[Ford Prefect]

Yeah I really just enjoyed that he said "masturbate in school."

Although I will take this opportunity to suggest that the workload of most grad students is such that they have no time to masturbate.

[Nuclear1]

If you're talking about the types in infantry school, sure, I've got no quarrel with you.

Just about every other job in every service, though, I'd have to disagree. That might be because I'm out here at an intel school and all of the smartest people in each branch tends to come through here, but I think my earlier points still stand. My dorm chief from Basic came out here with me, and his dad's a millionaire. Another was in flight school before he joined, another set to take over his father's steel mill in Philadelphia, and yet another graduated as a political science major and had several think tanks looking to hire her. In fact, I think I have actually met very few of those people who truly joined out of desperation, and they either washed out in Basic or are in low-skill jobs like Security Forces or cooks.

Point is, I think you're unfairly labeling the US military as the same from Vietnam, which it is far from. If anything is attributed to the US being less-than-effective in post-WW2 conflicts it's either guerilla warfare or the generally negative outlook on conflict that America has developed after Vietnam.

[Fearless Leader]

ok ok ok, allow me to interject.

I work with a rich boy, and I think there should be fewer of them in the army, he is retarded as hell and thinks somebody will bail him out every time he f***s up or screws around till he cant get anything done before it needs to be. He takes drama way to seriously, and situations that effect people living and dieing like it nothing. F***ing rich b****. He has been with us for a year and still acts like a new guy. He joined because he got a bad grade in college and wanted to pay of his student loans.

Then I work with a man in his 30's that went to school for 8 years (I dont know what degree that is) he was making over 100000 a year working for a private company, he joined because he wanted to give something back to the country that gave so much to him.

I also work with a guy that  was a certified automotive technician that worked at one of those high end speed shops that takes cars that have 500hp and put it up to 1000hp. the kind where people write them blank checks, nobody knows more about cars than this guy. He joined the army because he wanted to change his career.

I joined a few months after high school. Why? I dont know, I had good enough grades, graduated with honors, I had my choice of schools, nobody had more extracurricular activities and better grades than I had. I did it because I could, I didnt have a reason.
 
People join the army for all kinds of reasons, 12 friends I went to school with joined the marines, air force, navy , or army. There are more that are going to school and plan to come in as officers. Nuclear1 is right, few people join out of desperation.

[redsniper]

I joined a few months after high school. Why? I dont know, I had good enough grades, graduated with honors, I had my choice of schools, nobody had more extracurricular activities and better grades than I had. I did it because I could, I didnt have a reason.

I find the fact that you made such a crucial life decision on a whim very comforting.

[NGTM-1R]

Perhaps. But change always comes most effectively in the groundswell from below rather than the lightning bolt from above. It's cruel, and it's evil, certainly, but it's not stupid. If Radical Islam won't feed you...surely you can fill in the rest.

Phew, good thing us westerners aren't trying to hold ourselves to a better standard.

I don't agree with it, I merely wish to point out it's not quite as bat**** crazy as you might think.

I take it you don't actually, you know, know all that many active-duty personnel.

Not many, no. What, I require personal or direct experience with the service to disagree with soldier worship?

No, but it helps if you don't talk out of your ass in the process.

[achtung]

The Trolls - Stop feeding them

[BloodEagle]

The Trolls - Stop feeding them

But if no one feeds them, how will they grow up to be big and strong? 

[Fearless Leader]

I joined a few months after high school. Why? I dont know, I had good enough grades, graduated with honors, I had my choice of schools, nobody had more extracurricular activities and better grades than I had. I did it because I could, I didnt have a reason.

I find the fact that you made such a crucial life decision on a whim very comforting.

I find it disturbing, and whenever a high ranking officer asks me why I joined I feel awkward, Ive been yelled at because some people think Im just being a smart @$$

[Rictor]

No, that's actually extremely commendable. If more people made decisions on a whim, without necessarily being sure of their reasons of the path it would take them down, the world would be a less boring place with fewer boring people in it.

But to veer the conversation back on topic: Iran, apparently, hasn't the slightest clue what the word "strategy" means. It's almost as if Ahmadinejad is trying to destroy his nation's power. Look, I absolutely and unequivocally support Iran's right to enrich uranium. But it must be realized that the governments of the world's ~10 most powerful nations don't share that view. Fighting for principles and ideals in international politics is rather naive and ****ing useless. And as much as I would like to see the scrappy underdog win, Iran is in the process of being absolutely buried by Western governments who don't like uppity colonies making unreasonable demands. It's time to negotiate; to pull a Gaddafi, swallow one's pride and start making concessions.

[Kosh]

Well, Iran's oil production is in decline IIRC, without nuclear how else will they get enough electricity?

[achtung]

Maybe Iran running out of oil is the goal.   

[MP-Ryan]

Well, Iran's oil production is in decline IIRC, without nuclear how else will they get enough electricity?

If their leadership had a brain in their collective skulls, they'd cozy up to as many Western states as possible, sell the oil, and get the OK for supervised nuclear reactors for energy production.  Which is exactly what the majority of Iranians would support if they weren't stuck with a backwards government which is still living in the 1980s.

[Mika]

About soldiers, Blackdove's view should not be belittled. In the end, it is the soldier who will find himself eating the dirt while... Actually, I think I should drop posting under influence, but since this is good times with the alcohol promille, I shall continue. I always found the professional soldier a little bit difficult subject. He is something which on a idealistic side is quite respectable, but in the end the person himself might not be that respectable. Please remember that the infantry is still the one that takes control of the ground and wins the war, if at all possible, and most of the Army is composed of infantry, which will give its signature to the war machine.

With Iran the only thing I can say is that the law applies equivalently to everybody, or no-one at all. I don't mean to give them green card for all things, of course some supervision is needed, as in any other country using nuclear power. But should there appear solid proof for malicious intent, ready for action!

Mika

[Turambar]

Israel is always ready to fabricate proof that its neighbors are looking to create nuclear weapons!

pay no attention to the real nuclear armed rogue nation in the middle east.

[Mefustae]

Israel is always ready to fabricate proof that its neighbors are looking to create nuclear weapons!

pay no attention to the real nuclear armed rogue nation in the middle east.

Oh, snap!

[TrashMan]

Well, Iran's oil production is in decline IIRC, without nuclear how else will they get enough electricity?

If their leadership had a brain in their collective skulls, they'd cozy up to as many Western states as possible, sell the oil, and get the OK for supervised nuclear reactors for energy production.  Which is exactly what the majority of Iranians would support if they weren't stuck with a backwards government which is still living in the 1980s.

Except what would be the cost of such "sucking up"? How long would they have to suck-up to gain the the trust of the west? Decades?
What concessions would they have to make? You have no idea what those concessions would be...and how possible it is with Israel, who will be the last to trust them and will pressure the est into doing the same?