Quote Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT View Post
Alex, here are my thoughts about joining the armed forces...
1) I don´t know how they handle things in NL, but here in Canada, they expect you to sign up for a few years.
2) Look into the living arrangements that they will make for you and your wife.
3) You never know when your life will be in the hands of some random idiot above you.. Even in peace-time you are risking your life, like those 40 or so Chilean soldiers who died of hypothermia during a training exercise thanks to the moronic idiotic cretins in command.
4) I know you are strongly religious and being a marine can put you in conflict with ¨Thou shalt not kill.¨
With all that being said, I am considering signing up myself, but I will have to do a lot more research before I put my X on the piece of paper.
Both of you thank you for your comments.

If I do sign up I do have to sign up for a few years. Very true. I'm taking that into account though. Because if I like being a marine (and selection is VERY heavy over here) I don't think I'll want to switch jobs even if I could.

As for living arangements I'll be well paid even during my training time. Plus I don't live very far from the main Dutch base right now (less than an hour's drive, not Den Helder though, the Marine base is in Doorn)

I can appreciate the sentiment on having your life in someone else's hands. However I'll be going into officers training, I won't be just another grunt. However point taken.

The Religion I follow is very much on personal responsibility. I would not feel bad about it. Especially since the Dutch militairy isn't very big on "black ops" and assasination attempts etc. It's mostly a peace keeping organisation.

Mind you I'm still at the research stage myself. I'll be talking to my dad about it and also my grandpa who's been in the Dutch Marines myself.