# Joining the military



## Universal (May 30, 2005)

I was wondering what ya'lls opinion is on joining the military. I've heard that some military people get dp/dr from service, and I was wondering if anyone' heard about this as well. So it would balance out wouldn't it? Since I have DP.DR I could sort of mix in with the crowd? There's so many benefits to joining like money, free food, healthcare, retirement opportunities.

I'm 21 now and I don't have much else to look forward to. I almost joined the Navy at one point and I held myself back because of the anxiety. The recruiter said it was no big deal and I almost go in there.

Anyone else thinking about joining the military or have any opinions about this?


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## RedCaineForNova (Mar 5, 2005)

i was thinking about joining the military but i hate the american government its so corrupt. innocent lives are being ended because of some dumb reason to go into iraq.(its not really about freedom)

sorry if you disagree. if you really feel that you want to join the military then do it. i support all the troops in iraq in afganistan and hope they return soon and i get sad when i hear of their deaths on the news.

but look at this link first please. the government lies and continue to rip off war vetrans off with their phoney "benifits" and all that other b.s.

http://militaryfreezone.com/debunking_the_myth


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## Scattered (Mar 8, 2005)

Join the military? If you don't mind the possibility of death or severe injury then sure, go ahead. I'll stick to videogames.


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## rainboteers (Apr 5, 2005)

lots of people that join the military end up with ptsd, which includes dp/dr. This is because of some of the horrific experiences they have. Please think this through....


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## person3 (Aug 10, 2004)

I think dp/dr is caused by being on the front, in combat, or being close enough (like medics and such). BUT if you can find a job in the military such as a technology based job...ask if they have things not related to combat. I read an email today and realized maybe this would have been a good choice for me as well.

It will teach discipline, which is important. as i kind of realized today.


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## Universal (May 30, 2005)

Iraq Affecting Mental Health of Troops By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer 
26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Thirty percent of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home from the Iraq war, the Army's surgeon general said Thursday.

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The survey of 1,000 troops found problems including anxiety, depression, nightmares, anger and an inability to concentrate, said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley and other military medical officials. A smaller number of troops, often with more severe symptoms, were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a serious mental illness.

The 30 percent figure is in contrast to the 3 percent to 5 percent diagnosed with a significant mental health issues immediately after they leave the war theater, according to Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a military psychiatrist on Kiley's staff. A study of troops who were still in the combat zone in 2004 found 13 percent experienced significant mental health problems.

Soldiers departing a war zone are typically given a health evaluation as they leave combat, but the Army is only now instituting a program for follow-up screenings three to six months later, said Kiley, speaking to reporters at a breakfast meeting.

Screenings of 1,000 U.S. soldiers who returned from Iraq to their home bases in Italy last year found that three to four months later, 30 percent of them had some mental health difficulties ? a much greater incidence than expected. Kiley attributed that to post-combat stress problems taking time to develop once the danger has passed.

Only about 4 percent or 5 percent of troops coming home from combat actually have PTSD, but many others face problems adjusting when they come home, Kiley said.

Such problems are sometimes more acute in members of the National Guard, who return to a civilian job when they leave active military duty, Ritchie said.

Military medical officials, however, cautioned against people reading their data as suggesting the war had driven so many soldiers over the edge. Instead, they characterized the anxiety and stress as normal reactions to combat, seeing dead and mutilated bodies, and feeling helpless to stop a violent situation.

Still, such reactions can lead to problems with spouses and children, substance abuse and just day-to-day life, they said.

Truck drivers and convoy guards in Iraq are developing mental health problems in greater numbers than other troops, Ritchie said, suggesting the long hours on the road, constantly under threat of attack, are taking their toll.

The military has about 200 mental health experts in Iraq, grouped in what the Army calls "combat stress control teams." These teams are at many posts around the country and talk with troops after battles, try to prevent suicides and diagnose troops who should be evacuated from of the country because of mental health problems.

"They are worth their weight in gold," Kiley said of the teams.

An inquiry into the mental health of soldiers serving in Iraq found an improvement in the mental health and morale in 2004 over 2003. The military made its report on the inquiry public last week.

The report said the number of suicides in Iraq and Kuwait declined from 24 in 2003 to nine last year.

Historically, mental health problems have always been a part of warfare, and was looked at systematically when shellshock cases accounted for significant losses during World War I.

Ritchie said mental health cases ebb and flow during a war, and suggested they are sometimes connected to a soldier's sense of success of the larger war effort. During the Korean War, cases increased when U.S. forces were losing ground but decreased as the situation improved, she said.

