I'm a military brat and grew up on a base. My father was career Coast Guard, and the thing you mentioned about good living conditions was the selling point his brother-in-law told him about before he enlisted (paraphrase: you get to ride around in the place you sleep, and they feed you there).
The college crowd (of which I was one) has a tendency to look down on the military, but sometimes I almost wish I'd signed up myself for the college tuition. It can be a hard adjustment to civilian life -- my father's been retired since the 80s and for years when he was more physically able, he'd still talk about he wished he was still in. I think it saved him in many ways, as his father died when he was young. It gave him structure & meaning (he didn't go to college). It helped get him clean when he was an alcoholic. The guys he met there have been his friends for years, there really is a lasting camaraderie unlike any other.
Great article! What do you think the biggest misconception about the military is? Where I’m from, there’s only two ways to think about the military: heroes who are defending the country and should be treated with the utmost veneration; or they’re terrorists who bomb Middle East countries and drone children for oil. Do you have a different opinion of US foreign policy after joining the military vs before?
The more I think about it the more I realize you’re a kind of foil to Tanner Greer - he couldn’t pass medical review to join the military but stayed LDS, and for you it is the reverse
Nice intro, and I'll be looking forward to the rest of the series.
I have no military experience. My paternal grandfather was in the Navy at the tail end of WW2 as an enlisted man. In my junior year of HS I got a letter about Navy ROTC opportunities (probably completely unrelated to my grandfather's service); I talked about it very briefly with my dad who didn't seem too opposed to the idea, but I quickly gave it up. The Air Force had been my dream because I wanted to be a pilot, but I started needing glasses around 14 and figured that was the end of it. (Yes, I realize the Navy has pilots too.) Mainly, I didn't think I could handle the physical fitness requirements (I probably weighed about 275 in high school and couldn't manage to jog a mile at a time), and I also figured my mom would have a conniption fit - she wouldn't even let me play sports in high school because she was so afraid of me getting hurt.
Also, in retrospect, I would have graduated in the spring of 2001, right in time for our 20 year adventure in Afghanistan to begin, so maybe I dodged a bullet, figuratively and perhaps literally (although, again, other than Seals and aviators, not much risk for naval officers in that conflict).
I did talk to one of my professors in college, who had been in the army (Airborne), and he told me in no uncertain terms that somebody like me would have been completely miserable as an enlisted man. So I am curious to know how somebody as intelligent as you handled having to take orders from people you knew you were smarter than; hopefully the rest of the series will address this in some way.
Fascinating! I’ve always strongly discouraged my son from going into the military because I thought he’d be led into some disaster involving killing civilians or being killed but maybe you can change my mind. Then again, his dream was to look Iike Schwarzenegger and get a big gun. That’s where the fantasy began and ended, seems like you maybe had more perspective than an 8th grade boy.
Holy fuck this is a complete surprise. I was thinking you were a permanent substitute teacher. I was looking at your excessive online-ness, your lack of college credentials (speedrunning online courses), education shitposting, and "what would be the most amusing profession for someone trolling Libs-of-TikTok?"
This does raise the question of how LSAT tutoring got involved, but also seems to explain some of your distance from academia (teachers have strong financial incentives to get a Master's, usually paid for by the school, so the ties there are very strong). Also, I think it outs you as being young enough to count as a borderline zoomer.
Really interesting & totally unexpected, Trace!
I'm a military brat and grew up on a base. My father was career Coast Guard, and the thing you mentioned about good living conditions was the selling point his brother-in-law told him about before he enlisted (paraphrase: you get to ride around in the place you sleep, and they feed you there).
The college crowd (of which I was one) has a tendency to look down on the military, but sometimes I almost wish I'd signed up myself for the college tuition. It can be a hard adjustment to civilian life -- my father's been retired since the 80s and for years when he was more physically able, he'd still talk about he wished he was still in. I think it saved him in many ways, as his father died when he was young. It gave him structure & meaning (he didn't go to college). It helped get him clean when he was an alcoholic. The guys he met there have been his friends for years, there really is a lasting camaraderie unlike any other.
Good luck as you move onto new things.
Great article! What do you think the biggest misconception about the military is? Where I’m from, there’s only two ways to think about the military: heroes who are defending the country and should be treated with the utmost veneration; or they’re terrorists who bomb Middle East countries and drone children for oil. Do you have a different opinion of US foreign policy after joining the military vs before?
Hi Trace. Something reminded me of this post today, so I came back and re-read it. I just wanted to say, I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of the series!
The more I think about it the more I realize you’re a kind of foil to Tanner Greer - he couldn’t pass medical review to join the military but stayed LDS, and for you it is the reverse
Nice intro, and I'll be looking forward to the rest of the series.
I have no military experience. My paternal grandfather was in the Navy at the tail end of WW2 as an enlisted man. In my junior year of HS I got a letter about Navy ROTC opportunities (probably completely unrelated to my grandfather's service); I talked about it very briefly with my dad who didn't seem too opposed to the idea, but I quickly gave it up. The Air Force had been my dream because I wanted to be a pilot, but I started needing glasses around 14 and figured that was the end of it. (Yes, I realize the Navy has pilots too.) Mainly, I didn't think I could handle the physical fitness requirements (I probably weighed about 275 in high school and couldn't manage to jog a mile at a time), and I also figured my mom would have a conniption fit - she wouldn't even let me play sports in high school because she was so afraid of me getting hurt.
Also, in retrospect, I would have graduated in the spring of 2001, right in time for our 20 year adventure in Afghanistan to begin, so maybe I dodged a bullet, figuratively and perhaps literally (although, again, other than Seals and aviators, not much risk for naval officers in that conflict).
I did talk to one of my professors in college, who had been in the army (Airborne), and he told me in no uncertain terms that somebody like me would have been completely miserable as an enlisted man. So I am curious to know how somebody as intelligent as you handled having to take orders from people you knew you were smarter than; hopefully the rest of the series will address this in some way.
Fascinating! I’ve always strongly discouraged my son from going into the military because I thought he’d be led into some disaster involving killing civilians or being killed but maybe you can change my mind. Then again, his dream was to look Iike Schwarzenegger and get a big gun. That’s where the fantasy began and ended, seems like you maybe had more perspective than an 8th grade boy.
Holy fuck this is a complete surprise. I was thinking you were a permanent substitute teacher. I was looking at your excessive online-ness, your lack of college credentials (speedrunning online courses), education shitposting, and "what would be the most amusing profession for someone trolling Libs-of-TikTok?"
This does raise the question of how LSAT tutoring got involved, but also seems to explain some of your distance from academia (teachers have strong financial incentives to get a Master's, usually paid for by the school, so the ties there are very strong). Also, I think it outs you as being young enough to count as a borderline zoomer.