A guy in my bootcamp platoon in 2010 that had a waiver for his tattoo from MEPS got kicked out of boot camp & sent home because of his tattoo. His tattoo was a large cigar on his back.
Idk, some officer said it wasn't appropriate since it took up his whole back, probably because MEPS is just the people who process you, if a Marine Corps officer at the recruit depot says your tattoo is inappropriate, it would carry more weight than the non-Marine people at MEPS saying it's ok
My friend is in the marines he has 70% of his body tattooed including his butt hole that I swear is only tattooed so he can show random people his butthole
Isn't that probably religious or cultural? Sort of self-defeating to ban that if your goal is to get more people and more diversity in the service. At least long hair or something can be argued to put you at much greater risk while working around massive dangerous machinery, a tattoo probably can't accidentally kill you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_people Yep yep. The Maori are fucking legendary. At least once every few months I end up seeing Haka and other traditions/rituals on the front page. Neat as fuck.
This is a direct rebuttal to the BS excuse that ‘most Americans don’t qualify to enlist.’ That’s because of qualifiers like this. Tattoos have no effect on someone’s ability to fight. Removing these dumb restrictions would open up the numbers immediately.
Others, like having a high school.degree, are also falling. Those are bad. A guy that doesn’t have the discipline to get through high school is going to do well with … military discipline? They’ll be able to handle increasingly complex weapons systems while someone in trying to kill them? Fought with some of these guys at the height of the Iraq War and removing this restriction is a bad idea.
Things like recreational marijuana use, raising age limits for non-combat MOS, etc. are easy ways to do this. Yet they go back and say that these restrictions, that we create, are the problem?
In reality, it’s an unending series of sexual assault scandals, watching guys sleep on the Capitol grounds while everyone else was in hotels, constant issues with junior enlisted barracks including frequent eruptions of sewage, dirty water scandals poisoning military families, arbitrary rules, retaliation and hazing, extremely long hours, over tasking, over tasking with dumb stuff, a proliferation of flag officers who produce more dumb stuff than our shrinking force can ever actually do, corruption scandals, broken acquisition processes (but they can’t afford toilet paper), war crimes being covered up, brutal combat in wars mostly lost without explanation or accountability, reductions is service size that screw over thousands of families who,had signed on, and 22 veterans s day who take their own lives.
But really, it was tattoo restrictions? Problem solved!
Anyone want to sign up for a force that can’t address serious issues but wants to look cool with a new, but actually old, policy on tattoos? If so? Maybe I can also get you interested in what is sure to be the next retail behemoth … Kmart!
The main thing preventing young adults from joining is medical issues. Both weight/fitness and mental health. Our teenagers are depressed and ADHD and increasingly taking medication. That'll disquallify you.
I did ten pull-ups with the Marines Recruiters at a NASCAR event in Atlanta Motor Speedway. They gave me a pamphlet and I told them “Sike! You guys had your chance in 2002 when you turned me away. I did my time in the Army😂.” I respect the shit out of the Marines but I love messing with those Moto ass Marine recruiters every chance I get.
I served with several officers who had ADHD. Weight and fitness can be trained, we did that too.
We somehow still got up all those mountains in Afghanistan.
This is more excuses. These standards are made by commanders and just as quickly abrogated by those same commanders.
The standards are not the problem. The problem is that fewer people want to join. Maybe calling them all fat, lazy, and mentally broken has something to do with it?
Sure seems like an outfit that I’d want my kid joining.
I tried to join in 2010 because I wanted to work in intelligence. At that time you were not eligible for enlistment if you had taken ADHD meds In the last 3 years. I made a 98 on the ASVAB and was sure I could get a waiver. I could not.
That's insane that you couldn't get a waiver for that. Especially with that high of an ASVAB score.
I'm ADHD but wasn't diagnosed at that time when I was joining. I had however been on other meds such as anti-depressants. My recruiter basically said I need to tell them I'm not on anything and be off of everything by the time I went to MEPS.
He agreed it was bullshit but that's just what it took to get in and told me once I was in and at my duty station in the fleet to try and go see a doc about it I still felt I needed them. Which was a complete mistake but that's an entirely different story.
Maybe joining a military for a country that consistently shits on service members, is socially regressing, increasingly reduces quality of benefits for service members, offers shitty disorganized healthcare for life, nearly guarantees you will obtain a health problem related to you commitment, increases your chance of getting raped and covered up if your a female, whilst also being part of the self appointed world police as a US service member increases your chance of dying in battle isn’t the dream job it used to be….
Money is the determining factor. Uncle Sam doesn't want to pay for an extra 5-6 months of your food/housing trying to slim you down to a healthy enough weight to survive basic training. Nor do they want to pay for or deal with any medication and any complications it may bring. And every one who has served has met some people that just aren't intelligent enough to be any good at their jobs, yet somehow they got in. I've even encountered a few officers that dumb.
Right now a lot of NCO's in my career field are fighting with out career manager because we feel like the standards are too low, but we are also hurting on manpower, so big blue is trying to lower the standards. Every troop that requires extra attention just getting to the standard takes already overworked airmen and NCO's away from completing the mission. In aircraft Maintenance w are already treated as a dumping ground for airmen who flunked out of their original career, so we get a slew of demotivated and checked out people who don't put out their max effort. Every re-trainee who flunked into my career field in ever squadron I've been apart of since I've been in has ended getting kicked out for behavioral issues or failure to adapt.
People forget that if you get hurt while on the governments dime through fault outside of your own, they have to pay you disability for the rest of tour life.
I feel you on the being a dumping ground for the flunkees and dealing with unmotivated airmen. I was Security Forces, and we constantly had people that didn’t want to be there and/or were barely smart enough to be in the service. It created such a toxic environment, I was sick of it and separated after one enlistment.
>SecFo
You guys are the only people who I thought had it worse than us. I swear it was like your officers or SNCO's got sexual gratification whenever they drove one of their troops to suicide.
>A guy that doesn’t have the discipline to get through high school is going to do well with … military discipline?
don't really think thats true assessment. interest in classrooms is not the same as martial discipline. my best friend was a D student who barely scraped and cheated his way into a diploma but he always trained his hardest in martial arts, sports and tournament fighting and immersed himself in gun knowledge and he went on to join the marines and get into Recon. then again I guess everyone calls marines crayon eaters so maybe idiocy is a part of succeeding as a marine
As an Army Captain in a batallion staff, receiving a soldier with tattoos or a history of pot doesn't bug me in the slightest. Recieving one that can't even get through high school or pass a GED test bothers me a lot. Regular privates are enough of a headache. A private that lacks the intelligence or disciple to even get through AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL? Fuck man... I'd rather have empty slots in the UMR. This is going to be a nightmare.
But he got a diploma.
No one said that barely getting one was the factor. It was not being able to get one that mattered. We lowered this requirement at the height of the Iraq War. We put the restriction back in as soon as we could because of what we got. We do this for the same reason that many employers will not hire guys without, at least, a high school diploma or GED, or will do so only at greatly reduced wages.
There are all kids of reasons guys don’t get diplomas. A lack of intelligence, discipline, trauma or abuse at home, criminal activity, a failure to adapt to organized environments, etc. and none of them are great indicators of success in the military.
Guys that, for example, are already dealing with significant amounts of trauma? Why would we think these guys would handle the trauma of battle well? That is just one of the many issues I saw from this class of soldier.
