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  • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    An army recruiter came to my extremely poor elementary school, and could basically say anything to us kids. Told us that if we joined the army you can get whatever food you want, at all, from the mess hall and a chef will cook it for you. And yes, being able to get food was a motivating factor for some of us.

    I asked if you could get eggs Benedict every day if you asked for it. He looked a little nonplused, then said “oh yeah sure! Every day!”

    I knew at that point he was full of it and told him so.

    • Tujio@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The rich school near me had the same thing. Navy medic came in to describe how amazing the navy treats you. Definitely not a recruiter, though. Made very clear up front that he wasn’t there recruiting. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

    • Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I will say, that experience varies wildly by branch, and even chow hall to chow hall within a branch. I was in the Marines, and the “new” chow hall on Pendleton mainside (they opened it about a year after I got there, but that was 15 years ago now) was really pretty good. Solid breakfast burrito line, an omelet station where you could get real eggs, etc. Lunch and dinner had a few options, and a panini bar.

      The chow hall we had before that one opened was a dump.

      But then, I went TDY to an Air Force base. And let me tell you, that was better than most restaurants I’ve been to.

      • sudoshakes@reddthat.com
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        3 months ago

        If the Air Force had to eat at marine corps chow halls until they could pass a DoD audit, they would pass on a month.

      • _stranger_@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I knew this post was going to end on an Air Force story when I read “varies wildly by branch”.

    • cabillaud@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Army recruiter in elementary school? Wtf? Just when you think lemmy already showed you what it’s like over there… From “it sucks” to starship troopers’s shit level.

      • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        He didn’t like his ruse exposed but tried to play it off and change the subject. The teacher was amused though

    • Biffsbraincell@lemmy.zip
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      3 months ago

      So maybe they should all be in prison, but they should probably have better food than that their prison.

    • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Ohhh that’s bad. No pay and no food makes it difficult to run a ship.

      Maybe. I would have thought there would have been brass pushed over the side just for that food but I don’t know if that’s happened.

    • apprehensivecrab1@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      For many, joining the US military is the only way out of poverty, a path to citizenship, or a way to a higher education. Some others just are victims of propaganda, or just genuinely sadistic, but unfortunately most of the people joining the military are victims of a failed education and social security system designed to bring more troops into the meat grinder.

      EDIT: Holy moly. I do not condone US imperialism at all. I am not saying that people who fall into the poverty draft get a free pass either. What I AM saying is that the US war machine is a fucked system that results in endless atrocities abroad but unfortunately will only to continue unless we dismantle the institutions that blindly draw people to the machine so that these people who would otherwise be vulnerable can wake the fuck up and turn away from it. These systems include capitalism, propaganda, imperialism, jingoism, a failed education system, etc… Chill out friends.

      • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Joining the US military means killing innocent men women and children all over the world.

        Is “wanting to escape poverty” a valid excuse to murder children? Bank robbery is a more noble profession than US militant.

        • Grilipper54@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Is surviving a reason for doing something bad?

          I’d say yes and anybody that disagrees has probably never been in that situation.

          There is a reason the military recruits the poor.

          • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            Surviving is when you go work for or McDonalds or Uber not kill brown children. Such a pathetic excuse for mass murder. As if these people had no other option. In reality becoming a mercenary mass-murderer is just a bit more lucrative than flipping burgers.

            • Fluke@feddit.uk
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              2 months ago

              Spoken like someone who’s never truly known desperation or genuine hunger. ie. One of the bourgeoisie who’d be first against the wall.

                • Fluke@feddit.uk
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                  2 months ago

                  No, I’m pointing out the hypocrisy in you pretending to know what it is to be desperate, that you can judge others in such a position.

                  I ain’t justifying diddly squat.

                  Edit: For clarification, watching the fall of the American empire in real time is both amusing and enlightening. Hopefully, it happens fast enough that I get to see the end result.

              • flandish@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                lol. seems like you know what bourgeois is huh? careful with all that edge.

              • Tomorrow_Farewell@lemmy.ml
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                2 months ago

                If you can join the most expensive military in the world, you are not nearly as desperate as, for example, people who survive in NATO without that.
                Also nowhere near as desperate as the people whose countries NATO keeps invading.

