Two days ago DHinMI posted on why people join the military with "They Become Soldiers Because They Can't Afford to Become Students, Homeowners and Parents." I am not disputing DHinMI’s diary but I am offering an alternate view based on my experience. This is mine alone and should not be taken as what everyone who joins does. Call it an "alternate view."
Background:
I joined the military at 19
I came from a middle to upper middle class background
Like most people I joined for a thousand reasons, some of them monetary, but the big reasons, the closers, were not.
Because I had made some bad choices, I had been told to sit out a semester by my college. Something about having a 0.0 GPA. I looked around and saw my future and I didn’t like it. The best job I could get was as a dish washer and my "career" path was to move up to line chef and then maybe managing chef. My "friends" were moving from "recreational" party drugs to low level dealing to support a habit. My "friend" with the "best" job worked at a car dealer where he might some day be a salesman. He also got to steal gas for his car. I lived in a big city but this was my range of options. So I’m a high school graduate, college wash out with career prospects that involve smelling bad or being sleazy. I wanted to be in a better place in life but I had limited options. Here is what the military offered me:
Immediate acceptance. When your 19, interviews are terrifying. Heck, when your forty they are tough. The Army didn’t make me interview. They said, "We have a place for you."
Pay, housing, medical and food. I actually took a pay cut in straight dollars but my expenses disappeared and I didn’t have a landlord anymore. Oh, I was being evicted from my apartment for "party" related activity so I was about to be homeless. When you are so immature you make bad choices on spending that dinner is a $.50 microwave burrito, the idea of three hots every day is very appealing.
Job skills. Remember when you were young and your "experience" consisted of a paper route? I screwed this one up by choosing a job with no civilian transfer (killing stuff). One more bad choice on my part. I fixed this later.
Social status. I had a fiancée who I desperately wanted to marry. We were young and dumb but smart enough to know that dish washer was not what mom and dad wanted to have their daughter marry. Soldier was a big step up. Oh, she broke up with me right after I shipped out.
Discipline. This was the absolute number one reason I joined. All the other reasons were available else ware. Only the Army was going to change what got me into trouble –lack of discipline, lack of self control, lack of self respect. I was on a path to destruction. If I was lucky, I would be in jail soon. If not, I would end up dead. I was a worthless citizen, the kind of "troubled teen" you sneer at when you saw us at the mall unwashed and drunk/high. The only reason I was in this position was because I made bad choices. I had other paths available. I had friends (fast dwindling) who were in college, who had jobs with prospects, who didn’t spend every day in a chemical fog.
I made a string of bad choices and now I was in a bad position. The Army offered me an out. I traded three years of my life for a second chance. I chance to clean the slate, get straight, get an honorable discharge and return to society. No one else wanted to help fix me. No other institution said, "We will make you better."
Once I was in, my first thought was, "OH MY GOD, what have I done." The pay was bad, the housing worse and if the food was good, I didn’t know because I only got 5 minutes to eat (I still have to force myself to eat slowly). I wanted out BAD! I was smarter than 95% of the guys around me but I was in the bottom third because I was small and lacked "leader presence." It was difficult to adjust to being judged on something besides "book smarts." I struggled through the next two years with successes and failures. Smarts got me put into better and better jobs. Hard work kept me there. I was given more and more responsibility and I did well. In less than three years I went from E1 Private to E5 Sergeant. Not so impressive today (promotions are faster in war time) but when I got promoted everyone in my first squad had at least a year more in the military and now I out ranked them. One had been an E4 when I was an E1 and he was still and E4 when I made E5. Along the way the Army invested in me, sending me to leadership schools and paying 75% of my tuition costs for night school (Its 100% now). I wasn’t given time off for school but my squad leader kept track of my school schedule and when possible, arranged the duty schedule so I would have a day off before a big test or final. I took my books to the field and he arranged for me to have night shift when things were slower so I could study. My leaders encouraged me when I was down and got on me when I missed a homework assignment. They were paying my way so they got a say. (Thanks SGT M and SGT P!). Almost as critical, no one cared that I had been a failure in my first attempt at school. No questions about high school GPA, class rank or SAT