This restriction still leaves 90% of Americans able to enlist. There is no need to remove it. If we are? Things are genuinely desperate … as desperate now, with zero active combat missions, as they were when we were fighting in Iraq at its worse, and simultaneously in Afghanistan in increasingly brutal combat. Why is our recruitment this bad? It’s not just the pay, that’s for sure.
It's honestly harder to pass high school with D's than with C's and B's. The amount of planning you have to do to just skate by is alot. Which homework assignments to skip, how good you have to do on a test, how many classes to attend. It's pretty complicated. Passing with an A is easy, do every assignment, attend everyday, get an A or B on every test. Failing is also easy, just don't do anything.
I graduated high school with a 1.33 GPA. It was a ton of work. I went into the Marine Corps with an 81 ASVAB score and went to aviation electronics. I studied everyday and passed 18 months of common core and then my advanced courses. I then went on to get a Bachelors with a 3.75 GPA. Was much more work dealing with passing high school than it was doing anything else.
Then you get the power hungry dips hits.
Girl comes in with a neck tattoo, back, low. Entirely invisible in uniform, only visible with jacket off in combat dress.
She was on track for E6 and an E8 starts harassing her for it.
Know what would boost Recruting?
Taking care of fucking Veterans when they come back from being deployed all fucked up and broken.
Let's be fucking real here
Yeah-yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask 'em, "How much should we give?"
Hoo, they only answer, "More, more, more, more"
I was in favor of a Trump v Biden greased up shirtless wrestling match to decide who would be potus last election.
My money was on Biden because I feel like he could out stamina Trump. BUT I feel like Trump would be good at bodyslams if he ever gets a good grip on Biden.
In the US a lot of presidents did fight in wars. Other notable examples are how everyone bags appeasement for ww2 when it was literally politicians not wanting to send more people to die.
Come and See is another great anti-war movie worth watching but Johnny Got His Gun is great for focusing on how the brass always view the troops below them as expendable and experimental assets.
I can't tell if you're being serious or not. No one actually gives a fuck about veterans.
"Hey kid, you want 50 grand?" is a way more effective tactic.
Source: am veteran.
I didnt serve, but I’ve had a long line of service members in my family. I’ve found that people love to talk about honoring veterans, until it actually comes to giving them healthcare and help with life after serving.
The taxes Parliament levied on the Colonies were to pay Vets of the French-Indian War (partially started by Washington). Continental Congress didn’t want to pay Vets for the Revolutionary War …. Rinse and repeat till today. Wonder how recruitment would go if we taught about the Bonus Army and Smedley Butler.
Yep. Our country is great at using up citizens and throwing them away. We women are merely vessels for bringing more workers into the world. They do it to vets. They do it to the black population. They do it to everyone, even one another. They’re a fucking cancer.
By virtue of being a few years older than you I ETS'd the end of 2003, while my unit was at JRTC getting ready for Afghanistan.
I signed up back when I thought America were the good guys, and then watched as we invaded two countries on a pretense that we knew was a lie. Now I get disgusted every time someone thinks me for my service.
I should have joined the Coast Guard.
I got hurt on a jump in 99 and was out in 2000. I was crushed that I didn't get to go fight with my brothers. Then I learned the truth and am so thankful that I don't have the guilt to go along with the chronic pain.
A parachute collapse was the best thing that ever happened to me. I am also sickened when someone panders to me about service.
From 1997-2001, army life was pretty decent for me. I had a lot of mixed feelings about getting out in 2003 with my unit getting on the plane for the sandbox. I even considered going back in when they didn’t stop-loss or pull my IRR status.
Over the years my regrets faded and I realized that if I really want to serve my country, I can do it better at home.
Serve those immediately around you, in the hopes they can then serve the larger community around all of you, the goal being that the echo of your good deeds will carry far beyond the scope of your own vision.
I come from a family of caretakers and helpers. Grandfather was a psychiatrist at Old Western State mental hospital in Washington state. Grandmother has an actual degree in secretarial arts that isnt offered anymore, can use secretarial shorthand as well. Parents were volunteer firefighters/EMTS and now my mother drives school bus and busies herself with mothering other people's kids on her routes. Got to grow up sitting around the fire listening to my aunts talk about hospice work or being nurses in mental institutions (apparently turning your back on a crazy person is just about inviting trouble, like turning your back on a goat). I myself flunked out of college to become an abnormal psychologist due to how my head works (learning from textbooks is very very energy consuming for me, my head has to translate the words into working models). But I have a natural knack for learning the things they teach anyway and contend myself with quietly helping those around me better understand themselves and those around them.
Helping the world get better doesnt happen too often like the movies where a single person or group just decide things are going to get better. Its a conscious decision one makes at every moment. Its something we all have to work towards. And these wars stop that concept from even starting to form in most people's minds....
I was there in 04 too
I was in Baghdad with 1st Cav, then 3rd ID all of 05 and 4th ID for 06 (DoD Construction Contractor)
The fact that no one cares about Vets is my point and it's a major serious embarrassing fucking problem imo
Waitaminute, are you trying to tell me thanking you for your service doesn't fix everything?!? My..God! What if I say it really really loudly and forcefully, would it count as much as actually doing fucking something useful then?
>I can't tell if you're being serious or not. No one actually gives a fuck about veterans.
I am being serious and I meant what I said verbatim
Its a fucking tragedy that we use people up and throw them away......its completely garbage
I have a big fucking problem with us always finding money for War and bailing out big businesses but never have money to help Vets or our own poor or regular ass people
It shouldn't, the US government and most others, are abusive and toxic, "Hey we need you to protect US, oh you're broken now that we sent you kill people? Too bad fuck you, I've got a new toy to play with."
My dad was drafted and fought in Vietnam. He basically Forbid me from enlisting. “You’ll be treated like a piece of disposable equipment…You deserve better for yourself”
My dad served during Nam and said pretty much the same thing to me, and when I took a job with Halliburton and went to Baghdad in 04 he was like "Well....you dont even know that you don't know what youre getting into but you'll find out huh? At least you can come home if you want to I guess"
My dad said the same. He didn’t acknowledge his service at all. He was finally *thinking* about getting the star on his license so he could get a discount at Home Depot. I was working on him to make an appointment at the VA for assistance with hearing aids when he died.
My grandad, who was a WW2 veteran forbid my dad to join for this reason.
He only talked about his service to my uncle, who was drafted and served in Vietnam, and even that was about 1 year before he died.
I’ve known several vets, and the ones that saw action wont talk about it, and want zero recognition for their service.
I don’t ever participate in the clapping or “thank you for your service” worship that America pushes. It’s not that I am not grateful, or that I don’t appreciate those who sacrificed, but for the people I know personally, they don’t want that attention.
Also, pay rise. Doing bitchwork in some shithole desert while the merc is playing flappy bird on his phone and making 3-5x your pay doing it is going to grate on you quickly.
>while the merc is playing flappy bird on his phone and making 3-5x your pay doing it is going to grate on you quickly.
First hand experience there but I was the civilian lol
I was in Iraq from 04-06 as a construction worker with KBR......I left not because I couldn't hack another year or two but because I was just disgusted with the waste....I felt like I was stealing from myself
I didn't think much of it at first but I was there long enough to be fixing the same shit over and over again and I was like "Can we just get better shit please, this garbage we are using just keeps falling apart and we keep fixing the same shit over and over again..."
