A teenager who chooses to join the military and go to Iraq is:

I just got flamed for calling my nephew's decision to join the military and go to Iraq "stupid." I think it WAS a stupid decision.

I want a poll.

A teenager who chooses to join the military and go to Iraq is:

And for some people the military is a very positive experience, depending on a multitude of variables.

My nieces and nephews make all sorts of decisions I don't agree with.

Also, if there's a war on and soldiers are being stop-lossed, any teenager who didn't at least realize there was a damn good chance he would end up in Iraq is an idiot.

you will die either, but I wouldn't bet against it.

but not what I'd choose for my son.

I'm sorry that you and your family have to deal with this. Hopefully he will be safe.

and of course, they rely on naivete when recruiting.

I was hoping to find it posted and I did. Thanks.

If we don't trust them to have a drink how in the world do we justify trust in their ability to make this decision? Sheesh.

I've been saying for years that either:
(a) we lower the drinking age to 18 or
(b)Make 21 minumum age to join the military and repeal the 26th Amendment.

I would have thought that someone joining the military doesn't actually get to decide whether to get posted to Iraq or not, so no-one actually makes the decision you're describing; all they do is decide to join the military and run the risk of being posted to Iraq, or Afghanistan, or any number of other places.

Good Luck to him.

military for job, college, future. they are in a situation where they are set if they chose.

there are a lot of young kids/adults that dont have the same option, have a military family adn is what they know ect... i would not point finger and call it stupid. though i may wish they had other choices.

invincible.

They'd take 'em at 12 if they could. Remember that the modern military is the culmination of 6,000 years of the development of mind control techniques. They know what they are doing and they will succeed.

According to their own conscience. I wouldn't like their decision, but I wouldn't stand in the way.

He might get killed, or he do very well in the military. Most likely he will serve his tour and move on to something else in life, a little better rounded and matured by the experience.

I just got flamed for calling my nephew's decision to join the military and go to Iraq "stupid."

You deserved it. Your comment was out of bounds. You should be supportive of your nephew making his own adult decisions even if you disagree with them.

Feels he has few other prospects?

that all military members are either ignorant fools or psycho?

I know I am am not ignorant, nor was I when I joined 20 plus years ago.

Nor am I a psycho killer....

I am curious as to how you came to arrive at your only two possible answers.

Please enlighten me and my fellow ignorant fools and psycho killers in the military who belong to this board.

of us did when we were teenagers. Or thinks the war is America's way of stopping tyranny.

Lots of reasons that most liberal Democrats would find totally stupid, but many others would not.

Many young people still believe, rightly or wrongly, that our military fights for freedom and freedom is worth fighting and dying for.

Just saying.

Joining the military does not mean automatically going to Iraq. With Obama's plan to have all troops out by 2011, it probably means a relatively small chance of going to Iraq, depending on what his MOS is going to be and the unit he is assigned to. Your obvious bias does not make the decision a stupid one.

And a college graduate.

He's being deployed to Afghanistan with the next wave of troops.

for college because I knew we could not afford it.

Stayed 28 years, and it worked out for me. I now have the college that I could not get earlier, as well as the retirement they promised me.

That being said, it is not the decision I would like to see my grandchildren make right now, considering the world's climate. Hopefully it will work out for your nephew, I genuinely wish him well. Maybe "ill advised" would have been a nicer term.

are far higher right now than Balaad

And coming from a military family I'd say... depends

Some join for the right reasons, and those are few and far between

Most join for the wrong reasons

As a colonel clearly put it one day... if you are joining for anything else but service, you made a mistake

It's up to WE THE PEOPLE to assert our will over our elected public servants and all the mealy-mouthed, self-serving, chickenshit protestations go for naught unless and until that will is asserted. Cop-outs. We compound the injustice by permitting a coerced minority do the fighting and dying when we demonstrate indolence and sloth.

support in his attempt to make his own way in life, whether you agree with his decisions or not.

It's not necessarily stupid for a kid to join the military...but if he did it with the express wish to go to Iraq, well, there's room for suspicion there. :shrug:

But probably should.

1.) The job prospects are dismal and they don't think they'll be able to get a decent job for several years. So, they join and will re-evaluate the economic situation in a few years.

2.) They want to go to college, but can't afford it. So they join, and go to college later under the GI Bill.

They probably figure that it's a better job, with further opportunities, than flipping hamburgers in McDonald's.

He knew he wanted to go to military school when he was 11 or 12. I told him, and he knew, that we could afford to send him to any school he wanted to go to. But he was attracted to many things in the military, like seeing the world. He has told me that he would have flunked out of a regular school after the first semester because he would never get up to go to class. Not a problem now - he is up at 5:15 am every day.

He will graduate and be commissioned in May 2010, and then go off for another year of training. And then he hopes to go to Italy with the Corps of Engineers.
(fingers crossed)

He will be somewhere with lots of sand some time after that.

Now, you have to understand, we brought up this kid with the "you can do anything you want and we will support you" mantra. The downside of this is that sometimes they don't make the decision you would choose for them.

I have no idea where you are coming from on this. But generaly speaking, military service is very honorable.

I refused to serve under Bush. But I would gladly serve under Obama as I did under Clinton.

Going to Iraq does not sound very appealing to me. But once you're in, you go where you are ordered to go.

