
Soldiers Share What They Wish They Knew Before Enlisting
[rebelmouse-image 18360217 is_animated_gif=Joining the military has its perks, but some soldiers' expectations weren't quite in line with reality. Inspections? Better be perfect. Want to advance? It's arbitrary. Oh, and you're going to miss the heck out of your friends and family.
Hotzspot asked, Soldiers of Reddit, what is something you wish you knew before joining the armed forces?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
That middle 5 percent though...
[rebelmouse-image 18360218 is_animated_gif=90% of soldiering is being cold, wet, exhausted, hungry, bored and pissed off.
5% is running around shooting things.
The remaining 5% is cleaning all the stuff you used to shoot things with.
You can apply this to many job fields.
[rebelmouse-image 18360219 is_animated_gif=Don't pick a job that seems like it would be "cool". They're all sh***y. Pick one that will get you some of training or certification you can use after you get out. Or just pick one that stays indoors working on computers.
Never thought of soldiers being bored after returning from the front lines.
[rebelmouse-image 18358705 is_animated_gif=- Airborne infantry is a lot of physical work in an environments paired with nonsensical busy work with no payoff. Bad leaders will destroy your moral, but good leaders will shield you from them.
- Get a job that translates into a "real world" career.
- Realize that when you deploy, you will live through highest and lowest the human experience can offer. When you return, it will be utter disappointment and prepare yourself to endure that forever.
Can't even imagine.
[rebelmouse-image 18360222 is_animated_gif=How badly being in the infantry would affect my back, shoulders, and knees. I wish I had joined as a medic from the beginning instead of waiting until I had left and was a reservist to do it.
Sergeants aren't supposed to be nice.
[rebelmouse-image 18360223 is_animated_gif=How much I'd be sitting around with my thumb up my a**...
Or how power-mad an E7 could get. Stop micromanaging. You've given us our tasks, let us f_cking do them.
Getting up at 5 am? Sounds impossible.
[rebelmouse-image 18360224 is_animated_gif=Buddy of mine would always complain about having to be ready for PT at 5 in the morning when it was officially supposed to start at 8.
Once he hit E6 (or 5? I'll have to ask him) and he was the one setting the time, he tried being the cool staff sergeant and letting his marines sleep a bit longer. After they kept being late he realized why everyone adds a half hour buffer to their start time.
The pay isn't great.
[rebelmouse-image 18360225 is_animated_gif=Save for the future because all of it ends quicker than you think.
Scrub scrub scrub.
[rebelmouse-image 18360226 is_animated_gif=If you are enlisted just how much good damn cleaning and yard work you would do, came in handy though when I got out I had me a sweet gig as a janitor.
Flies jets but is "down to earth."
[rebelmouse-image 18360227 is_animated_gif=Ad Air Force here.
90% of the people you work with are super down to earth and chill. It just so happens that 9% of the remaining 10% is leadership that doesn't give a f_ck about anything you do but results that make them look better. Mismanagement and hubris are a big part of supervision in my career field, the disconnect between junior enlisted and nco/sncos is staggering and apparent.
Experience vs etiquette training. Experience sounds more fun.
[rebelmouse-image 18360228 is_animated_gif=A lot of your career will depend on your leadership and your shop. Some shops will prioritize you knowing your job, while others will prioritize you knowing how to be a good airman/soldier/sailor/marine. Those two things don't always dovetail.
Edit: the jobs where they care more about the mission than how enthusiastically you can recite the service creed tend to be more fun.
Go go college when your service is up.
[rebelmouse-image 18360229 is_animated_gif=Recruiters tell you that a military career in your job history shortlists you for being hired at any civilian job. Not true at all. At best it'll give you the appearance of being a team player, but that is almost never enough. You need actual skills they are looking for. Being able to pass inspection and firing a rifle does not mean you are qualified. Take the money you saved up from your time in or the GI bill you are entitled to and use it to go to university.
Leadership isn't loyal - sounds like capitalism.
[rebelmouse-image 18360230 is_animated_gif=That the military will take your health then toss you aside like you're worthless and you've given them nothing. Loyalty in the military is between you and your brothers. Expect nothing from your leadership, expect nothing from the system, you are nothing more than filler for various spreadsheets to them.
It can be months or years.
[rebelmouse-image 18360231 is_animated_gif=How long it would actually take before seeing the face of a family member.
More people should go into trade jobs in general.
[rebelmouse-image 18360232 is_animated_gif=It's something I was told from the start before I joined but as I was leaving, I saw lots of infantry who came to the same realization too late and had a lot of regrets.
Join up doing a trade you enjoy if you can. The military will train you for free and let you loose on multimillion pound/dollar installations that civilians wouldn't dream of letting you near without a dozen degrees and a decade of experience.
That's PTSD.
[rebelmouse-image 18360233 is_animated_gif=You never really go home, a part of you is always still there.
That's pretty much life.
[rebelmouse-image 18360234 is_animated_gif=How political the system is, and how little it uses common sense. Built like an ox? High speed, great leader, motivated, knowledgeable? Awesome! Fail the run but could ruck with 150lbs for days? Well, no promotion for you. Heres a counseling statement about how you are not a well-prepared soldier. On the other hand... sh_tbag that is unmotivated, does the minimum they have to, undermines unit cohesion, always hard to find, creates problems but can run get a 300 on a PT test? Great, promote him.
The standard is perfection
[rebelmouse-image 18360235 is_animated_gif=I wish I knew the standard we would be held to during inspection. Steep learning curve there I'll tell ya.
It's not gay if you're on a ship.
[rebelmouse-image 18360237 is_animated_gif=Sailor but:
It is not, in fact, gay if underway.
Always had this instinct seeing them at school.
[rebelmouse-image 18360239 is_animated_gif=Never, ever trust a recruiter.
"They own you."
[rebelmouse-image 18349326 is_animated_gif=They OWN you. Doesn't matter what job you qualified for, if they think they're better served with you digging a ditch or cleaning toilets then that's what you are going to do.
It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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