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10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military

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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.

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.

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.

1. You May Be Killed -
By Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. In this chapter she chronicles every parent's worst nightmare -- outliving a child. To spare any more parents her grief Cindy demands that the US withdraw from Iraq immediately.

"Don't join the military. The recruiters lie. They never tell you that you may die and put your mom in hell."


2. You May Kill Others Who Do Not Deserve to Die -
By Paul Rockwell

While the Iraq war may have been sold as some deranged humanitarian mission to help the Iraqis, Paul Rockwell interviews soldiers who committed or witnessed acts of murder and torture against civilians.

"They opened fire on the prisoners with machine guns," Iraq war veteran Aidan Delgado told Paul Rockwell, of a protest at Abu Ghraib prison where he was stationed. "They shot twelve and killed three. I talked to one guy who did the killing. He showed me grisly photographs and bragged about the results ... I was stunned and said, 'You shot an unarmed man behind barbed wire for throwing a stone.' He said to me, 'Well, I said a prayer, and I gunned him down' ... He was the nicest guy, a family man, a courteous devout Christian."


3. You May Be Injured -
By Robert Acosta and Nina Berman

Nina Berman traveled the country photographing and interviewing soldiers who had been injured in Iraq. Photos like Berman's don't show up in Army pamphlets.

One of the soldiers she met was Robert Acosta, who had his arm blown off when he went to buy sodas in Iraq. Since Robert's return home he has become an antiwar activist and travels the country speaking.

"I met one soldier who was living alone in a trailer, completely blind, without a leg, shrapnel wounds covering his body. He has no parents to take care of him and spends his days with young kids who ride around in circles on ATVs on a dead-end road in one of the poorest counties in the state. On the anniversary of his injury, he was found wandering at night through the woods in what local news reports said was an apparent suicide attempt. Do you think the army recruiting commercial that seduced this soldier into joining ever mentioned anything about blindness, amputation, or brain damage?"


4. You May Not Receive Proper Medical Care -
By Adele Kubein

After Adele Kubein's daughter, a National Guard soldier, broke her leg when her plane was shot down, her commanding officers bullied her into keeping the pain to herself. Finally two months after she was injured another officer saw her limping, sent her to the doctor and she was taken out of Iraq. But once home she still had to endure another battle -- getting medical care for her body and mind.

Adele writes:

"Most citizen soldiers get discouraged by the long wait for treatment and medical status. They sign away their right to medical care just to get home. They give up and try to deal with their disability through civilian channels, leaving the military off the hook."


5. You May Suffer Long-term Health Problems -
By Tod Ensign

Tod Ensign documents the ways that American soldiers have been exposed to poisonous chemicals since World War II. He details today's risks of depleted uranium to soldiers in Iraq.

Many also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse. Ensign uses data, interviews with veterans and government officials to show that these invisible injuries can be as deadly as a gunshot.

"Iraq vet Matthew Sepi fired on two strangers in Las Vegas, killing one of them. Sepi told police that his Iraq experiences influenced his response to what he thought was an ambush. Sepi's family said that he seemed different after Iraq. He talked about the 'weird noises' children make when they're dying. His request for psychiatric help from the VA had not yet been granted at the time of the shooting."


6. You May Be Lied To -
By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

Recruiters promise college tuition, success and adventure. They say you'll never see combat and can choose any job you want. But these promises evaporate as soon as a young recruit signs her contract. Weill-Greenberg writes about her own experience with recruiters as an undercover journalist, and interviews military parents and students. Through testimony and statistics she shows that if a recruiter's pitch sounds too good to be true that's because it is.

"'You could get shot -- God forbid -- in front of your apartment. More people were killed in New York last week than Iraq,' the Sergeant told me repeating one of the recruiters' favorite mantras.

Recruiters will do or say just about anything to convince young people that the Army is not about war. No, the military isn't all guns and tears and pain. It's hip, cool, rebellious even. (My recruiter told me to 'cut the umbilical cord' when I said I didn't think my mom would approve.)"


