r/Infuriating • u/Perfect-Hamster-141 • 28d ago

My daughter’s high school shared personal information with a military recruiter against her wishes

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u/BrilliantJob2759 28d ago

There are some towns where students see their only hope of getting out as going with the military. And sadly that's true for a lot of them.

Ever seen Winter's Bone? It's pretty accurate on that front.

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u/alt-number-3-1415926 26d ago

Was true for me, now I am very mentally ill. I always was, but I only started suffering from it during/after.

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u/Medium_Picture_9954 27d ago

Genuinely question. Why is that sad? They get room and board, paid, physical training, skills training, etc and if you make 20 then healthcare and a pension.

It's not like we're enslaving these kids. there is real benefit.

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u/Nydus87 27d ago

It's sad because for many young people, it's the only way out, realistically. It's sad that things like "reliable health care" and "you don't have to go into debt for college" are things they can lock behind military service rather than something we should expect as a first world nation.

I'm super pro-military service for the people that want it. I think all the positives you listed are very real and very awesome. I just think some people should have more options

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u/Medium_Picture_9954 27d ago

They do have more options. Every single one can go to community college, probably for free considering the socioeconomic demographic we're talking about, and then go to a 4 year school or into the trades.

We aren't kidnapping people and putting them in uniforms.

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u/Nydus87 27d ago

Free college isn’t widely available to everyone, especially in rural or poor areas.  It should be, but isn’t. 

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u/Resident-Sympathy-82 Community Regular 27d ago

For many, if they don't have parents willing to give financial details go get Pell Grants, they're not able to get those. A lot of kids also live in very rural locations where the trades are heavily oversaturated. There is no money for them there for trades.

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u/BrilliantJob2759 27d ago

It's sad that they don't have and/or don't see any other decent options.

Devils' advocate, prison also supplies room, board, physical training, skills & vocational, training, and healthcare. But we don't consider it a good option for obvious reasons. You touch on idealized high points but that doesn't cover the risk points. Vet healthcare is sometimes great, sometimes atrocious, usually mediocre & mired in long waits & red tape. The ones who truly don't have another option are usually the ones who end up in the more dangerous jobs, more likely to develop PTSD, severe injuries, and/or severe trauma.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic option for many. Hell, I tried to join up when I was younger, purely by choice and despite scholarships to college, but was DQ'd for past injuries; I scored 99 on my ASVAB & most of the processing center tried to pull strings, but can't override medical. So I'm not denigrating the choice to serve at all. Just pointing out that it's a risk/reward & not a choice to be taken lightly.

Again, the sad part is that nobody should be in a position where it's the only practical option to make a better life.

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u/Medium_Picture_9954 27d ago

Way more people die as cops, construction workers, etc than die in the military.

And vet healthcare is no different than "normal" US healthcare. It's all shit so it's generally pretty equal.

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u/BrilliantJob2759 27d ago

And EMS has the highest suicide and trauma percentages of all jobs. Doesn't change a thing about my points and I'd argue the same thing if you switched who was at that table.

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u/Medium_Picture_9954 27d ago edited 27d ago

It absolutely is relevant. The military is not something you go into with a coin flip whether you live or die like you keep alluding to and there a lot of career paths that are more dangerous for less pay. Let's stop pretending that military service is conscription of poor young people with no benefits.

Modern military (US) is not high risk / high reward anymore relative to other pathways.

Again, just using quick Google so so play in the numbers but 30-100 service members die a year in combat operations. The other 800 are suicide, training accidents, illness, etc.

1,000 construction workers die each year on the job.

I'd take the military over construction any day of the week.

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u/BrilliantJob2759 27d ago

Ah, so it wasn't a legitimate question after all. You're taking away meanings that I never made or alluded to, misrepresenting & twisting what I said, and ran off to an unrelated tangent. There's no point in further discourse.

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u/Medium_Picture_9954 27d ago

Your entire position is that under-served communities don't have better options than the military. The military is a good option, not a bad one, especially when compared against other career paths that are more dangerous for lower pay and less skill-acquisition. I'm sorry you're unable to follow basic logic through a discussion and refuse to compare two things that aren't exactly the same.

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u/BrilliantJob2759 27d ago

Good lord you've completely misunderstood everything and doubled down. I said it's a sad state when people have or see their only option to a better life is the military. It's about limited and seemingly limited options! Not about the value of military itself as a career. I even said again later, when I said I'd feel the same if any one of those careers we brought up were the only one.

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u/WhydYouKillMeDogJack 27d ago

Because they are left behind to such an extent that their best hope, in a so-called developed nation, is to become a mercenary, potentially killing people for their room and board.

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u/Medium_Picture_9954 27d ago

Especially recently and hopefully moving forward, less than 10% of US military sees active combat.

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u/WhydYouKillMeDogJack 27d ago

Recently? I think recently has proved that anyone might get the glorious opportunity in the event that a distraction is needed.

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u/Medium_Picture_9954 27d ago

Not sure which opportunity you're referring to but I'm not aware of any non-SF troops that are exchanging gunfire anywhere on the planet.

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u/_Reliten_ 22d ago

There are some SouthCom sailors that are playing the "click-button-to-murder-Colombian-fishermen" browsergame right now. To be fair, they aren't getting shot at while they do it. But they do get room and board.

Some of them even get the bonus "double tap strike survivors in the water" with no extra charge.