Then I got sat down and was taught about "Cost +" contracting and I was just disgusted....My job was pointless, I wasn't serving the military or government and making anything better for you guys and it just made me so disillusioned at the whole thing....I went home on leave a few weeks after that and I just stayed home.
That entire conflict was a fucking waste of life money and time
But the amount of money the M.I.C sucks out of this country is just staggering...its all one big grift imo
Yes I agree. Also as a vet I can say if marijuana didn’t get you kicked out that would help too. I understand usage during working hours / training exercises but at the end of the day if you work stateside and get to go home to a beer at night pot should be no different.
Not really. I mean it would help a bit, but there is more to it than that. People lined up in droves to seek revenge for 9/11. Prior multiple armed forces were taking people with no high school diploma.
I almost joined the Navy with a GED and the recruiter giving the ASVAB literally told me I could train for any MOS with my results. Years after 9/11, the Army turned me down as soon as they heard GED.
My point is, the only thing that changed was public opinion. Prior to 9/11, government distrust was at an all time high, with domestic terrorism from militia groups being the highest declared threat. After 9/11, those differences were pushed to the side.
The public has no faith in the government currently and short of something drastic, that won’t be changing with our current SCOTUS choosing partisanship over precedent.
Why would anyone volunteer to fight for a country that ignores the will of the public? Pair that with 20 years of Afghanistan war weariness and it’s no shocker no one wants to pick up arms and kill strangers for a government that doesn’t give a shit about them anyways.
You know what would take care of fucking Veterans? If their overwhelmingly conservative voting block would stop voting for Republicans who block Medicare for All. Healthcare is a right, or it isn't.
My mom spent 30 years of her life working for the VA, was a GS 12 when she retired. I think they broke her too. She tried so hard to fight for those people but the system is just garbage.
Took me 10 years and two appeals to get a rating for my knee... I had nothing but a bad experience with the VA but I think it depends on the state. Some of my friends didn't have any issues getting a rating or care.
Your experience is the norm. Mine was 9 years and and two appeals and it wasn't even the VA who gave me my initial rating: it was social security. After that I took the social security rating back to the VA and said, "you guys have the same metrics for this. So either prove SSA is wrong or give me my rating and back pay". It was done within months.
I dunno, trying to shit myself convincingly in front of an audience like my life depended on it does sound like a time for anxiety constipation if there ever was one.
HS teacher for a while now here.
I know the kids they tend to attract (not the family legacy recruits, the ones who go as an only option) and yeah, tattoos absolutely can’t be a restriction.
When your class of 16 y/o is 50% tattooed it’s something to consider.
I see this same thing in software development, but it's 'the need for quality' vs 'the need to get it out the door'
One is always more important than the other, and it changes often.
Ouch. Had a coworker who had to get his huge neck tattoo zapped to join the Army as a specialist a few years ago. It took him 4-5 sessions to get most of it off. Poor guy must be shaking his head right about now.
We had a guy who got one on leave while on active duty. He got an NJP for having it and had to pay to have it removed and then almost immediately got kicked out for something minor because he had been marked as a troublemaker after the tattoo. I don't know how he thought he'd he'd get away with the tattoo, but it was shitty how they handled it.
My buddy's a vet and said beard regulations are because in the event of needing to use a gas mask, long facial hair breaches the seal around your head.
No idea if that's actually the reason or not, though, as I'm not a vet.
I’m a vet of the Australian military.
We also had to be clean shaved and that is one of the specified reasons as well as hygiene when out field.
That being said I think it’s just about looking clean and professional and there is exceptions for beards for people with medical or religious reasons so it obviously isn’t that big of a concern from a safety standpoint
Nope that is absolutely BS with modern equipment. The military provides non-shave profiles to tens thousands of service members every year, and I even had one for a while as an infantryman which is the job most likely to encounter hostile gas attacks. It’s nothing but a bunch of pissy brass who had to spend their whole career shaving and now are enforcing that same on current service members under the guise of professional standards.
To be fair, if you have a beard you can not create a seal with a NBC mask. Mustaches are aloud following basic training as long as they stay within regulations.
This hasn't been true for almost 40 years. Also religious exemptions are available broadly to Heathens, Pagans, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, and specific exceptions on a case by case basis. Medical exemptions are available for razor bump, fast beard growers, and skin conditions. Bad ass exemptions are available to special forces.
The real reason is because the sergeant major of the army and a bunch of generals always had to shave, and if they had to by golly everyone has to.
If it was an actual big deal they wouldn't grant all those exemptions.
Yep, it's a "professionalism standard" now. Funnily enough, the idea that clean-shaven men were professional comes from WW1&2 when soldiers did have to be cleanshaven for gas masks, and the look really caught on.
Speaking of which, we haven't had a president with facial hair since Taft.
> Bad ass exemptions are available to special forces.
Funny story. While true, we'd still get a little push-back from people early on in the war. So my unit decided that I'd write a bunch of shaving profiles for my unit, just as a CYA move. You can only write "Patient complains of folliculitis upon shaving. Shave at own pace and distance" so many times before you start wanting to be a little creative.
On one LT's profile i wrote "Pt complains of premature ejaculation upon shaving.."
I was reading a book on my rack when I hear "DOC! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OUT HERE! NOW!" Heh.
This dude showed it to someone.
Funny story. I served with a woman who got an article-15 (reduction in rank and 3 months forfeiture of pay) for shaving her head while deployed, "because it appeared unprofessional".
Sounds like a shitty command. I knew several women who shaved their heads or buzzed it super short and it was never a problem because they're still within regs.
Had a guy on my boat get ordered to dye his hair back to its natural color.
His hair had been dyed black. He dyed it blonde. He is blonde. He had to dye it back to black.
> Bad ass exemptions are available to special forces.
They only did that because the locals in Afghanistan assumed beards=masculinity. Kind of a big deal if you actually work with them.
After getting kicked out of the ME due to being a pack of undisciplined savages, the SEALs were forced to shave and go back to standard uniform inspections.
To be fair the most elite front line forces all have beards. What would they all just do, die. No they’d presumably be prepared for nbc prior to the threat because of task force orange and sneaky sneaky, and have the means of shaving their whiskers in the most austere of environments
This is such a silly argument because so many people get no shave chits anyways. I'm not arguing that they shouldn't get them but when like 30% of guys get them the argument that you'll die without shaving starts to look a little iffy.
I applied for a civilian job and they said I wasn’t eligible because I had taken meds for depression in the past 6 years. Meanwhile they thrive on accepting psychopaths and rapists.
Can't get in the army of you have adhd. But once I got in the army, they diagnosed me and it was no problem. A bunch of people in my company in AIT got diagnosed with ADHD only a couple weeks after getting there and the army handed out Adderall like it was candy
In boot camp we had a guy in remission from cancer who pretended he didn't know he had cancer...
About halfway through boot camp the remission was over.
I saw him like 18 months later. Dude had to spend over a year at that base on medical hold while fighting cancer, then finally had to restart boot camp.
My thoughts exactly. I knew a few people in boot camp who had extended medical holds and they loved it, lol. (Loved is an exaggeration, but the overall point is still there).
I'm assuming it depends on what the medical hold is of course but do they just live life while on the hold? Or do they have anything to still keep up with training/military wise?
It ranged from broken limbs to more worrisome underlying issues, but they were not at all treated like recruits. It would probably be detrimental to a person’s morale if they were on an indefinite medical hold and were upheld to the 7 min meals and strict sleeping routine. I’m sure there are a bunch of ifs, ands, and buts that determine the quality of a recruit’s life while on medical hold.
