58 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Truth and Fiction, July 2, 2006
This review is from: 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military (Paperback)
I may as well start out with the obvious, I am in fact in the Army and in Iraq. It's not as bad as I thought it might be, but it is still not a great place to spend a year of your life. There is some truth in this book, but a lot of it is conflated statistics and I just want people who are honestly considering serving their country to see a better picture of the whole truth. Those who are simply against this war and military service will naturally accept the book as is.
If you join the Army, you might die. You might also be injured. Your friends might die, one of mine already has. You may have to kill people (thought this is less likely, you rarely have a positive target to shoot at over here, our enemies are so cowardly) who later turn out to have been innocent. So the top of the list is completely true and accurate. It starts to fall apart from there.
I'll just go on in order of truth. I don't have time to cover all the points, but here goes. It is true that too often veterans are denied medical treatment, or at least have to wait entirely too long. This is largely because this administration continues to see fit to cut VA funding year after year, despite the two combat zones producing an entire new generation of combat veterans. Anyone in the military, or out of it, for it or against it should be up in arms about this. It is inexcusable.
Now for the slightly less than true. If you are against all war and killing other human beings, do not enlist in the military. This should be fairly obvious. It is possible to get conscientious objector status once you are in, it's just a very long drawn out process. You can refuse orders you believe are wrong: for instance, sarge tells you to go kill the little girl and her puppy. You can say, "Seargent, you really mean me to kill that little girl?" and he still says yes. You can (respectfully, because they can always ding you for disrespect) refuse to comply. The sarge will be unhappy, which means your life will be unhappy for a bit, but it will be sorted out later. "Just following orders" didn't cut it at Nuremburg and won't cut it over here.
Ah, the education benefits. If you have something in your enlistment contract, it is yours. If the military cannot honor a particular stipulation (this is somewhat rare) you can ask to leave the service. Of course you will be highly encouraged to choose another job, but .... If YOU cannot meet the training standards, you will not necessarily get what you want. That's the first the thing your hear off the bus at Basic: "We will not lower our standards for you, you must rise to meet the standards."
As for 15% of troops actually getting their education benefits. I'm not sure about that stat, but I can tell you that the big problem here is people not claiming the money. The military is very good at losing paperwork. It is also reasonably good at finding paperwork, if you are persistent. You have look out for your own interests. And that's really how I am going to sum this up. If you want to serve your country and get ahead: get it in your contract (ignore what your recruiter says, he doesn't write the contracts), claim what is rightfully yours, and PLEAE pick a job that transfers well to the outside. Like Military Police or Arabic Linguist. Meet the standards, and move on!
(I also recommend you get at least 12 to 45 credits of college BEFORE you enlist, because part time college is hard, though still doable, when deployed to Iraq!)
Thank your for your time.
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48 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It Helps to Read Before Reviewing, April 7, 2006
This review is from: 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military (Paperback)
This is less a proper "review" than a bit of a rebuttal to "FBRobertson," so be forewarned. It is clear from your "review" that you have not read said book. If you had, you would have realized that the book contains no "mockery" of soldiers. Most importantly, there is no "hate" informing this book.
The book's aim is clear -- to lay out some facts about the military for those considering joining. The military itself gets to make its case with big-budget ad campaigns. So this book is simply saying, "Look, some really bad stuff might happen to you. They aren't going to tell you about it, but take a look at these peoples' stories."
Clearly you were drawn to "review" the book because of the involvement of Cindy Sheehan. So be it. But please, in the interest of honesty, don't start reviewing books you've never read. It does the entire idea of truth a huge disservice.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We need more books like this one for folks who like to think for themselves, August 27, 2009
This review is from: 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military (Paperback)
I am a Vietnam vet, but I won't get fooled again. I found out the war I was fighting in was not for the good old red, white, and blue, but for Phillip Morris Cigarette Company, who wanted to sell their poison to North Vietnam. So 50,000 young men and women died in a capitalist inspired cigarette war. The military is nothing but ignorance. Even at age 17 (when I joined) and fresh out of high school I could see that those who made the military a career were not the most patriotic people in our society, but rather the dumbest. I was dumb for joining, too, but at I learned from my experiences. I have no idea how any war veteran can keep spewing that War Is Good and My Country Right or Wrong crap.
I truly believe everything "10 Excellent Reasons Not To Join The Military" and I hope this book reaches as many readers as possible, especially the naive kids around the age of 17 to 25 who are prone to fall for that slick military advertising they now put on TV. If the military is all we have to offer our kids, then this country needs a major overall (I believe President Obama thinks so, too). We have to flush out the hate mongers like Bush and Cheney and Beck and that fat show host, Rush, and learn to live peacefully. Of course, it's going to take good leadership, and that God we finally have just that.
Just Say No to The Military should be America's new motto. Share this book with every young man and woman you know. It could save their lives.
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