scores, just "here is the class schedule, how can we help." Instead of road blocks and no’s it was "you can do it" and "let me help." As I moved along and showed potential, I began to get treated differently by my superiors. They became less directive and more general in their orders to me. I was expected to fill in the gaps and act on "commanders intent" in the absence of specific orders. I was brought into professional discussions and finding myself over my head told "go read AirLand Battle along with that history book for school." It was through this process I transition from thinking of the Army as a vocation to thinking of it as a profession. The Profession of Arms. I read Hackworth (About Face) and Sheehan (A Bright Shining Lie) and learned more about this proud profession. I was still barely 22 years old and outside of the Army I was still a college dropout without marketable skills (not too much work shooting stuff then). But inside the Army I was a Non Commissioned Officer, leader of men, responsible for lives and equipment. When my time on my enlistment started to get short, it was this math that was first in my mind. When I had nothing, the Army gave me everything. When others said no, the Army said yes. When society said "you screwed up" the Army said "we can fix you." When everyone else said "your too young, too dumb, too poor" the Army said "do good and you will be rewarded." I found a place that was a true meritocracy where who your dad was or what school you went to didn’t matter (well, sorta). All that mattered was hard work and leadership. No one ever gets to the top in the Army because they were born to the right family. Everyone starts at the bottom. The 4 Star General of the moment in 2048 is in high school right now. There is a 50% chance he or she will attend West Point but a 100% chance he/she will be a Second Lieutenant Platoon Leader making stupid mistakes, being the butt of practical jokes and learning hard lessons from crusty NCOs. We are the only large organization in this country that ONLY promotes from within. We grow every leader and no one gets "there" without having "been there, done that."
Now, I ask you all to think about that. How can an institution that offers merit based advancement, social mobility, and nearly unconditional acceptance be totally evil? What other institution in our society offers the same? Is it possible that those with otherwise dim prospects choose the military because it is a good institution? Is it possible that the "privileged" members of our society want nothing to do with an organization that cares little for their "privilege?" Is it possible that the reason the children of the rich and powerful fail to serve is because they know they will be judged on their own merit and may be found wanting? The Army in particular has always been the greatest vehicle of social mobility in most countries and no more so than the United States. Do you really think Colin Powell and members of the administration would have ever become friends if Powell had not been and Army General? How many other graduates of CCNY are in this administration? How many Harvard and Yale types? Anyone want to bet on CCNY?
For me, General Powell highlights one of he great ironies of the military and the right wing – most conservatives and most all neo-cons hate the military. The military in general and the Army in particular represent everything they hate. How is that you ask? How about these bleeding heart liberal values:
The afore mentioned social mobility - Its no mistake that Bushes and the Chaneys are good friends with the Saudis and other "Royal" families. They look at the royal model and think – good idea! God forbid someone broke into their little circle of power through......merit! Did you know that the military, in particular the Army, is the only large organization in our country where women and minorities routinely supervise white males?
Equal pay – everyone at the same grade gets the same pay. Male. Female. White. Black. Brown. Jew. Gentile. What a CROCK of dodo that is! They can’t support black women making the same as white men for the same work!
Universal health care – not just universal, but with full family coverage and no check for preexisting conditions! Drug coverage too! Dental kinda sucks, but it is there.
30 days of paid leave a year from day one – Vacation days? What? And from the start, not after working for 10 years without a day off.
6 weeks of paid maternity leave – Bad enough that they pay the women the same but to give them "baby time" too?
Unlimited paid sick leave – not really sick "leave" because only true "vacation" is counted for leave purposes. If you are sick, you go home and still get paid.
Retirement – BOTH a defined benefit plan AND a defined contribution plan. For EVERYONE. And the lowest guy gets the same as the highest. Everyone has an equal retirement plan. No golden parachutes. Oh, and retirement includes medical care FOR LIFE! With a drug benefit! And get this – after 20 years you are fully vested and can retire when ever you want (subject to recall, stop loss, being Bushed). Bunch of commie social crap that is!
