Why did you choose not to join the military?

30 comments

  2. Because I’m an Army brat and I know what the life is like. I decided from a young age it isn’t for me.

  3. I was of joining age mid-Iraq War, way after it had become apparent we were just after oil and there weren’t any WMDs, so I didn’t feel like dying for Cheney’s wallet at the time, and all that post-9/11 patriotism I had had dried up. I had some buds who joined and saw some pretty gnarly shit and got medically discharged a couple years later which made me think I made the right call.

  4. I did marching band freshman year and HATED it. Someone made an offhand comment about “you sure wouldn’t like the military then…” and for some dumb reason that stuck with me. But they were right: strict schedules, always being told what to do, not being in control of your own day to day, where you live, etc. all sounded miserable.

    Now that I’m older, there’s a whole political aspect to it as well… But that’s what I thought when I was that age.

  6. I didn’t see any reason to and am not in the habit of making life changing commitments for funnies.

    Most people I know who went in did it for one of three reasons:

    1) They got to the end of high school with no particular plan or prospects and the recruiter gave the best pitch at the job fair.

    2) To access the benefits, particularly college funding, because they didn’t feel they had good alternatives.

    3) family tradition drilled in from a young age.

    1 and 3 weren’t true for me and I was lucky enough to have other options for 2.

  9. Because I don’t like following orders I don’t agree with. I don’t accept ‘because I said so’ as a valid reason, now that I’m an adult. I don’t like the chickenshit that I’ve heard comes with being in the military.

    Also, I *did* apply to join Navy Officer Candidate School. When I took my test, the Petty Officer running the recruitment station took a look at my score and said, “Son, you’d better know a senator.” Not exactly a vote of confidence.

  11. Aside from the commonly-mentioned risks of injury and death, I don’t think there’s nearly enough support in our country for veterans who have to transition to civilian life after their service. I think I would have been a decent personality fit for the service and I could have certainly handled the physical requirements. My concern would have been reaching the end of my contract with everything else intact but having no real future to look forward to. Happens to many military vets regardless of what they do while deployed.

  12. I am deeply unsatisfied with my country. It means nothing to me, so why risk my life defending it?

  13. My dad fought in Vietnam (not exactly his choice) and told me if ever joined the military he’d kick my ass. He meant that to be tongue in cheek but he pretty much explained how you’re literally a piece of government property when you enlist and lose a lot of autonomy. I definitely don’t have the personality to just shut up and follow orders without asking questions either.

  15. I always saw it as a scam. Why would I risk my life for arms dealers and oil companies to turn a profit?

  16. Could not reconcile being a tool for rich old men who expect me to take bullets for them but would never do the same for me

  18. Dad was a big military man I was supposed to join right around 2002.. as soon as 9/11 happened my dad told me not to since I was gonna be deployed in order to fight for big oil companies. So no, I didn’t and wouldn’t join the military for its highly influenced by the companies and people who profit from wars and gaining territory

  19. As someone who did join the military.

    This question is like asking people why they chose not to do literally any job.

    Why did you choose not to be an electrician? Or a plumber? A banker? A software developer? An accountant?

    Most people don’t think like that. The only time they make a choice to reject something, they actually have to consider it first. Frankly, I think a lot of people never even consider the military. I didn’t choose not to be a lawyer, being a Lawyer was just something I never even considered as an option.

  21. I didn’t want to kill or die for a useless war and America has had a lot of that in my lifetime

  22. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to kill anyone. The war was bullshit. And,I would’ve been disqualified for a myriad of reasons.

  25. I don’t like authority, and the whole “Sir yes sir” bullshit annoys the fuck out of me. Probably because my step-dad was in the military, and I did not like listening to him at all.

    Also, I’m not crazy about being a tool of war for the interests of short-sighted geopolitics.

  26. I signed up while in high school because I was a sheltered naive child, and because I thought it was a way to pay back my community and US taxpayers for supplying me with a stable place to grow up, and a sense of duty (both my grandfathers and my dad were in combat), and to pay for college. I enlisted in 1990.

    After basic training (a horrible experience for me. I’m a sensitive thoughtful person, and it is the wrong type of place for me), advanced training, and 2.5 years in the National Guard, I went to my commanding officer and told him I was quitting. I still had 1.5 years on my contract and could have been sent to military prison. He and the officer cadre, and several of our top NCO’s were disappointed and also surprisingly considerate in trying to talk me into staying.

    A few things changed my mind about the noble cause of being in the military. I was less naive to the world by then and realized that if I were ever in combat (the whole point of all the training my unit did) the better I did my job, the more people would die on the other end of the battlefield (I was in artillery). Also, oddly I suppose, my unit was perpetually under strength which meant we would never be activated, and therefore never go to combat, which was what I had been paid to prepare for, and I felt it wasn’t right to be paid to prepare for a job I would never do.

    I arrived in basic training about 2 weeks before Iraq invaded Kuwait. Before I finished basic training, the US military had mobilized including a very large component of National Guard units like mine. During my time in my home unit, other units continued to be deployed to relieve combat units, but we were never at combat strength numbers and therefore all those other guys went while we stayed home and ‘trained’ endlessly. That felt like me and my unit were shirking our responsibility and making other men and women do extra months in combat on our behalf, and it really bothered me.

    Also, a lot of the enlisted guys in my unit would show up to our drill weekends hours late and/or drunk before lunch time. I didn’t trust about 1/2 the unit to be in life critical situations. While training I also thought it was gross that they would take their pay but be so un-engaged.

    Also the rampant misogyny and harassment (including rape) of women soldiers made me pretty sick. The longer I was in the more I saw and heard.

    So, an odd story, but that’s my own report of one experience and why I was in, but quit early.

  29. 10 years in and the most I’ve done overseas is run miles in circles inside a walled perimeter in a humid desert with pollution that would put American cities to shame.

    Also befriending immigrant workers trying to provide for their families and who would do anything to be an American. One of them was from Bangladesh working on base who made the greatest sandwiches, and I would talk with him about his dreams to live in Switzerland and we’d be happy browsing my phone when I had service. One of the barbers who was from India was super cool too, and he was about to get married back home, loved that guy. Some of these guys had the biggest balls and would trap scorpions in bottles and would trade you for an energy drink lol.

    And my job was supposed have me call in artillery.

  30. Why would you ever have that as a choice? I can think of a dozen other things that would be better than that 😂

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like