7. You May Face Discrimination -
By Aimee Allison

The military has spent millions trying to appeal to Latinos and blacks. But as Aimee Allison shows, the military is rife with racism, sexism and homophobia. As a young soldier, officers degraded Aimee because of her gender and race. As Aimee shows, she is far from alone. Discrimination is steeped throughout the military.

"When I first joined the military at age 17, a military doctor administered a demeaning and uncomfortable pelvic exam during my induction physical. He didn't wear gloves.

When I was at Army boot camp at Fort Jackson, S.C., standing in line for chow, I overheard the white drill sergeant tell a dark-skinned recruit with a smile, 'You look like Kunta Kinte [a slave from the TV miniseries Roots].'"


8. You May Be Asked to Do Things Against Your Beliefs -
By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

A majority of Americans say the Iraq war was a mistake and more and more people are demanding the US immediately withdraw troops. But deployed soldiers must fight no matter what their personal beliefs -- or risk imprisonment. What's so honorable about participating in something you know is wrong?

"Shortly after Chas joined, he realized the army was not the noble profession he had imagined. He found that the military was about dehumanization of the enemy and the soldiers themselves. Chas explained that this process started in boot camp with 'sick, twisted' drills, like Sniper Wonderland:

'See the little girl with the puppy; Lock and load a hollow pointed round ... Take the shot and maybe if you're lucky; You'll watch their lifeless bodies hit the ground ...'

'You're singing these things and you know they're wrong,' Chas said. 'But if you don't say it, you'll catch so much hell. You're scared to death and you have to say it.'"


9. You May Find It Difficult to Leave the Military -
By Louis and Marti Hiken

The stop-loss policy, or back door draft, has forced about 15,000 soldiers to stay beyond their separation date. Some soldiers have been duped into the "Try One" program. When they're on their way out, recruiters say, 'Sign up for just one more year and go to college. If you don't like it -- well it's only a year.'

Sergeant Emiliano Santiago joined the "Try One" program. He was stop-lossed and his current discharge date is 2031.


10. You Have Other Choices -

By Rae Abileah with assistance from Jen Low
Rae Abileah wanted to join the military when she was in high school. After her abusive father left her family, she didn't know how she could ever afford college without enlisting. But Rae found alternatives. In this chapter she discusses other ways to get college money, adventure and travel without risking life and limb.

"Given the state of the economy at the moment, it is unsurprising that 33 percent of male recruits and 39 percent of female recruits report that they enter the military to get money for college. Unfortunately, the military is often so desperate to meet quotas and is itself so strapped for cash that these are empty promises; most recruits never see any of this money. Rather than take a gamble on a lot of hot air from military recruiters, it's possible to find tuition money from a reputable source."

Before I decided on sitting down and writting a review on this book I decided on reading it a second time and digesting what I had read. Without getting into a debate on the reasons why we went to Iraq or the reasons why we are still in Iraq it is none the less interesting to note the recruiting (and retention) crisis the military is experiencing in recent years. If being in Iraq and re-making the Middle East in our image is so important to our national security and well being on par with World War II and the Cold War as the neo-conservatives state, then our government should act the part. We need to have a draft where young men of draft age are eligible for a military draft. Not only should we draft our young men but we should draft our money as well in the forms of higer taxes a la WWII. Sadly Bush, the neo-cons and the American people know this won't sell. Even the most ardent Iraq War supporters would turn against it if they or their family members would be put in the line of fire. Before you are willing to kill you should be willing to die. Too many Americans are not.

Bearing this context in mind you have an economic draft where those within our society are funneled into the military with over blown and often false promises of education, job skills, and most basically a job. I knew that the recruiters often made false and misleading promises to intice young men and women into the military. I did not know that a contract with the military is a contact where only one party is bound by the terms of the contract (you) and the other party can change the basic terms of the contract at will (the military). Would you enter into a contract with an employer, a partner, a bank or a contractor with such lop-sided terms such as these? Unfortuantely too many young Americans are doing just that. They do not have legal training in contract law to know what they are signing away when then sign the bottom line. Of course some people would chose to deny this fact and others while not openly admitting to this fact wouldn't care less due to the fact those that are trapped in these circumstances look different from them and come from the other side of the tracks.