Some other wacko military ideas:
Subsidized child care – not everywhere but we are getting there
100% tuition assistance – there are limits but its pretty much available to everyone. This is on top of the GI Bill which is primarily used after departing the service. We have this wacked idea that better education leads to better "product."
"Subsidized" food – not really subsidized so much as sold at cost. True cost plus a small overage to cover future construction and maintenance. I am shocked at how much food costs "off post." This saves my family THOUSANDS.
"Living" portion of the wage not taxed – Our food and housing allowances are not taxed. Novel idea that the basics of life – food and shelter – should not be taxed.
Responsibility to subordinates – how you treat your people is still considered important. Something about potentially asking them to risk their lives drives this. If you are an asshole, they just might shoot you instead.
Training – I have, on average, spent one year out of 4 in some formal training. We invest TONS of money into our formal schooling. And not just for the senior guys either. In fact, the lions share goes to our middle ranks.
These are all "liberal" ideas. What is sad is that the military is about the only large organization in our country that supports them. It would be great if other organizations did. Here is the "liberal irony." Liberals and liberal institutions claim to support many of the policies of the military – second chances, acceptance, hard work paying off - yet in practice they fall far short. "Liberal" universities exclude, with far more saying "no" than "yes" to the very people we take in. Bad grades in High School? Its off to the JUCO for you. I could not have gotten into the University of Maryland out of high school yet I carried a 3.2 GPA in night school working full time and then some (lots of 12+ hour work days). The ONLY reason I could take classes was because the military didn’t give them a choice.
The vast majority of former soldiers (discharged or retired) have no problem finding jobs and are in fact sought after and fought over. Yet these are the same people who were scorned by employers just a few years before. Where is the "take a chance" attitude by businesses? Yes we weed a lot out so our "output" has been polished but not that much. The reality is businesses would rather let the military take all the chances, expend all the effort and then reap the rewards by poaching our people. It is amazing what happens when you support and believe in people. We do and we get results. Its not magic, just hard.
At the end of my initial enlistment, I corrected by first bad choice of jobs and moved into something with more real world transfer. The Army again invested in me with over a year of schooling. I continued to go to night school and eventually completed 60 hours but not an AA. Midway through my second enlistment a mentor started pushing me to take the next step and become an officer. I competed for and won a full scholarship to complete my degree based on nothing but merit. Good thing too because even though I was married, about to have a child and I went to a pretty inexpensive state school, I could neither afford the cost or qualify for financial aid. Too poor to go on my dime, to rich to qualify for help. Even with a full ride and GI Bill, both my wife and I had to work and we still qualified for WIC. But not a Pell Grant. After graduation and commissioning I went off to another year of school and have progressed normally since. I am now a senior officer but I am not far removed from the troubled teen of 19. If I were to retire today, I could step right into a senior position in a number of businesses willing to pay me a good six figure salary plus benefits. Yet none of those companies wanted to offer me a chance when I was 19. None have programs NOW to find people who have lost their way and grow leaders for their future. They would rather BUY loyalty than build it. What they miss is that you cannot buy loyalty. Many on these boards wonder how soldiers endure a soldiers life. How could anyone WANT to be in the military. Let me tell you, I love the Army. Like any love, we have had our ups and downs. I have been cheated on, disappointed and left standing in the rain. But like a good marriage, we work on it. The Army has given me just about everything good in my life – I met my wife in the Army, my children were born in Army hospitals, my education was and is still being paid for by the Army, my two best friends, hundreds of close and not as close but good friends, my last 20+ years of adventure, and some day my retirement all come form the army. Every day in Iraq sucked but part of me still wants to go back. Why? Because that is where the Army is, that is what we do. Every day away from my family sucks (4 of the last 8 years) but sharing that suck with my brothers in arms makes it a little better. It’s what we do. Name one other institution that could be as "abusive" to its employees yet garner such loyalty? I will say it again - when I had nothing, when I was nothing, the Army was there for me. That buys a lot of loyalty and that is all the Army has ever asked of me.