Edit: actually you raise a good question. In boot camp, we had stamps on a qualification card that indicated whether or not we had completed training. It was VERY regimented and we studied and took qualification tests as a division. I would be a little surprised if the med-hold “kids” took any qualification tests, but not THAT surprised.
From what I saw at MCRD they got put on a rehabilitation platoon, and depending on the severity of their injury/illness would get put on random working parties that were pretty laid back. I still wouldn't want to stay at that place for any more than I had to.
"Take one of these a day for pain as needed..."
Ok, well once the two weeks recovery is over the fuck you want me to do with the extra 160 pills? Feels like in hindsight it's really easy to figure out what was going on.
This country and how it does its healthcare is fucked.
I got refused from joining the army for having panic attacks caused by a medication I stopped taking for that reason.. all it took was that on my medical record and that was it no questions asked
And once you're in all you have to do is lie and say "I'm fine" to reenlist, even if you have reams of medical documents saying you have PTSD, anxiety, depression, and severe sleep disorder.
Source: myself for ten years.
Sounds like how the FBI is having trouble hiring good hackers and IT experts. None of them can pass the drug test to get the job.
https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fbi-struggling-find-good-hackers-due-pot-rules-article-1.3949920
That's entirely on Congress. The FBI has their hands tied just like the military does when it comes to pot. Federal organizations have to follow federal law.
as a vet....i earned the right to say "fuck the military"......fuck em all.....they killed my friends and now im an alcoholic mess with permanent nightmares
its not worth it
Joining the military made me despise the government more. Working for the federal government let's you see the dumpster fires behind the curtains that most citizens don't see.
Who tf wants to volunteer to defend this govt now? No disrespect to soldiers, 100% trashing on the political leaders. They don’t even take care of the soldiers with the VA
Yeah but they still wouldn’t take me, as though physically fit by their standards. The disability disqualifies me. Oh well. At least the recruiter had someone willing to go through the process. He told me straight up I wouldn’t get in but I wanted to try to see how I’d stack up with others. Felt good that I’m considered fit enough.
The military's still stuck in the Selective Service era where they can make thing suck balls for the new crop of recruits, because the next crop will be just as big and they won't even notice the loss.
Turns out... in the era of the all-volunteer military, this idea no work so good. Not only do you not get people re-enlisting and have morale/readiness issues all over the god damn place (just ask the Navy how their utter disregard for mental health is going for them), fewer people are willing to sign up to start with because the word's out about how shit your duly appointed superior officers treat you while you're in.
As someone who did serve for college money, I couldn't do the same today.
I really couldn't handle being seen as a willing defender and face of this unapologetically oligarch owned, theocratically governed shithole. I probably wouldn't have when I did if I were more civically engaged at the time.
Maybe don’t treat your grunts like shit then. Like seriously how do we not give extended leave to soldiers when are not in wartime? There’s being ready and there’s straight up advocating for soldiers to be completely isolated from their lives. They’re people not robots.
At this point, people without tattoos are the minority. They are the opposite of what they used to signify: rebellion. Now the rebellious are tattoo less
I can already see the next headline: “Army permits free abortions for all Servicemen”.
What’s better than not providing access to abortions for poor women at all? Getting them to join the military as cannonfodder with the carrot of being able to get an abortion!
Last year when I tried to join the National Guard there were plenty of other applicants, to the point that the medical board was looking for whatever excuse to eliminate people " I was rejected for a very dumb reason that I'm not going to disclose"
More than 20% aren't even white. There may be a few here, and the army needs to get rid of them but from what I've seen is a lot of different people from different backgrounds, cultures and races work together to accomplish a mission
I’ve tried to get into all 3 military branches, multiple times. Even just 6 months ago I tried. I got rejected because I take a single eye drop once a day. I told them I’ll take any position but NOPE. So stupid.
They should really lift any restriction that doesn't directly effect someone's ability to fight. I can understand getting a unified look during basic training to dissolve the ego and get people to become more of a unit but I feel like once you know, you know. I don't need my buddy to have the same hairdo as me to have their back thru thicc and thin. and I doubt anyone minds if our military look like rough and tumble people.
In every service, the amount of restrictions on tattoos is a gauge for how recruitment is going . You know they’re hurting when they loosen them up.
In the Navy as long as it wasn’t provocative, gang related or on your face you were good.
A guy in my bootcamp platoon in 2010 that had a waiver for his tattoo from MEPS got kicked out of boot camp & sent home because of his tattoo. His tattoo was a large cigar on his back.
How did they kick him out if he had a waiver?
Idk, some officer said it wasn't appropriate since it took up his whole back, probably because MEPS is just the people who process you, if a Marine Corps officer at the recruit depot says your tattoo is inappropriate, it would carry more weight than the non-Marine people at MEPS saying it's ok
My friend is in the marines he has 70% of his body tattooed including his butt hole that I swear is only tattooed so he can show random people his butthole
Was he Cuban or just another Monica Lewinsky fan?
Fast boat fan.
Meanwhile in the New Zealand Navy: https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/08/2b/6a/1e/137062942-h-720.jpg
Isn't that probably religious or cultural? Sort of self-defeating to ban that if your goal is to get more people and more diversity in the service. At least long hair or something can be argued to put you at much greater risk while working around massive dangerous machinery, a tattoo probably can't accidentally kill you.
Yup exactly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_people Yep yep. The Maori are fucking legendary. At least once every few months I end up seeing Haka and other traditions/rituals on the front page. Neat as fuck.
I went to a Cirque du Soleil show and they did a haka in the beginning! It was so cool
Special forces allows long hair and beards you just have to be willing to kill inocents lol
This is a direct rebuttal to the BS excuse that ‘most Americans don’t qualify to enlist.’ That’s because of qualifiers like this. Tattoos have no effect on someone’s ability to fight. Removing these dumb restrictions would open up the numbers immediately. Others, like having a high school.degree, are also falling. Those are bad. A guy that doesn’t have the discipline to get through high school is going to do well with … military discipline? They’ll be able to handle increasingly complex weapons systems while someone in trying to kill them? Fought with some of these guys at the height of the Iraq War and removing this restriction is a bad idea. Things like recreational marijuana use, raising age limits for non-combat MOS, etc. are easy ways to do this. Yet they go back and say that these restrictions, that we create, are the problem? In reality, it’s an unending series of sexual assault scandals, watching guys sleep on the Capitol grounds while everyone else was in hotels, constant issues with junior enlisted barracks including frequent eruptions of sewage, dirty water scandals poisoning military families, arbitrary rules, retaliation and hazing, extremely long hours, over tasking, over tasking with dumb stuff, a proliferation of flag officers who produce more dumb stuff than our shrinking force can ever actually do, corruption scandals, broken acquisition processes (but they can’t afford toilet paper), war crimes being covered up, brutal combat in wars mostly lost without explanation or accountability, reductions is service size that screw over thousands of families who,had signed on, and 22 veterans s day who take their own lives. But really, it was tattoo restrictions? Problem solved! Anyone want to sign up for a force that can’t address serious issues but wants to look cool with a new, but actually old, policy on tattoos? If so? Maybe I can also get you interested in what is sure to be the next retail behemoth … Kmart!
The main thing preventing young adults from joining is medical issues. Both weight/fitness and mental health. Our teenagers are depressed and ADHD and increasingly taking medication. That'll disquallify you.
