation was at war in the old Republic of Viet Nam, both of which were VERY controversial and unpopular. Growing up as an “Army brat”, I’d always expected to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. However, most of my teenage years were spent locked up in a maximum security ward of a state mental hospital, terrified, abused, drugged, enduring repeated electric shock treatments (the old fashioned way!), abandoned and completely isolated, with only violent criminals, sexual deviants, perverts, and psychotic sociopaths as my companions and confidants, convinced that I would never be a free man. As an adult, I was released, but with no high school education, and having acquired none of the skills or experience that other young men of my age take for granted. I hitch-hiked all over the country, laboring at odd jobs, frequently unemployed, penniless, hungry, cold, and wet. On Saturday 06 May 1967, in Portland, Oregon, I was baptized into The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints (i.e., the “Mormon” church). The young men in that church physically took me by the hand and literally taught me how walk like a normal human being, and how to speak in a normal tone of voice. Later, I gained some practical experience when I hitch-hiked to Spokane, Washington, where I was hired by the United States Forest Service to work on the Trapper’s Peak and Sundance Mountain forest fire in Idaho. Back in Portland, Oregon, at Portland State College (since renamed Portland State University), I successfully took and passed the High School Equivalency General Educational Development test. But, I still wasn’t eligible for military service. So, I wrote a letter to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, reminding him of all the guys who were avoiding the… Read more »
I was 20 years old in 1984 and was thinking about joining the military (my older brother was an Army veteran), but wasn’t sure. So, one night my father asked me if I wanted to go to Sam’s Club or Costco and being bored I said yes. When we got there, right of the front of the store was a display of several tables of books for really cheap prices. Being an avid reader, I zeroed in to browse while my father went shopping. While I was looking at the books I picked up this hardcover white-jacketed book with bright red lettering with the title “The Hunt for Red October” printed by the Naval Institute Press. It seemed kind of interesting, so I read the first paragraph and was hooked. I think it went for a few bucks.
When I got home that night, I stayed up all night and read the whole thing in one shot. I had never read anything like it before. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a sonar tech like Jonesy.
So, I joined the United States Navy and spent six years on active duty. What’s kind of ironic is that I didn’t end up as a sonar tech after all. Due to my ASVAB scores the recruiter convinced me to become a crypto-linguist (CTI) working for Big Daddy DIRNSA (that’s NSA for you non-SIGINT folks) which sounded really cool to a twenty year-old who had just read Clancy and with the Cold War still hot and heavy.
Looking back on my service, I have to say it was one of the best times of my life. I received some of the best technical training available at the time, served with some amazing folks, and was able to see and experience parts of the world I wouldn’t have otherwise. Because of my military training, I have been able to parlay it into a good and satisfying career. It’s been a good run. It was the best decision I ever made.
JRM,
You put down induction into Army in 1976…did you mean 1966?
Thanks for your service old soldier.
I failed to mention that I chose the Navy, not the Marines or the Army or the Chair Force, because I used to watch “Hennessy” with Jackie Cooper and “Blue Angels” every week. It was so cool. I figured that was the way to go.
I was right.
No, it was NINETEEN SIXTY-SEVEN (1967) when I went into the Army.
Maybe I’ve gotten dyslexic in my old age?
When I graduated, jobs in my field were not as plentiful as I’d thought. The military was hiring, though, and was offering immediate, hands-on experience. The Air Force wanted a four-year active duty commitment but the Army only wanted three, so that’s what I decided to pursue. I figured I’d do my three years then go into the private sector. Well, three years turned into eight-plus; by that point I figured I’m almost halfway to 20, so even though I’m now going into the private sector, why not finish out my 20 in the reserves? Today, it’s 27 and I’m still at it.
I joined for the paycheck and the experience. I stayed for the paycheck, the camaraderie, and the satisfaction of serving my country. I’ll miss it when I hang it up, which likely won’t be very much longer.
I wanted to jump out of planes and fly helicopters.
Didn’t take me long to figure out I really didn’t dig jumping out of planes (despite spending 3 years doing it) and it didn’t take me long to figure out i didn’t much care for riding in helicopters..much less ever being a pilot of one.
John Robert Mallernee you are a treasure!
Be well brother.
I joined because my whole life I listened to my father go on and on about how he was proud of my older siblings joining the state police. Being 17 I wanted to hear my dad brag about me. That and the hate of being inside plus love of my country got me to join and go Infantry.
By the way I went to air assault school in Hawaii at the “Tour of Duty” base camp. The show was filmed at the “East Range” training area right outside Schofield Barracks.
