Has anyone been in the military? (Any.)

I am interested in hearing any story which you may wish to share be it tragic, comedic or heroic.  I have always been interested in the army as long as I can remember, always wishing to follow in my father's and uncles' footsteps and intrigued by the WW2 stories which my dad's old Scottish accountant whom served in the US Army used to tell (he landed at Normandy).  At one point, some years back, I even considered Sandhurst (before I came to my senses).

I was an infantryman in the U.S. Army until September 2007, but I have never seen combat - thank God.  I will be going into the Guadarrama Armor Brigade here in Spain in about a month or two.

wasted my time in the Philippine army for a year, thought I would be a good soldier... boy was I wrong. 

I hate the American influence in our army. Getting rid of the proud 1 or 2 battalion regts and replacing them with 65 battalion bohemuts, with nominal affliation. But I must say that the yanks do well in logistics.

which part? The cadet, french, or navy?

A country after my own heart. Even if this has the occupational hazard of leading to "long nineteenth century". Hey Britain got the world empire, the French got Victor Hugo and the Paris commune. Fair I say,

 

 

I did two years of US ARMY ROTC in college. Started in the fall of '03, and quit in the spring '05. Because I was not attending school via an Army ROTC scholarship, I was able to do the first two years with no military obligations. Had I completed the next semester, however, I would have been obligated to either a) complete my training and accept my commission last May, and would probably have the "honor" of participating in Dick Cheney's oil wars by now, or b) repay the US Army the full amount they had invested in my training and education.

I every much enjoyed what I have experienced of soldiering, and am not averse to war or military conflict in general. I am, however, against senseless economic conflicts meant to rectify situations when there are more practical and better ways of solving a problem. If America's problem is it's dependence on oil, it seems to me to be putting a bandaid over a shotgun wound to merely go to war and hope to influence global prices.
A better solution would be to redevelop the nation's infrastructure to rely far less heavily upon foreign fossil fuels. A national electric railway system comes to mind, as well as more highly developed inter and intracity transit routes based upon efficient train systems, cable cars and buses. Also, it provides a  good way to restart the economy, my making investment and development of such systems a public project of private interests. (sorry, a bit off-topic)

Naturally, however, if my country is threatened again, I'll join up. Two years of ROTC ought to qualify me for OCS after enlistment. Also, I know many PMCs recruit among ex-ROTC cadets. Maybe a good way to see some action, while staying out of the politics of the situation.

ROTC = Reserve Officers Training Corps. It is essentially Officer training school that takes place outside of the main military academies (West Point, Air Force Academy, Virginia Military Institute, etc). Many colleges nationwide offer the program. The Army (or whichever branch) grants scholarships to students to train and get their education for four years of college, and then gives them 8 year commissions into their respective service. Army ROTC graduates enter as a Second Lieutenant. I believe it's as Lt. Junior Grade in the Navy, etc.

OCS= Officer Candidacy School. Mostly for college graduates with no military experience. The soldier enlists and completes basic training, combat arms, and their MOS school, and then takes a twelve week officer course. If it is passed, the soldier earns a commission.

PMCs= Private Military Contractors, i.e. Blackwater USA, Aegis Defence Services (UK), etc. A fancy term for mercenary military corporations. These companies deploy soldiers in conflicts worldwide, with Iraq being the most public involvement of PMCs in recent history.

A two second wikipedia search could have turned up the results for these acronyms. They're fairly commonplace even amongst civilians, or so I always thought.

OCS: Here the equivalent is PSSC; Pakistan Short Service Course.

Originally posted by Zagros Yea... can we dispense with the acronyms and jargon, please?

Old habits are hard to change sometimes, sorry.

P.T.= Physical Training
NCOER= Non Commissioned Officer Evaluation Report

UH-60= Utility helicopter type 60. S-70 would be the civilian model