I could go on about the other reasons they mentioned but I will stick to this point. Two things I fault the book on is the fact they didn't mention that the military can call you back into service disrupting your life and career many years after your initial service to serve in a war you may not agree with. Another fact they failed to mention was the chicken-hawks (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, DeLay, Limbaugh et al) who are so eager to start wars but so hesitant to go to war themselves.

Like I said read this book for youself and then decide. The Pentagon has a multi-million dollar budget to promote recruiting, why should it fear one book?

Robert

"The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service." -Einstein

Lately the U.S. military's small army of professional recruiters have landed on hard times. The military has crashed hard upon the rocks of quagmire Iraq and fewer people want to join the armed forces today than in order a decade. And if Cindy Sheehan and Elizabeth Weil-Greenberg have their way, 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military will add considerably to the military's difficulties.

The sane person's response to the unnecessary bloodshed in the Middle East is to bring our loved ones home now. Instead, Congress and the Pentagon have chosen to swell the ranks and budgets of military recruiters in order to accommodate hundreds of stationary and mobile recruitment centers operating at once across America.

10 Excellent Reasons is the peace movement's response to the war machine targeting our youth. It sheds light on the many drawbacks to military service from "you may be killed" to "you may kill others" to "you may face discrimination" and beyond. Each contributing author makes his or her case through the hard facts and true-life horror stories that never make their way into Army television ads.

Todd Ensign's chapter vividly describes the dangers that await soldiers who survive their tour(s) of duty in Iraq: "Thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan vets are returning home badly wounded by psychological trauma as well. Military officials estimate that up to 30 percent of all soldiers who serve in Iraq will suffer some level of mental trauma...17 percent of Iraq war vets interviewed showed signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)...Flashbacks and intense nightmares are common symptoms of PTSD. Sufferers often resort to alcohol or drug abuse in an effort to get some relief." (74-75)

This pocket book is really worth its wait in gold because it brings together everything the antiwar movement has said all along. This book deserves to be on a lot of people's reading lists: High school students and their parents, high school counselors and counter-recruitment activists.

Here's hoping for a direct correlation between the sales of this book and the decline in enlistment. Those slick military recruiters have their handbook, do you have yours?

words about men who love their country, but much more than that love one another. They sacrifice themselves so that we all may live. So that any citizen can have the freedom to spend all of their time writing books about detering citizens from joining and disrespectfully yet freely expressing their opinions. Before critizing and writing petty excuses, without our military defense, when our thousands of enemies walk on our land and march up to you and you simply respond "oh I do not believe in fighting" you have no idea what you are talking about. The core of patriotism to our country eludes you entirely. Defend your own freedom in the harsh reality of the world that you can thankfully say have never experienced. Ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country.

A MUCH NEEDED BOOK! The Bu$h Administration lies and soldiers die! They have destroyed the military for at least a generation maybe more. Don't join the military! It's not worth it.

11: You don't have to

Hate to state the obvious, but the only reason for this book to exist is to give blowhards a bully pulpit to rant about things of which they know very little

No one has to join the military. Do or not, it's your choice.

WOW...I have never read a book so anti-military. I am a hispanic member of the armed forces (Marines) by choice not by the "poverty draft". I saw the title and it peeked my interests. I wanted to know the 10 good reasons and the more I read the more I was just amazed on how much the author hates the military. Everything in the book is a "MAY HAPPEN" not "WILL HAPPEN". Granted does what the author says occur... sure anything can happen, but the author makes it seem like it will happen. If you really want to know about the military and military life then ask someone who is in the military. Ask them questions whats it like, why did you stay in, why did you get out...don't rely on a book written by someone who was never in the miliary. Thats like asking a nun what its like to be a porn star.