          • whereitsat@lemmy.zip
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            2 months ago

            there are lots of ways to ‘survive.’

            let me ask you question: what’s worse from a moral standpoint: stealing an old ladies purse or killing someone? what about pitching a tent on land that someone else owns? what about parking your RV in a wal-mart parking lot overnight?

            some of those things are crimes and you’ll be looked down upon even if you don’t get caught.

            so, why do we say ‘thank for your service’ and then turn around and see the thief as less than human?

            i’d rather have someone poach on my land than bust into my house and shoot me in the face. i’d think anyone would feel that way.

            • Grilipper54@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              I don’t thank people for their service. I understand that some people needed to to survive. You’re legally allowed to park in wall mart overnight with an RV at a majority of locations as well.

          • flandish@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            the reason is capitalism. but it doesn’t excuse those who voluntarily join.

          • Tomorrow_Farewell@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            You either agree that the people your empire has been invading have a right to defend themselves by eliminating your ss troops, or you think that your ss troops deserve to survive and get higher education.
            Which is it?

      • Tomorrow_Farewell@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Would it be okay, then, for me to rob, torture, and kill your family if it was the only way for me to get higher education (i.e. something that is not necessary to live)?
        What about the families these monsters kill that won’t be able to receive higher education on account of being dead or kidnapped?

      • flandish@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        i couldn’t afford college. Didn’t join. Ended up a software engineer. 🤷‍♀️

      • Tomorrow_Farewell@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        They have the option of just not going to college.

        Or do you think I should be rewarded with more university by kidnapping, torturing, and killing your family?

        • 123@programming.dev
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          2 months ago

          No, it does not. Grew up watching the non-english news, every year you would see reports of people that joined the military with that promise from recruiters and were deported at the end of their service.

  • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    My dad was on an aircraft carrier when he served. One of his favorite stories to tell was when his ship was riding out a hurricane and fishing trawlers couldn’t get into port to unload their catch. The trawlers sold the ship for next to nothing tons of the biggest shrimp they had ever seen. It took 3-4 bites to eat each shrimp. The sailors stuffed themselves on shrimp for the next week.

  • Cherries@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The latest Chinese propaganda has been posting pictures of their aircraft carrier meals.

    • TheGoldenV@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I was just wondering why this is mildly infuriating. I find it mildly hilarious. Dumb fucks joined up after the US went full mask off.

      Get what ya get and don’t throw a fit.

        • Meowsey@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          You can work and live without having to resort to bombing foreign countries. That is an insane argument to try and make.

        • wieson@feddit.org
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          2 months ago

          Besides the point, but: I have yet to see ai take jobs.

          The misguided belief in ai is costing jobs.

          But that’s also pedantry from my part.

  • chewypoops@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I mean, when you literally sign up to be cannon fodder, I don’t know what you expect. America has always treated troops and veterans like livestock. You could simply choose a career other than oppressing the third world for oil profits.

    • kestrel7_7@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Legitimately, I’d like to say I was just making some principled stand, but when I was 18, “the food is famously terrible” was a bigger part of me not joining the military than I’d like to admit 😂

  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Lots of people arguing about this in the comments, but I’m glad there’s so many people defending the position that it’s ok to do bad things if you’re poor, because that’s exactly my position. I wasn’t in the military, though, no.

    I was the guy that trafficked kids to Epstein’s Island.

    I don’t talk about it a lot because most of the time people judge me pretty harshly for it. You wouldn’t believe how many dates have walked out on me the moment I drop what I used to do for a living. I mean, look, I’m not a pedophile myself. Most of the guys I was working for were just desperate and in it for the money. I don’t support what the guys in Washington decided to pay me for. Blame them, not me.

    What was I supposed to do, work in a warehouse or a grocery store or something? What am I, some kind of chump? Fuck that. With the money I made duct taping children’s mouths shut and throwing them into my trunk, I managed to earn enough money to put myself through college, and finally persue my real passion.

    That’s right. Now I’m finally able to persue a dual major in Moral Philosophy and Women’s Studies. Also, funny coincidence, I’m a TA and I’m actually teaching one of the girls I met in my previous line of work about feminism. What a funny little coincidence!

  • k0e3@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    If the US ever tried to invade Canada, we could probably convince the soldiers to change sides with something as shitty as Tim Horton’s.

  • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    what do soldiers fighting a cruel and meaningless war expect luxury meals?