Some people join the military to get education benefits. My husband was a career soldier and he took courses throughout his time in the military. After 21 yrs he went on for his BA degree. The military life has been good for us. We both grew up in military families. Our dads retired with over 21 yrs of service. They experienced war and both were wounded. All in all we got to travel and live places that alot of people haven't been too. I lived on a lot of military bases. The military isn't for everyone. I always tell a kid just try one tour and if you don't like it get out.

thought through the implications enough.

I knew I wanted to be a Marine as early as grammar school. My cousin was a Marine. Man, that guy looked great in uniform. He was the coolest dude I ever knew (know). There is nothing my parents could have ever said or done to stop me from serving my country. I did 8 years. I have no regrets. I even did a stint in George W. Bush's Iraq war back in 03. I wish more kids would join the military. It really gives you a since of discipline and perspective that the average civilian does not have.

I am out now. I make a great living, and will be able to provide my kid every opportunity he may want, but if he chooses to forgo college and join the corps, I would be honored. In fact, I would encourage it.

P.S. War sucks, but it is not as bad as they make it out to be.

Just couldn't let this pass...
:wow:

I hate to call a brother Marine full of shit. But then, Gen. Smedley Butler thinks you are full of shit, too. And Gen David Shoup. And me, And I made corporal.... twice.

How many of our brothers died in Vietnam... for NOTHING?

How many of our brothers died in Korea... for NOTHING?

How many of our brothers died in Iraq for what will turn out to be NOTHING?

You go ahead and send your boy into that meat grinder. I told mine that I'd shoot his right big toe off if he enlisted.

I imagine it rests fundamentally on the premise of whether he himself believes the conflict to be legal or not.

If we, knowing what we know were to make the decision to enlist despite having reservations about the conduct, the legality and the initial premise of the conflict, then I would absolutely say we made a stupid mistake to join.

But if he believes the conflict to be honorable, legal and justified, then I believe that at worst he's making a naive decision, but at best he's actually making an honorable one-- and all other things being equal, is absolved of guilt for doing as directed and within reason that which he's ordered to by the military.

I base this line of reasoning on Shakespeare's, Henry V:

"But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make; when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in a battle, shall join together at the latter day, and cry all, ‘We died at such a place;’ ...Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it..."

All that being said, I would do (and have done twice-- though unsuccessfully) my very best to convince anyone from joining up so as to avoid this horrible conflict.

and the ruined Bush/Paulson economy ensures a steady supply of desperate teenagers for many wars to come. :(

Many of you here might not like the answer, but the truth is is when your under a military contract you can get free college education and a great deal of benefits that you cant find elsewhere. And in this economic time even with the phony wars going on, its a smart move for alot of teens who aren't going get anywhere in life when jobs are hard to come by and when you they can't get a higher education than high school. I know ALOT of teens who have dropped out of school and are just sitting on their asses, some of them out of lazyness or being potheads, the rest are just having a hard time finding a job.

as it was the only reasonable choice presented. as for the young man in question, he has my deepest respect and thanks. I wish him well and pray for his safety and courage, wisdom and faith. may god keep all our women and men in uniform where ever they may serve safe and well..

I don't agree with the occupation of Iraq, however service members deserve my respect and praise.

But, it provides a ready reply to the question, "What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?"

and I was struck by how many posters... even here at DU... seem to accept implicitly that the US has troops and bases all over and that the military is a viable career choice for lots of kids since there are lots of openings.

How about, instead, we have a military right-sized for the mission of protecting the US, rather than projecting US power into every corner of the world?

"My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military."
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious."
Gen. Smedley Butler, USMC two time Medal of Honor recipient.

`I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar soaked fingers out of the business of these (Third World) nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the `haves' refuse to share with the `have-nots' by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don’t want and above all don’t want crammed down their throats by Americans.' –
Gen. David Shoup, United States Marine Corps Commandant, Medal of Honor recipient.

I'd say it's patriotic to them and not stupid

and feel it is the only way they can get a quality education.

You have to look at each person's circumstances and perhaps their decision was not the best, but not everyone that signs up for the military today will end up in Iraq and come back with PTSD. A lot of people do become more successful after a stint in the army, so you could at least hope for the best, and not call your sibling's kid 'stupid' which is a pretty hurtful thing to say.

You and others may not agree with it but I think it's over the top to call it "stupid".

sad.

They also feel invincible. I did. There's that sense of belonging to a group. You sure get that in the Army.

Let's face it, they are about the only one's hiring right now.

A piece of unasked-for advice: don't part with a curse, but a blessing for his safety.

Hekate

All there are are teenagers who decide to join the military.

Where they are posted is not up to them, I believe.

(Or, at least, I believe this to be the case - I'd be very surprised indeed if the army lets soldiers decide where to serve).

Not because I think joining the military is necessarily a stupid choice. I had a friend who went into the air force during the Iraq war, as an IT worker.

He really didn't have many prospects. He ended up with a security clearance some IT experience and an opportunity to go to college. When he came back he was just doing retail low paying jobs. I told him, "what are you doing, you have IT experience and a security clearance, something that is in demand these days." Needless to say he recently got a good IT job at an air force base in another state.

Maybe you can talk your nephew into trying a different avenue with the military.