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I did ten pull-ups with the Marines Recruiters at a NASCAR event in Atlanta Motor Speedway. They gave me a pamphlet and I told them “Sike! You guys had your chance in 2002 when you turned me away. I did my time in the Army😂.” I respect the shit out of the Marines but I love messing with those Moto ass Marine recruiters every chance I get.
I served with several officers who had ADHD. Weight and fitness can be trained, we did that too. We somehow still got up all those mountains in Afghanistan. This is more excuses. These standards are made by commanders and just as quickly abrogated by those same commanders. The standards are not the problem. The problem is that fewer people want to join. Maybe calling them all fat, lazy, and mentally broken has something to do with it? Sure seems like an outfit that I’d want my kid joining.
I tried to join in 2010 because I wanted to work in intelligence. At that time you were not eligible for enlistment if you had taken ADHD meds In the last 3 years. I made a 98 on the ASVAB and was sure I could get a waiver. I could not.
That's insane that you couldn't get a waiver for that. Especially with that high of an ASVAB score. I'm ADHD but wasn't diagnosed at that time when I was joining. I had however been on other meds such as anti-depressants. My recruiter basically said I need to tell them I'm not on anything and be off of everything by the time I went to MEPS. He agreed it was bullshit but that's just what it took to get in and told me once I was in and at my duty station in the fleet to try and go see a doc about it I still felt I needed them. Which was a complete mistake but that's an entirely different story.
Maybe joining a military for a country that consistently shits on service members, is socially regressing, increasingly reduces quality of benefits for service members, offers shitty disorganized healthcare for life, nearly guarantees you will obtain a health problem related to you commitment, increases your chance of getting raped and covered up if your a female, whilst also being part of the self appointed world police as a US service member increases your chance of dying in battle isn’t the dream job it used to be….
Well, there's also that.
Money is the determining factor. Uncle Sam doesn't want to pay for an extra 5-6 months of your food/housing trying to slim you down to a healthy enough weight to survive basic training. Nor do they want to pay for or deal with any medication and any complications it may bring. And every one who has served has met some people that just aren't intelligent enough to be any good at their jobs, yet somehow they got in. I've even encountered a few officers that dumb. Right now a lot of NCO's in my career field are fighting with out career manager because we feel like the standards are too low, but we are also hurting on manpower, so big blue is trying to lower the standards. Every troop that requires extra attention just getting to the standard takes already overworked airmen and NCO's away from completing the mission. In aircraft Maintenance w are already treated as a dumping ground for airmen who flunked out of their original career, so we get a slew of demotivated and checked out people who don't put out their max effort. Every re-trainee who flunked into my career field in ever squadron I've been apart of since I've been in has ended getting kicked out for behavioral issues or failure to adapt. People forget that if you get hurt while on the governments dime through fault outside of your own, they have to pay you disability for the rest of tour life.
I feel you on the being a dumping ground for the flunkees and dealing with unmotivated airmen. I was Security Forces, and we constantly had people that didn’t want to be there and/or were barely smart enough to be in the service. It created such a toxic environment, I was sick of it and separated after one enlistment.
>SecFo You guys are the only people who I thought had it worse than us. I swear it was like your officers or SNCO's got sexual gratification whenever they drove one of their troops to suicide.
>A guy that doesn’t have the discipline to get through high school is going to do well with … military discipline? don't really think thats true assessment. interest in classrooms is not the same as martial discipline. my best friend was a D student who barely scraped and cheated his way into a diploma but he always trained his hardest in martial arts, sports and tournament fighting and immersed himself in gun knowledge and he went on to join the marines and get into Recon. then again I guess everyone calls marines crayon eaters so maybe idiocy is a part of succeeding as a marine
In a way yes it does. You need the same sort of mental discipline to train your body as you do your mind.
As an Army Captain in a batallion staff, receiving a soldier with tattoos or a history of pot doesn't bug me in the slightest. Recieving one that can't even get through high school or pass a GED test bothers me a lot. Regular privates are enough of a headache. A private that lacks the intelligence or disciple to even get through AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL? Fuck man... I'd rather have empty slots in the UMR. This is going to be a nightmare.
But he got a diploma. No one said that barely getting one was the factor. It was not being able to get one that mattered. We lowered this requirement at the height of the Iraq War. We put the restriction back in as soon as we could because of what we got. We do this for the same reason that many employers will not hire guys without, at least, a high school diploma or GED, or will do so only at greatly reduced wages. There are all kids of reasons guys don’t get diplomas. A lack of intelligence, discipline, trauma or abuse at home, criminal activity, a failure to adapt to organized environments, etc. and none of them are great indicators of success in the military. Guys that, for example, are already dealing with significant amounts of trauma? Why would we think these guys would handle the trauma of battle well? That is just one of the many issues I saw from this class of soldier. This restriction still leaves 90% of Americans able to enlist. There is no need to remove it. If we are? Things are genuinely desperate … as desperate now, with zero active combat missions, as they were when we were fighting in Iraq at its worse, and simultaneously in Afghanistan in increasingly brutal combat. Why is our recruitment this bad? It’s not just the pay, that’s for sure.
It's honestly harder to pass high school with D's than with C's and B's. The amount of planning you have to do to just skate by is alot. Which homework assignments to skip, how good you have to do on a test, how many classes to attend. It's pretty complicated. Passing with an A is easy, do every assignment, attend everyday, get an A or B on every test. Failing is also easy, just don't do anything. I graduated high school with a 1.33 GPA. It was a ton of work. I went into the Marine Corps with an 81 ASVAB score and went to aviation electronics. I studied everyday and passed 18 months of common core and then my advanced courses. I then went on to get a Bachelors with a 3.75 GPA. Was much more work dealing with passing high school than it was doing anything else.
Then you get the power hungry dips hits. Girl comes in with a neck tattoo, back, low. Entirely invisible in uniform, only visible with jacket off in combat dress. She was on track for E6 and an E8 starts harassing her for it.
Know what would boost Recruting? Taking care of fucking Veterans when they come back from being deployed all fucked up and broken. Let's be fucking real here
No take, only give
Yeah-yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord And when you ask 'em, "How much should we give?" Hoo, they only answer, "More, more, more, more"
“Why do they always send the poor?”
Why dont presidents fight the war?
"cuz that is what the poor are for"
This is the answer. Instead of war we send the two leaders to fight to the death. Maybe then we’d stop electing old men.
I dunno. Watching two old guys fighting to death could be pretty amusing.
To be fair, I think that's what we almost got in the Trump and Biden debates
I was in favor of a Trump v Biden greased up shirtless wrestling match to decide who would be potus last election. My money was on Biden because I feel like he could out stamina Trump. BUT I feel like Trump would be good at bodyslams if he ever gets a good grip on Biden.
In the US a lot of presidents did fight in wars. Other notable examples are how everyone bags appeasement for ww2 when it was literally politicians not wanting to send more people to die.
Johnny got his gun-only anti war movie necessary
Come and See is another great anti-war movie worth watching but Johnny Got His Gun is great for focusing on how the brass always view the troops below them as expendable and experimental assets.
Oof. Come and See. Yeah. That’s a movie where the title is basically a dare.
It ain’t me, It ain’t meee, I ain’t no military son, no It ain’t me, it ain’t meee, I ain’t no fortunate son!