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## Monkeydust (Jan 12, 2005)

Definite *no*, I'm afraid. There's really two issues at play here for me.

1. In terms of your mental health it will not help and will probably make matters worse. To begin with, you will be very physically and emotionally drained from your work. You will be deprived of many of the comforts that often help us to feel good. You will have little chance to "run away" (metaphorically) if the going gets tough. In addition, you may end up with PTSD if you ever saw action.

2. Then there's the political/moral side of things. Joining the US or British army these days is tantamount to actively supporting, and be willing to strive for, acts of imperialism and unjustified acts of aggression. I think the less people that join up for these things the better.



> It will teach discipline, which is important. as i kind of realized today.


That's true, but I think on balance the lessons you'll learn are *bad* ones. It teaches you to "do as you're told"; to be uncritical. It teaches you to obey authority, without any scepticism or doubt. I think that anything which serves to diminish scepticism, doubt, a proclivity to question authority and a willingness to challenge the accepted opinion is undesirable. But then I would, I suppose.

One more thing, Universal.



> The recruiter said it was no big deal and I almost go in there.


Be *very* careful with these kind of comments. The recruiter "would" say that, since the military is pretty desperate to get as many troops as it can right now. It doesn't mean that the anxiety will not be a problem in the military for you.

I probably seem outrageously cynical, but that's just my take on it.


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## LOSTONE (Jul 9, 2005)

I almost joined the navy myself a few years ago. Long story, but I must say that you should never believe anything a recruiter tells you. They will lie even to their boss, and on official documents just to get you into the military! They do not care at all about you. Fact is that they have a quota and if they don't make it than they lose there post! 
If you do have bad dp/dr, I strongly suggest not joining. 
I couldent even make it through the application ordeal in Chicago.
My recruiter stressed me the hell out, BAD!
The military goes against my religion anyway. 
Killing people is wrong for any reason and I think if you are at all religious you need to think about the fact that no matter what position you have in the military, you will be supporting a force designed only to kill people.
I don't even know why I ever went to the recruting office to begin with.
I think I was very confused at the time.
I pray you do not join.


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## = n (Nov 17, 2004)

Well, perhaps bizarrely, i am also 21 and i also considered joining the Navy about a month ago. I was walking home after abysmally failing to get a job and i started thinking about an advert i saw for a job in the navy. I thought about 'the republic' by Plato, the republican ideal (although i live in a constitutional monarchy), serving the state that has protected me and enabled me to live in liberty (fat lot of good thats done me) and so on. I have also always harboured a certain recessive patriotic streak and a childish yearning for the military.

I decided that i would do it, i would join the navy.

Then after a minute i recalled that i totally disagreed with Platos vision of a militarist republic, and i remembered that the essential purpose of the military (British, American and French at least) is to be willing and able to kill foreign people youve never met, at the behest of politicians and generals you dont really know, for political or geo-strategic reasons you dont really understand/care about/agree with.

Even if you dont pull the trigger youre part of a war machine. Perhaps -some- wars are truly just and some causes righteous, but it would be just my luck to get tangled up in the least just, least righteous, dirtiest war there is going. And really, i dont actually want to kill people, or be involved in doing so at all. Wars are tragic and i tend to think there are better ways of achieving things. Plus i think the navy would actually be quite boring.

And so i decided i would rather join an international aid agency or learn some martial arts or something. And hence im not in the navy.

If you are willing to: 
* do things you totally disagree with (yet are still -probably- legal) as part of the apparatus of the state
* get stuck in a situation you cant even attempt to control
* and _if you're at the sharp end_ you're willing to personally end someones life (or otherwise play a small part in a vast organisation geared towards extreme physical violence)

then by all means consider the Navy.

In reality im sure it would be quite an uneventful job and you're statistically very unlikely to actually die in combat(unless you join the infantry/marines and go to Iraq) but it was the principle that got to me.

There are simply better ways of providing a service to society and definitely better jobs to get for people with DP.


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## heartangel (Mar 25, 2011)

You are brave. Our military has helped peace and security and has helped make the world a safer and better place. There are no pros and cons about being in the military. Each decision is based on what you want to do in the military and if the military will have you and assign you to what the service needs you to do.

_______________
see girls military schools


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## kerplunkett (Jan 3, 2011)

I wouldn't join just because the relationship I'm in but I think some days that I'd like to join... I mean I feel like I'd see reality.. Life and death is right before myneyes.. Idk hard to explain


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