I have all five seasons of Combat! and the two seasons of Rat Patrol on DVD if that helps you understand why I ended up in the Army.
And, oh, I don’t have the DVDs but Friday nights watching Ripcord influenced my decision to go airborne. It looks more fun with out the 150 pounds of equipment.
Seems that, after blowing through my money for college in two years, not four, I was spending a bit of time earning some money to go back. I spent a weekend thinking the whole college thing, and working a shit job, over. To help me further clarify my situation, I got a notice from my friends and neighbors informing me that they had decided that I was IA now. So, Monday morning, bright and early, I went down, talked to the Army recruiter, and signed on the dotted line.
Two months later, it was off to sunny, warm Ft. Knox. Actually, it was January 1966, and it wasn’t sunny, or warm.
Don’t regret a minute of my time. But, I did not enjoy humping Agony, Misery and Heartbreak.
@29. I’m originally from a little town outside Roanoke, VA. But I’ve been to Morganton, NC a time or two (We have a lot of kin in NC.) West of Hickory, south of Lake Rhodhiss. Good fishing there.
As I said earlier, the recruiter asked if I’d like an extra $75 in my paycheck. And this was after offering me $8000 for four years of my time AND $20,100 for college to be what the recruiter referred to as an Eleven B. I thought, “Man, this army thing can’t be beat…they’re giving out free money!”
The first airplane I ever rode in, I jumped out of over Fryar DZ, FT Benning GA. I felt kinda chuffed about getting put together like that. But several years later I thought about and if it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have gone to Division, I wouldn’t have attended any of the cool-guy schools I got the chance to go to, I wouldn’t have seen as much of the world as I have, I would not have met my wife (23d anniversary this Sunday, BTW) or had my son, Lebben the Younger.
All in all, it was a great choice for me.
Jonn, almost forgot about Rat Patrol, another classic.
“Sands of Iwo Jima” got me hooked on the Marine Corps. However the Corps proved to be a fickle mistress and after 14 years wound up in the NC Guard.
Me enlisting was me following my family before me. Mother worked on CH-47s, father was an Airborne Ranger, and one grandfather was in the Air Force (not sure his field. So I graduiated High school and had a chat dad about thje service and what branch to go into. He told me that the Army he retired from was not the same as the Army he enlisted in. He was pretty blunt “Join the Air Force or the Marine Corp. The Marines will treat you like shit but they have their pride, the Air Force has no pride but they will treat you well. Join the Army or the Navy and I will kill you.” So I decided to join the Air Force and become an SP. Did 12 years in Security Forces before I was med boarded out. I would love nothing more than to be able to complete my 20 like my family before me, but I just have to come to terms with the fact that there is a reason to the madness and I just haven’t figured it out yet.
I really need to proofread and spellcheck my crap before I post it. I know it is all sorts of jacked.
There were several different reasons why I decided to join the military.
As a young kid, I was fascinated with G.I. Joe. I would say this is the spark that made me interested in the military. I even demanded to have a camouflage uniform when I was 8 years old.
I also visited Washington, D.C. as a 7th grader and seemed to be the only one awe-inspired and interested in the various military monuments and memorials we visited.
My grandfather was a WWII veteran and guarded the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. When I saw his pictures, it really inspired me. Unfortunately, he passed away when I was three months old, so I couldn’t hear of his time in the Army first hand.
I grew up in northeast Ohio. The outlook on my post-college life did not seem to be very fruitful in the area. I dropped out of college after a year and a half and joined the Army. My parents were a little pissed when I decided to go to the Army recruiter on my own. However, in the end, we all agreed it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
The Army allowed me to travel the world, meet lifelong friends and have experiences most people can only imagine. It is also how I met my wife. I left 5 years ago and do miss it sometimes, but I have never regretted my decision.
Thanks for reading my rambling comment…
To continue from my earlier post:
1. In Harms Way
2. The Longest Day
3. SGT York
4. Sand Pebbles
5. My grandfather an IRA man of the Dublin Guard and Boys of Kilmichael who after the Irish War of Independence, fought in the Irish Civil War (as a Collins Man), helped drive the British out of the new Irish Republic, and as many young Irish men did he served in the Royal Navy.
6. My father, a son of Ireland who loved his new country and a US Army Korean War veteran and American Patriot.
7. Boilers … did I mention that?
These are a few reasons.
Our family has recently added the fourth generation warrior. My newphew is a 2nd Lt at artillary school in OK.