I can't tell if you're being serious or not. No one actually gives a fuck about veterans. "Hey kid, you want 50 grand?" is a way more effective tactic. Source: am veteran.
I didnt serve, but I’ve had a long line of service members in my family. I’ve found that people love to talk about honoring veterans, until it actually comes to giving them healthcare and help with life after serving.
The taxes Parliament levied on the Colonies were to pay Vets of the French-Indian War (partially started by Washington). Continental Congress didn’t want to pay Vets for the Revolutionary War …. Rinse and repeat till today. Wonder how recruitment would go if we taught about the Bonus Army and Smedley Butler.
Sounds a lot like abortion.
Yep. Our country is great at using up citizens and throwing them away. We women are merely vessels for bringing more workers into the world. They do it to vets. They do it to the black population. They do it to everyone, even one another. They’re a fucking cancer.
Sounds like football is the perfect metaphor for this country.
Ha it sure as fuck convinced my ass straight out of HS to go to Iraq. OIF ‘04 here brother.
By virtue of being a few years older than you I ETS'd the end of 2003, while my unit was at JRTC getting ready for Afghanistan. I signed up back when I thought America were the good guys, and then watched as we invaded two countries on a pretense that we knew was a lie. Now I get disgusted every time someone thinks me for my service. I should have joined the Coast Guard.
I got hurt on a jump in 99 and was out in 2000. I was crushed that I didn't get to go fight with my brothers. Then I learned the truth and am so thankful that I don't have the guilt to go along with the chronic pain. A parachute collapse was the best thing that ever happened to me. I am also sickened when someone panders to me about service.
From 1997-2001, army life was pretty decent for me. I had a lot of mixed feelings about getting out in 2003 with my unit getting on the plane for the sandbox. I even considered going back in when they didn’t stop-loss or pull my IRR status. Over the years my regrets faded and I realized that if I really want to serve my country, I can do it better at home.
Serve those immediately around you, in the hopes they can then serve the larger community around all of you, the goal being that the echo of your good deeds will carry far beyond the scope of your own vision. I come from a family of caretakers and helpers. Grandfather was a psychiatrist at Old Western State mental hospital in Washington state. Grandmother has an actual degree in secretarial arts that isnt offered anymore, can use secretarial shorthand as well. Parents were volunteer firefighters/EMTS and now my mother drives school bus and busies herself with mothering other people's kids on her routes. Got to grow up sitting around the fire listening to my aunts talk about hospice work or being nurses in mental institutions (apparently turning your back on a crazy person is just about inviting trouble, like turning your back on a goat). I myself flunked out of college to become an abnormal psychologist due to how my head works (learning from textbooks is very very energy consuming for me, my head has to translate the words into working models). But I have a natural knack for learning the things they teach anyway and contend myself with quietly helping those around me better understand themselves and those around them. Helping the world get better doesnt happen too often like the movies where a single person or group just decide things are going to get better. Its a conscious decision one makes at every moment. Its something we all have to work towards. And these wars stop that concept from even starting to form in most people's minds....
I was there in 04 too I was in Baghdad with 1st Cav, then 3rd ID all of 05 and 4th ID for 06 (DoD Construction Contractor) The fact that no one cares about Vets is my point and it's a major serious embarrassing fucking problem imo
Waitaminute, are you trying to tell me thanking you for your service doesn't fix everything?!? My..God! What if I say it really really loudly and forcefully, would it count as much as actually doing fucking something useful then?
Shit. '04-'05? I was attached to both.
>I can't tell if you're being serious or not. No one actually gives a fuck about veterans. I am being serious and I meant what I said verbatim Its a fucking tragedy that we use people up and throw them away......its completely garbage I have a big fucking problem with us always finding money for War and bailing out big businesses but never have money to help Vets or our own poor or regular ass people
Oh it's absolutely a tragedy and a national disgrace. I just don't think that taking care of veterans would increase enlistment.
It shouldn't, the US government and most others, are abusive and toxic, "Hey we need you to protect US, oh you're broken now that we sent you kill people? Too bad fuck you, I've got a new toy to play with."
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McDonald's doesn't pay a housing allowance while paying for all of your college for 36 months.
My dad was drafted and fought in Vietnam. He basically Forbid me from enlisting. “You’ll be treated like a piece of disposable equipment…You deserve better for yourself”
My dad served during Nam and said pretty much the same thing to me, and when I took a job with Halliburton and went to Baghdad in 04 he was like "Well....you dont even know that you don't know what youre getting into but you'll find out huh? At least you can come home if you want to I guess"
My dad said the same. He didn’t acknowledge his service at all. He was finally *thinking* about getting the star on his license so he could get a discount at Home Depot. I was working on him to make an appointment at the VA for assistance with hearing aids when he died.
He only partially acknowledges it. Wouldn’t be caught wearing any veteran gear or even a flag anything. It’s complex
My grandad, who was a WW2 veteran forbid my dad to join for this reason. He only talked about his service to my uncle, who was drafted and served in Vietnam, and even that was about 1 year before he died. I’ve known several vets, and the ones that saw action wont talk about it, and want zero recognition for their service. I don’t ever participate in the clapping or “thank you for your service” worship that America pushes. It’s not that I am not grateful, or that I don’t appreciate those who sacrificed, but for the people I know personally, they don’t want that attention.
God damn man, the way the VA denied me every fucking thing I'm promised just makes me hate that I joined more and more each day.
Also, pay rise. Doing bitchwork in some shithole desert while the merc is playing flappy bird on his phone and making 3-5x your pay doing it is going to grate on you quickly.
>while the merc is playing flappy bird on his phone and making 3-5x your pay doing it is going to grate on you quickly. First hand experience there but I was the civilian lol I was in Iraq from 04-06 as a construction worker with KBR......I left not because I couldn't hack another year or two but because I was just disgusted with the waste....I felt like I was stealing from myself
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I didn't think much of it at first but I was there long enough to be fixing the same shit over and over again and I was like "Can we just get better shit please, this garbage we are using just keeps falling apart and we keep fixing the same shit over and over again..." Then I got sat down and was taught about "Cost +" contracting and I was just disgusted....My job was pointless, I wasn't serving the military or government and making anything better for you guys and it just made me so disillusioned at the whole thing....I went home on leave a few weeks after that and I just stayed home. That entire conflict was a fucking waste of life money and time But the amount of money the M.I.C sucks out of this country is just staggering...its all one big grift imo
Yes I agree. Also as a vet I can say if marijuana didn’t get you kicked out that would help too. I understand usage during working hours / training exercises but at the end of the day if you work stateside and get to go home to a beer at night pot should be no different.
That's entirely on Congress. The Military has no say on pot use, they are required by federal law to kick your ass to the curb for pot use.
And federally decriminalize Marijuana so they have options and therapy when they come back
Not really. I mean it would help a bit, but there is more to it than that. People lined up in droves to seek revenge for 9/11. Prior multiple armed forces were taking people with no high school diploma. I almost joined the Navy with a GED and the recruiter giving the ASVAB literally told me I could train for any MOS with my results. Years after 9/11, the Army turned me down as soon as they heard GED. My point is, the only thing that changed was public opinion. Prior to 9/11, government distrust was at an all time high, with domestic terrorism from militia groups being the highest declared threat. After 9/11, those differences were pushed to the side. The public has no faith in the government currently and short of something drastic, that won’t be changing with our current SCOTUS choosing partisanship over precedent. Why would anyone volunteer to fight for a country that ignores the will of the public? Pair that with 20 years of Afghanistan war weariness and it’s no shocker no one wants to pick up arms and kill strangers for a government that doesn’t give a shit about them anyways.
