Topic: Who on here has been

PJ24 · June 4th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by K9Dug

just seems that some posters on here have a romantic notion of warfare, and seem to want to be involved in something big yet probably when it came to the crunch would be as useful as a chocolate bayonet.

This is not aimed at all posters, and nor am I saying those who have not been in a contact don't have a valid opinion or viewpoint.

I was just wondering why you were asking, thanks for the response. There are some of us that have been, but I don't think most have.

I think everyone has a valid opinion and viewpoint, but that doesn't mean it's an educated one. Unless you've experienced combat, you can't know about it or what it is like, the same goes for the military lifestyle in general. There's a lot of armchair quarterbacking that goes on about the military in general though (as well as other topics like politics etc), but that's what happens on a forum with a bunch of different people with various opinions and the desire to share them. What's a forum without people doing that though?

You don't see too much over-zealousness here, maybe I missed something though. The moderators are all vets or active military and reading through past posts, it looks like the "big" talk about "combat and killin'" from people whose experience came from a game with a reset button was nipped in the bud awhile ago. You also don't see people giving information out about the military that don't know what they're talking about thanks to the rules, which makes this forum and its credibility very good.

As for the "romatic notion," I think every kid that wants to be in the military (and even some adults that wanted to be) have the idea that combat is a certain way. I know I did until the early 90s when I got a huge reality check. It's something you have to experience to understand and know.

When you're a kid and all you want to do is join the military and serve your country, you rely on the books you've read, movies you've seen and stories you've heard to decide what it will be like. All of these things are designed to keep your interest, so they will focus on the "exciting" parts. You don't hear about (or see yourself) spending 90% of your time doing mundane, day to day things.

Those that choose to listen and learn from the guys that have been there will go in with just a little bit more knowledge of what military life can be like and probably have a greater respect for service in general, but they still won't understand it. They'll only really know it and understand it once they have been there. That's how everybody really learns, they jump in feet first.

Man, I can ramble.

Btw, how come your profile doesn't have any info???