@84 remember the sweat towel, taking a break in place, resting your m-16 on your toe? To get the weight from your ruck off your back. Anyway back in 1970 the army strongly suggested I show up for induction. I was a junior in college playing college baseball. I must confess I was not real happy at the time about going in the army. But after spending 11 months ,12 days in the nam, coming home going back to school playing baseball again. It kind of let’s you know what’s important and what isn’t. I would not trade that 11 months, 12 days experience for anything. Was not fun but made me a better person.by the way, owb, if you read this, I’m the guy who told the story about finding the beer in the bush. Since your a air force guy I give you a pass for questioning the story.(smile) I could tell the story about shooting the deer from a loach and having a barby back at base camp, but I think you would doubt that story too. (smile)
Kinda like @45 RandyB said–it’s what you do on the way to becoming a man; my dad his two years, his uncle had been in the Korean War. During WWII I had an uncle who went OCS into the Signal Corp, his brother was drafted into the Army Air Force, their brother was drafted into Army infantry, and their uncle was my grandfather’s youngest brother and thus volunteered with my oldest uncle to get their year of service out of the way in 1940. This great-uncle wound up a sergeant first class by the end of the war.
And, yeah, I’d read Starship Troopers.
And then Gulf War I came around; a cousin’s father, who was already a grandfather, went to Saudi Arabia with the NG. I felt guilty and joined up delayed enlistment. My day said I would hate it; he was right. (The NG’s grandson was a Stryker crewman in Iraq.)
Fort Jackson was almost impossible, but when I graduated, my dad said he was proud of me. I made it to Fort Lee. I did my two year at Fort McClellan, AL (except for TDY, etc.). It was real, but it wasn’t fun. It was an honor to have served.
(And, 68W58, I almost froze in the upper deck of Carter-Finley watching NC State and Appalachian play, back in the ’80s. Turns out that out you don’t share body heat if everybody leaves their coats on.
And PaveLow, I ready somewhere that’s it’s not being a hillbilly that inclines a person to military service as much as being Scotch-Irish; since I’m from the flatland and more or less Scotch-Irish I would tend to agree.)
Since everyone since the civil war in my family was in the Army, It made perfect sense to join the Marines. My father was an Army DS, but the final push came when I saw the movie “The boys in company C”. It had a lot of lessons in it.
OK, my turn. I grew up in an Army town during the 70’s and 80’s, and my Folks were well acquainted with many WWI, WWII, Korea, & Vietnam Vets, whom I always held them in high esteem. In the mid-eighties, I graduated from a Military Academy high school in the Midwest, and when we weren’t in class, the ones who made us keep our *BLEEP!* together were WWII, Korea, & Vietnam Vets, none of these men spontaneously spouted off war stories like the posers we see here in other threads, they were dedicated to teaching us THEIR way, “OLD SCHOOL” which is what I pass on to my “Joes” these days. My Dad didn’t want me to enlist straight out of high school, so I wasted some time and money at a college before I finally enlisted. The “Clinton Curse” began during that first three year hitch, so I gracefully ETS’ed when that was over. 9/11 happened, and I was hell-bent for leather that I wanted to re-up and do something to our enemies in the Middle East. I thought about my high school mentors, and it was, “What would, HELL! What DID they do?” and as soon as I found out I could get back in I did, and I’ve done two M.E. tours since. These guys were WARRIORS, (They were SO TOUGH, they always wore out their clothes from the inside!) their wartime missions probably make mine look like Girl Scout cookie runs when compared to mine, but at least i was able to get back in and do something after we were attacked…
My high school had an NJROTC program run by Captain John Nicholson USN the example he and LCDR Edwin Both, and MCPO Joe Harding set was damn near a recruiting commercial.Three years of NJROTC in high school, I knew I had to serve, the only question was which branch. The Navy never really interested me, the Air Force recruiter didn’t return my calls, the Marine Recruiter was like a stalker, so, into the Army I went.
Saw “In Harm’s Way”. After seeing that, I wanted nothing more than to command a ship in combat. Never got there, but had a great career nonetheless.
I had always had a sense of patriotism and commitment to the US. I had been “talking” with recruiters for a while when… my parents turned the heat off to the part of the house that held my bedroom. I left the day after Christmas. 🙂
So, there I was, drunk, disheveled and disorderly. The next thing I knew I no longer needed a haircut, I had new clothes and footwear, and some fellas were calling me a maggot. I’m still trying to figure out what in the hell happened.
John Robert Mallernee:
What Devtun and the Master Chief said! You humble me, Brother. God bless you.