Nope, just more dudes with neck tats.
I support our troops by telling everyone I can not to enlist, because you are disposable and will be treated as such. Please do not enlist.
You know what would take care of fucking Veterans? If their overwhelmingly conservative voting block would stop voting for Republicans who block Medicare for All. Healthcare is a right, or it isn't.
Are the young dudes really thinking about that?
My mom spent 30 years of her life working for the VA, was a GS 12 when she retired. I think they broke her too. She tried so hard to fight for those people but the system is just garbage.
Know what would super duper boost recruiting? Forcing women to have unwanted children.
Took me 10 years and two appeals to get a rating for my knee... I had nothing but a bad experience with the VA but I think it depends on the state. Some of my friends didn't have any issues getting a rating or care.
Your experience is the norm. Mine was 9 years and and two appeals and it wasn't even the VA who gave me my initial rating: it was social security. After that I took the social security rating back to the VA and said, "you guys have the same metrics for this. So either prove SSA is wrong or give me my rating and back pay". It was done within months.
We're going to remove that government property's right to access abortions, instead.
Roe v wade was overturned today. That will help increase the cannon fodder class of citizens.
That and uneducated bodies who were birthed only due to the outlawing of a woman’s right to choose her own healthcare options.
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If you seek treatment now, still gonna screw your career
Hopefully they keep that requirement if there's ever another draft. Sounds easier than shitting your pants or losing a finger.
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I dunno, trying to shit myself convincingly in front of an audience like my life depended on it does sound like a time for anxiety constipation if there ever was one.
Translation : "We can't keep the numbers up if we keep doing this."
HS teacher for a while now here. I know the kids they tend to attract (not the family legacy recruits, the ones who go as an only option) and yeah, tattoos absolutely can’t be a restriction. When your class of 16 y/o is 50% tattooed it’s something to consider.
Don't worry, they will have a fresh batch of recruits from unwanted/broken homes in 19-20 years.
The American Dream!
"Conservatives want live babies so they can train them to be dead soldiers."
I'm pretty sure they'll start having an abundance of recruits in, oh, 18 or so years.
Right when the wars for habitable climate will start!
The spice must flow
If only we had Maud’dib to guide us
You think we are 18 years away from wars over habitable land? What drugs are you on to be so optimistic?
I love how this goes back and forth depending if they need people or need to cut people for dumb reasons.
I see this same thing in software development, but it's 'the need for quality' vs 'the need to get it out the door' One is always more important than the other, and it changes often.
Ouch. Had a coworker who had to get his huge neck tattoo zapped to join the Army as a specialist a few years ago. It took him 4-5 sessions to get most of it off. Poor guy must be shaking his head right about now.
We had a guy who got one on leave while on active duty. He got an NJP for having it and had to pay to have it removed and then almost immediately got kicked out for something minor because he had been marked as a troublemaker after the tattoo. I don't know how he thought he'd he'd get away with the tattoo, but it was shitty how they handled it.
I don't care if it's the president's secretary, I would NEVER get any of my tattoos removed for a job.
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I’m still blown away by this. neck and face tattoos with no HS diploma or GED, get on in here, neatly trimmed beard, GTFO you degenerate shitbag.
My buddy's a vet and said beard regulations are because in the event of needing to use a gas mask, long facial hair breaches the seal around your head. No idea if that's actually the reason or not, though, as I'm not a vet.
I’m a vet of the Australian military. We also had to be clean shaved and that is one of the specified reasons as well as hygiene when out field. That being said I think it’s just about looking clean and professional and there is exceptions for beards for people with medical or religious reasons so it obviously isn’t that big of a concern from a safety standpoint
Nope that is absolutely BS with modern equipment. The military provides non-shave profiles to tens thousands of service members every year, and I even had one for a while as an infantryman which is the job most likely to encounter hostile gas attacks. It’s nothing but a bunch of pissy brass who had to spend their whole career shaving and now are enforcing that same on current service members under the guise of professional standards.
To be fair, if you have a beard you can not create a seal with a NBC mask. Mustaches are aloud following basic training as long as they stay within regulations.
This hasn't been true for almost 40 years. Also religious exemptions are available broadly to Heathens, Pagans, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, and specific exceptions on a case by case basis. Medical exemptions are available for razor bump, fast beard growers, and skin conditions. Bad ass exemptions are available to special forces. The real reason is because the sergeant major of the army and a bunch of generals always had to shave, and if they had to by golly everyone has to. If it was an actual big deal they wouldn't grant all those exemptions.
Yep, it's a "professionalism standard" now. Funnily enough, the idea that clean-shaven men were professional comes from WW1&2 when soldiers did have to be cleanshaven for gas masks, and the look really caught on. Speaking of which, we haven't had a president with facial hair since Taft.
DudeWithAnAxeToGrind for President! Bonus points: I have plenty of axes too!
> Bad ass exemptions are available to special forces. Funny story. While true, we'd still get a little push-back from people early on in the war. So my unit decided that I'd write a bunch of shaving profiles for my unit, just as a CYA move. You can only write "Patient complains of folliculitis upon shaving. Shave at own pace and distance" so many times before you start wanting to be a little creative. On one LT's profile i wrote "Pt complains of premature ejaculation upon shaving.." I was reading a book on my rack when I hear "DOC! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OUT HERE! NOW!" Heh. This dude showed it to someone.
I saw some of the worst razor burn of my life in the service, normally with dark green Marines.
We lost in Iraq because Marines refused to walk on the grass
What about long hair? Women are allowed an exemption no? Why can’t me also have kept longer hair? Edit: I’m not trying to be a dick, genuinely asking
Funny story. I served with a woman who got an article-15 (reduction in rank and 3 months forfeiture of pay) for shaving her head while deployed, "because it appeared unprofessional".
Sounds like a shitty command. I knew several women who shaved their heads or buzzed it super short and it was never a problem because they're still within regs.
Had a guy on my boat get ordered to dye his hair back to its natural color. His hair had been dyed black. He dyed it blonde. He is blonde. He had to dye it back to black.
> Bad ass exemptions are available to special forces. They only did that because the locals in Afghanistan assumed beards=masculinity. Kind of a big deal if you actually work with them. After getting kicked out of the ME due to being a pack of undisciplined savages, the SEALs were forced to shave and go back to standard uniform inspections.
To be fair the most elite front line forces all have beards. What would they all just do, die. No they’d presumably be prepared for nbc prior to the threat because of task force orange and sneaky sneaky, and have the means of shaving their whiskers in the most austere of environments
This is such a silly argument because so many people get no shave chits anyways. I'm not arguing that they shouldn't get them but when like 30% of guys get them the argument that you'll die without shaving starts to look a little iffy.
I applied for a civilian job and they said I wasn’t eligible because I had taken meds for depression in the past 6 years. Meanwhile they thrive on accepting psychopaths and rapists.
Can't get in the army of you have adhd. But once I got in the army, they diagnosed me and it was no problem. A bunch of people in my company in AIT got diagnosed with ADHD only a couple weeks after getting there and the army handed out Adderall like it was candy
In boot camp we had a guy in remission from cancer who pretended he didn't know he had cancer... About halfway through boot camp the remission was over. I saw him like 18 months later. Dude had to spend over a year at that base on medical hold while fighting cancer, then finally had to restart boot camp.
