• funkless_eck
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    6 months ago

    Do the army even want a bunch of nerds, theatre kids, goths and bisexual disasters - speaking as someone who was all of those as a teen - in the army? I thought the army liked people who shut up and ran around a field.

    “Oh if you don’t they put you in jail”

    ok how is that good for society?

    • EurekaStockade@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      It’s not good at all for society. It’s slavery with the addition of a heightened risk of death, all to serve the whims of guys in suits far from the battlefield.

      Previous commenter thinking it’s a good thing because it will whip the rabble into shape is delirious. These are peoples sons and daughters that we would be sending off to die in the mud. Shameful.

      • funkless_eck
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        6 months ago

        even if they never see war and just do a bunch of calisthenics in a muddy field - it’s still being yelled at rudely to do push-ups instead of… working a job? Being in education?

        I have absolutely no issue with OP being in the army - a good friend of mine was in the Signals. I respect him, but also, it would’ve done most of the people I know no good at all.

    • Wanderer@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      I wasn’t saying it for the good of the army I was saying it for the good of the people.

      The army will get the best out of them that they can. Sounds like they could do with it more than most.

      • funkless_eck
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        6 months ago

        why can’t I decide what’s best for me? ages 18-21 I worked for my local city in projects designed to get local young people at risk of offending into projects like (legal) graffiti, music, arts, sports and volunteering.

        Surely that was a better benefit to society than learning how to walk in the same rhythm as a group of other people?

        • Wanderer@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          Same reason we don’t let kids decide if they want to go to school or not. Not everyone is going to make the right choice. People do things for their and societies good. You really don’t think most people are currently doing that can you?

          • funkless_eck
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            6 months ago

            but we let these “kids” choose their degrees, or jobs and - indeed potentially train them for the military - at that age.

            And who is to say the military is the right choice? If someone yells at me to do push ups in the mud - in any other context I am well within my rights to tell them to fuck off. Which is entirely normal behavior.

            In general, yes, the majority of people are doing some kind of good for themselves, families and communities. People volunteer, raise kids, donate to charity, recycle, care for sick relatives, help their neighbors and friends…

            • Wanderer@lemm.ee
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              6 months ago

              I think your right.

              As much as the fat kids and the kids that have no will power and blame their lack of drive on others could benefit from structure, teamwork and exercise.

              You’re right, ultimately it is too late and it just trying to fixing a failing of the state. We need to give these people more attention in school and turn them into better people than what we turn out of schools currently.

              • funkless_eck
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                6 months ago

                it’s interesting to me that you see childhood obesity as “an absence of military training” and not such things as

                • lack of support for health education in schools
                • lack of health meal choices for school cafeterias
                • lack of free support materials for parents
                • subsidies and support for low income families to get access to fresh and healthy foods
                • tariffs on high fat and high sugar foods
                • regulation on grocery store prices
                • more free activities for young people
                • subsidized sports programs and facilities
                • etc etc

                “oh that’s expensive”

                the us military spends $64,000 per second every second.

                • Wanderer@lemm.ee
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                  6 months ago

                  I didn’t say that. I say conscription would help these overweight people and it would help in other ways.

                  Then I also said that getting to that point is a failing of the state.

                  You don’t know where I stand on any of those points because we weren’t talking about it.

                  I don’t really care what the US military spends per second.