10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I may as well start out with the obvious, I am in fact in the Army and in Iraq. It's not as bad as I thought it might be, but it is still not a great place to spend a year of your life. There is some truth in this book, but a lot of it is conflated statistics and I just want people who are honestly considering serving their country to see a better picture of the whole truth. Those who are simply against this war and military service will naturally accept the book as is.
If you join the Army, you might die. You might also be injured. Your friends might die, one of mine already has. You may have to kill people (thought this is less likely, you rarely have a positive target to shoot at over here, our enemies are so cowardly) who later turn out to have been innocent. So the top of the list is completely true and accurate. It starts to fall apart from there.
I'll just go on in order of truth. I don't have time to cover all the points, but here goes. It is true that too often veterans are denied medical treatment, or at least have to wait entirely too long. This is largely because this administration continues to see fit to cut VA funding year after year, despite the two combat zones producing an entire new generation of combat veterans. Anyone in the military, or out of it, for it or against it should be up in arms about this. It is inexcusable.
Now for the slightly less than true. If you are against all war and killing other human beings, do not enlist in the military. This should be fairly obvious. It is possible to get conscientious objector status once you are in, it's just a very long drawn out process. You can refuse orders you believe are wrong: for instance, sarge tells you to go kill the little girl and her puppy. You can say, "Seargent, you really mean me to kill that little girl?" and he still says yes. You can (respectfully, because they can always ding you for disrespect) refuse to comply. The sarge will be unhappy, which means your life will be unhappy for a bit, but it will be sorted out later. "Just following orders" didn't cut it at Nuremburg and won't cut it over here.
Ah, the education benefits. If you have something in your enlistment contract, it is yours. If the military cannot honor a particular stipulation (this is somewhat rare) you can ask to leave the service. Of course you will be highly encouraged to choose another job, but .... If YOU cannot meet the training standards, you will not necessarily get what you want. That's the first the thing your hear off the bus at Basic: "We will not lower our standards for you, you must rise to meet the standards."
As for 15% of troops actually getting their education benefits. I'm not sure about that stat, but I can tell you that the big problem here is people not claiming the money. The military is very good at losing paperwork. It is also reasonably good at finding paperwork, if you are persistent. You have look out for your own interests. And that's really how I am going to sum this up. If you want to serve your country and get ahead: get it in your contract (ignore what your recruiter says, he doesn't write the contracts), claim what is rightfully yours, and PLEAE pick a job that transfers well to the outside. Like Military Police or Arabic Linguist. Meet the standards, and move on!
(I also recommend you get at least 12 to 45 credits of college BEFORE you enlist, because part time college is hard, though still doable, when deployed to Iraq!)
Thank your for your time.


Click Here to see more reviews about: 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military

A short, snappy handbook detailing why the military may need you, but you really don't need it."The Army's top recruiter, already struggling to meet his quotas this year, said ….that 2006 would be even harder, and perhaps the toughest year for recruiting since the all-volunteer force began in 1973."-The New York Times, May 13, 2005So you're walking out of school and parked at the gate is a new, bright red Ford Mustang with a hulk of a man in the front seat. He's sporting a razor cut and wraparound shades. Before you can pass he's out of the car and blocking your path. "Mind if I take a minute"-he has you by the arm now-"to tell you about the great life in today's Army and why you should seriously think about signing up?"The armed forces are having a tough time attracting new recruits lately, in no small part due to the mess in Iraq. Young people are getting wise to the many excellent reasons not to join the U.S. Military, and this handy book brings them all together, combining accessible writing with hard facts and devastating personal testimony. Contributors with firsthand experience point out the dangers facing soldiers, describe the tricks used by recruiters, and emphasize that there really are other options, even in a sluggish economy. It's essential reading for anyone thinking of signing up.Over 2,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and over 14,000 have been wounded.• Nearly 100,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq as a result of the U.S. invasion.• One in six soldiers returning from Iraq experiences mental health problems.• Two-thirds of all recruits receive no college funding from the military, and only 15 percent graduate with a four-year degree.• According to the VA, 90 percent of recent women veterans reported experiencing sexual harassment; a third were raped.

Click here for more information about 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military