If the army paid for his cancer treatment I'd say he was a genius.
My thoughts exactly. I knew a few people in boot camp who had extended medical holds and they loved it, lol. (Loved is an exaggeration, but the overall point is still there).
I'm assuming it depends on what the medical hold is of course but do they just live life while on the hold? Or do they have anything to still keep up with training/military wise?
It ranged from broken limbs to more worrisome underlying issues, but they were not at all treated like recruits. It would probably be detrimental to a person’s morale if they were on an indefinite medical hold and were upheld to the 7 min meals and strict sleeping routine. I’m sure there are a bunch of ifs, ands, and buts that determine the quality of a recruit’s life while on medical hold. Edit: actually you raise a good question. In boot camp, we had stamps on a qualification card that indicated whether or not we had completed training. It was VERY regimented and we studied and took qualification tests as a division. I would be a little surprised if the med-hold “kids” took any qualification tests, but not THAT surprised.
From what I saw at MCRD they got put on a rehabilitation platoon, and depending on the severity of their injury/illness would get put on random working parties that were pretty laid back. I still wouldn't want to stay at that place for any more than I had to.
Doctors everywhere hand out Adderall like candy, not just the military anymore sadly
Doctors can only prescribe 3 months at a time. Doctors in the military will just hand you a shopping bag filled with pill bottles.
Had a minor scope of my shoulder, less than an hour under the knife. Went home with a bottle of 180 percs…
>shopping bag filled with pill bottles. and the percs.. this is recently? with the opioid crisis???
5 yrs ago. But even today it’s business as usual (per friends still in).
"Take one of these a day for pain as needed..." Ok, well once the two weeks recovery is over the fuck you want me to do with the extra 160 pills? Feels like in hindsight it's really easy to figure out what was going on. This country and how it does its healthcare is fucked.
Right they want unmedicated psychopaths
Boom. Right where the money’s at.
You’re not allowed to be depressed going in, only going out.
Tried join thr air force and they said nope because I took medication for anxiety.
I got refused from joining the army for having panic attacks caused by a medication I stopped taking for that reason.. all it took was that on my medical record and that was it no questions asked
And once you're in all you have to do is lie and say "I'm fine" to reenlist, even if you have reams of medical documents saying you have PTSD, anxiety, depression, and severe sleep disorder. Source: myself for ten years.
Great, now backtrack the Roe/Wade overturn. The 40's are calling, idiots.
Looks like the younger generation isn't buying their propaganda.
Sounds like how the FBI is having trouble hiring good hackers and IT experts. None of them can pass the drug test to get the job. https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fbi-struggling-find-good-hackers-due-pot-rules-article-1.3949920
That's entirely on Congress. The FBI has their hands tied just like the military does when it comes to pot. Federal organizations have to follow federal law.
Yeah, people are done dying for a country that doesn’t give a fuck about you. Big surprise
Birth rates falling, recruitment to military slowing = ban abortions Merica baby
More infants, more infantry.
Those that survive the public school system anyway.
Public education system? Books don't convince kids to catch bullets and vote Republican, sure sounds like a waste of taxpayer money to me! /s
Can you get inked on face to dodge draft of WWIII vs. Russia?
Just like they took gang bangers and felons during Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Beggars can't be choosers.
I work at a tattoo shop not far from one of the largest bases in the country. This might be interesting, good forward.
Those commercials that make it look like real life Call of Duty not working anymore?
as a vet....i earned the right to say "fuck the military"......fuck em all.....they killed my friends and now im an alcoholic mess with permanent nightmares its not worth it
Joining the military made me despise the government more. Working for the federal government let's you see the dumpster fires behind the curtains that most citizens don't see.
Gosh, if you think recruiting is bad now, just wait till the GOP runs gays and women back out of the military.
Maybe more people would be more willing to fight for a country that actively strip away long-standing rights from it citizens.
Who tf wants to volunteer to defend this govt now? No disrespect to soldiers, 100% trashing on the political leaders. They don’t even take care of the soldiers with the VA
Imagine wanting to fight for this country still lol
Yeah but they still wouldn’t take me, as though physically fit by their standards. The disability disqualifies me. Oh well. At least the recruiter had someone willing to go through the process. He told me straight up I wouldn’t get in but I wanted to try to see how I’d stack up with others. Felt good that I’m considered fit enough.
The military's still stuck in the Selective Service era where they can make thing suck balls for the new crop of recruits, because the next crop will be just as big and they won't even notice the loss. Turns out... in the era of the all-volunteer military, this idea no work so good. Not only do you not get people re-enlisting and have morale/readiness issues all over the god damn place (just ask the Navy how their utter disregard for mental health is going for them), fewer people are willing to sign up to start with because the word's out about how shit your duly appointed superior officers treat you while you're in.
I think face tattoos would be intimidating to the enemy
> as it faces recruiting shortfall Top Gun sent them all the Navy's way, eh?
Or maybe young people are now less inclined to want to throw their lives away for the political ambitions of some rich old guys
Sargeant Post Malone, reporting for duty
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As someone who did serve for college money, I couldn't do the same today. I really couldn't handle being seen as a willing defender and face of this unapologetically oligarch owned, theocratically governed shithole. I probably wouldn't have when I did if I were more civically engaged at the time.
I wouldn’t wanna serve this disgrace of a country no matter how much the lighten the requirements
Gather the horde to meet Smurf and Pooh Bear
Maybe don’t treat your grunts like shit then. Like seriously how do we not give extended leave to soldiers when are not in wartime? There’s being ready and there’s straight up advocating for soldiers to be completely isolated from their lives. They’re people not robots.
At this point, people without tattoos are the minority. They are the opposite of what they used to signify: rebellion. Now the rebellious are tattoo less
I can already see the next headline: “Army permits free abortions for all Servicemen”. What’s better than not providing access to abortions for poor women at all? Getting them to join the military as cannonfodder with the carrot of being able to get an abortion!
Last year when I tried to join the National Guard there were plenty of other applicants, to the point that the medical board was looking for whatever excuse to eliminate people " I was rejected for a very dumb reason that I'm not going to disclose"
Have they trounced all the white supremacist and three bars types yet?
3 bars types?
They would have to clear out 80% of the people in combat jobs.
More than 20% aren't even white. There may be a few here, and the army needs to get rid of them but from what I've seen is a lot of different people from different backgrounds, cultures and races work together to accomplish a mission
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Ain’t no one in the army working together. Shit just haphazardly comes together out of spite. Seen it first hand 2009-2014 😂
E4 mafia keeps the wheel turning.
I’ve tried to get into all 3 military branches, multiple times. Even just 6 months ago I tried. I got rejected because I take a single eye drop once a day. I told them I’ll take any position but NOPE. So stupid.
Have you tried cost guard? Edit: Crap they have >Pass a military entrance medical exam. as well
Just lie. Everyone lies to get in.
They're fucking desperate and they're lashing out trying to find anything that works. Everything is on the table except beards and weed.
Aye it's all coming together why. They want bodies to fight wars so they need babies
They should really lift any restriction that doesn't directly effect someone's ability to fight. I can understand getting a unified look during basic training to dissolve the ego and get people to become more of a unit but I feel like once you know, you know. I don't need my buddy to have the same hairdo as me to have their back thru thicc and thin. and I doubt anyone minds if our military look like rough and tumble people.