Thread: Braggin by Proxy

Originally Posted by Theseus

It's one of the great disappointments in my life that I was never able to serve. I came from a long line of military men. One grandfather was in the 101st and the other served as a photographer for the Army Air Corps. My dad served in the Air Force in Germany. An uncle retired from the Air Force after 30+ years as a Senior Master Seargent. These among the many in my family.

Unfortunately, by the time I finished high school, I had two bad knees, a bum shoulder and enough concussions that I suffered migraines and slightly diminished vision.Even the Army wouldn't take me at that point.

Sorry for the somewhat rambling, off topic post.

Please do not be disappointed, your family did enough. God had/has other plans for you. I have met many men who for whatever reason were denied the opportunity to serve our country and tended to beat themselves up for it, unnecessarily.
On the flip side of that coin are the young men who scoff at the meer notion of serving our country yet feel they have the right to ridicule the military. When I was younger I got in many arguments with many hypocrites who thought they had the right to complain about my country but were not man enough to raise their right hand and put on a uniform.
It sounds like you might have a rather low opinion of the quality of people the Army will take compared to the other branches.

Thank you for clarifying. My father served at the end of WWII, but just as a clerk in Chicago and Seattle, so I have no family connection and the social world of the military and of military families is a mystery to me. I see how a catch phrase would feel empty, and hope the earnestness of my thanks always carries.

Originally Posted by Toymkr

Just as the Marines use the shortened version and say “Semper Fi”, those in the Navy who actually know it, use “Non sibi.” Now with that said, it’s also not really an “official” moto, but it works. As for giving advice to the younger generation, I’ve come to maintain that if they have some idea what they want to do when they get out, then they need to find out which service teaches that particular field to everyone else and that’s where they go. As an example, if you want to be a civilian first responder as a career, then Air Force Pararescue. I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys and a lot of it for personal first-hand reasons. I did 10 as a Navy Deep Diver, ’84 to ’94. Best compliment I ever got was when a Seal called us a bunch of crazy “M. F-ers”.
Now to stir the pot…
The odd ball to this logic is that the Army trains all of it’s own people, but that’s cuz they do things their own way… probably mostly cuz they can’t really comprehend how it’s supposed to be done. And somebody mentioned the Air Force resort trips being 90 days… that’s because they can’t be away from Mommy for longer than that.

After doing some research I discovered the unofficial motto of the Navy. I must say that I am impressed; Not self but country. In a way it goes well with the Marine Corps' Semper Fi.
When I am privileged enough to speak with young people and offer advice when they are looking at the military I always spend time trying get to know the person before making any type of recommendation. When I was in the Corps I used to always recommend the Corps to anyone I thought would make a good Marine. Now that I am older and I hope wiser, I try to make recommendations that will benefit the person first then the military. The recommendations go along your lines of thought; people who are compassionate about aircraft and travel would be recommended toward the Navy, Highspeed adventurous individuals who want to save lives would be recommended toward the PJ service; both of those recommendations would also have to be made to people who I thought had the mental capacity to complete the training. Young men who nothing more than to serve the country and who are intelligent with that unspoken quality only found in US Marines are directed toward the Marine Corps. Without breaking my elbow, I have been fairly successful at guiding young people toward a branch of service over the last 30 years, most went on to have successful careers even if it was only one hitch.
I think the Army trains it's own people because it makes it easier to introduce changes and it is by far cheaper to use soldiers than to maintain the often times overpaid civilian employees who think they are far more valuable than they truly are. Sorry if I have stepped on toes but I have seen too many people in uniform replaced by civilians and it did nothing but cause problems, especially in time of war. For those who are concerned about the cost of the current wars, you can thank your politicians who chose to replace soldiers with civilians in many jobs and pay them 10 to 20 times as much for the same job! I won't get on that soapbox because it will only drive up my blood pressure and piss off many people.
I met a few good civilian instructors throughout my career but by far the best instructors were ALWAYS men in uniform.
I also addressed the Air Force "short tours" and what they call "long tours". I used to laugh at my older brother, the Chief Master Sergeant when we discussed overseas tours. He once complained about having to do a "long tour" of 120 in Kuwait. I was once told by another retired chief who got quite animated when several of us were giving him the business about Air Force overseas "tours", he said they are kept short because they don't want to burn out their people to keep retention high and it also had something to do with their low numbers of personnel.
Again, no toes meant to be stepped on. All inter-service jousting should be able to be dished out and taken in kind; if you can't take it, don't dish it out. Worms are always good for fishing.

Originally Posted by roughkype

Thank you for clarifying. My father served at the end of WWII, but just as a clerk in Chicago and Seattle, so I have no family connection and the social world of the military and of military families is a mystery to me. I see how a catch phrase would feel empty, and hope the earnestness of my thanks always carries.

Of course you are family-connected. Your father served, which makes you conected. He must have shared some stories with you.
As far as what is job was, it is irrelevant, he served. Be glad he didn't have to deal with combat and the lifelong healing process for those who do the actual fighting.
When people get true insight about the military some are shocked to discover that les than 25% of the armed forces actually engage the enemy in direct combat while the remainder serve in some sort of support role. Without those support personnel those of us in combat arms could not do our jobs. My numbers may not be completely accurate for the current wars, they were they numbers I found in books over the years but they sure feel right from what I saw in Iraq.
I would gladly shake your hand if we ever met in person. From what you have stated here, I doubt you have to worry about anyone thinking your expressions of gratitude are anything less than genuine. Thank you.