What's in a word - MILITARY

[neonlyte]

Using the word 'military' seems to provoke reaction. It set me wondering about the pre-conceptions we associate with the word 'military', not the activities of 'the military' who are, in the end, just the servants of the government and the people.

My on-line dictionary gives the following synonyms for military: aggressive, armed, army, chauvinistic, combatant, combative, fighting, for war, martial, militant, militaristic, noncivil, soldierly, warlike, warmongering. An interesting collection.

As Lou clarified elsewhere (and others on other threads), anyone who has or had family and / or friends who served in the military is quite likely to have an all-together different opinion of 'military', the word.

It is worth stating I have the highest respect for the men and women who take up arms to defend our liberties, I sometimes question the intentions of the politicians who order their activities.

So here is a challenge of sorts: without resorting to argument about the activities of the military, the rights and wrongs of what actions they undertake at government bequest, what does the word 'military' trigger in your consciousness. Do you have a funny tale, personal experience (see below), does the word fill you with dread (it's beginning to when I see it on Lit.), do you have a family tradition, did you serve, would you serve? Anything you like - but no politics, please.

To kick this off, I'll tell you what 'coloured' my view of the word military.

I went to university in Portsmouth, England when the harbour was one of the largest naval harbours in England. Friday and Saturday nights in the town were absolute hell. Naval rating considered university students to be faggots and I think it was against 'ship rules' to return to base without having beaten a student. Fortunately, naval ratings were not allowed into university dances and bars - they were easy to spot, they were the ones with the short hair - but getting from digs to the haven of student only premises was a lottery. We don't have a military tradition in my family, the nearest we get is my father at the end of WW2 who apparently rode a horse into a china shop in Baden-Baden, quite what he was doing on a horse has never been satisfactorily explained. I associate the word military with the naval ratings who made my life uncomfortable without due cause, and the idiots who allowed my father onto a horse. I would not be honest if I did not admit to misgivings when I hear or read the word military, most of time they are political and not militaristic misgivings.

 

[rgraham666]

Me? Summed up best by General Sir John Hackett.

The essence of a soldier is not to kill, but to die. You offer yourself (to the greater good)

I am somtimes sorry I didn't join up. I often feel like a right hypocrite going on about personal sacrifice for society when I didn't do so myself.

On the other hand, had I joined I would probably have ended up like that poor bastard in Full Metal Jacket, sitting on a toilet with an M-14 in my mouth and my brains decorating the wall behind me.

I barely survived the rather mild conformity of civilian life. I doubt that I would have survived the rigidity of the military.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

I have an uncle who is an Army man. He served for many years before retiring and going into the Reserves. Last year, he had to go to Iraq. He has nightmares now about what he saw and experienced while there. Having someone close to you in the military makes it personal when others say stupid things about soldiers.

 

[Op_Cit]

The word military is neutral for me.

I do not have blanket/blind respect for members of the military any more than I would for plumbers or mechanics.

The people that I have respect for are those like some Americans during the Spanish Civil war who dropped what they were doing, got onto a boat (with their own money) and went someplace else to help others not related. The ones that weren't getting paid and wouldn't receive material reward directly or indirectly. (I don't even care what side they were fighting for.)

Those who choose free will, those who are not signed up with threat of death or imprisonment if they disobey have my respect, because they have most control over their own conscience and actions.

The existence of an organized military in the U.S. is either a great irony, or a terrible distasteful joke on its founding.

Yeah, I would have joined when I was younger and I did not fully appreciate one's true responsibility. I don't dislike people in the military, I just do not give them undue credit.

(And, I'm not at all anti-war--parabellum could be my middle name--, just anti-stupid.)

 

[Guest]

This is what I said in another thread, an edited version, anyway:

I know a lot of men (in the UK), who have served or are serving in the military. Some are/were family, some are close friends, one is very special to me indeed. Some (one) of them served in the first Gulf War, and is now away helping to train troops in another country (who also happens to be one of the smartest and kind-hearted men I know.). Now, I wouldn't say all those I know are blindly happy with what their country is doing in Iraq right now, but I know for sure that when they joined up, they joined up with a good heart and clear conscience - they were doing so to help protect our freedom and way of life, in whatever capacity was required of them. They also swore an oath of allegiance to their country, and in doing so, to their government. I wouldn't call anyone in the military "blindly happy" with anything. Please, give them more credit than that. They are merely doing their duty, anything less wouldn't be right for them.

If it wasn't for our armed forces, past and present, our way of life wouldn't be what it is today.

I'm not looking to argue, just saying how I feel and showing my appreciation of those who have served and are serving in my name.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for all who serve my country.

Lou

 

[Guest]

Having someone close to you in the military makes it personal when others say stupid things about soldiers.

Yep, same goes for me.

They are upholders and defenders of our freedom and many of them make the ultimate sacrifice. Even those who don't pay that highest of costs live with what they went through for the rest of their lives. Being a soldier, or anyone in the military, is NOT a soft option and not something they do because they have no aptitude to do anything else. All I know are the bravest, kindest, most compassionate men I know. And they ARE smart. They have to be to survive on the battlefield.

Lou

 

[minsue]

For me, military has different connotations than soldier. They are not interchangable in my mind. I have all sorts of mixed emotions about the former, not the latter.

 

[Guest]

Just to clarify, my thoughts and words in this thread are as a response to something said about people in the military.

The word military still evokes a similar reaction from me, though, because the military, as a whole, is made up of individuals, not faceless numbers.

 

[neonlyte]

I have an uncle who is an Army man. He served for many years before retiring and going into the Reserves. Last year, he had to go to Iraq. He has nightmares now about what he saw and experienced while there. Having someone close to you in the military makes it personal when others say stupid things about soldiers.

I feel this really is the difference in what triggers inside when the word military is used, particularly for me. I have no family tradition, or friends, who served. So the word triggers a different response, less about the individuals and more about the overall, my view is coloured, but not against the military, just to question the use to which they are sometimes put.

They are upholders and defenders of our freedom and many of them make the ultimate sacrifice. Even those who don't pay that highest of costs live with what they went through for the rest of their lives. Being a soldier, or anyone in the military, is NOT a soft option and not something they do because they have no aptitude to do anything else. All I know are the bravest, kindest, most compassionate men I know. And they ARE smart. They have to be to survive on the battlefield.
Lou

Quite right Lou - I'm not sure I would ever have had the courage to enlist and the thought of living with some of the horrors of war leaves me with a chill. You see images of the soldiers befriending the peoples of Iraq, and other places, and you see their humanity. Unfortunately the media is all too interfested in portraying the 'bad apple' and one bad apple in any environment can cloud opinion.

I was just thinking the military needs better PR - then I thought of Monty Python and the MARY Recruitment Centre.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

My feelings about "the military" are very confused and ambiguous.

Having grown up during the Viet Nam era, "military" kind of evokes a kneejerk wince of fear in me. "The Military" were those grim guys who wanted to draft my ass and send me off to die for no good purpose.

Also, I'm not one of those people who believes that putting a jerk in uniform makes him anything more than a jerk in uniform. I don't look at soldiers as being inherently noble. And although the armed forces have done great things towards protecting America, I certainly don't think that everything they do is for the sake of my freedom and well-being. Viet Nam had nothing to do with my freedom, and everything to do with Lyndon Baines Johnson's mistaken understanding of history.

On the other hand, I've always been fascinated by military stuff, and I can't help but feel proud that the USA has such a kick-ass armed forces.

Someone once said that every man thinks less of himself for not having been a soldier, and I think that's true. For me at least.

Then again, I remember going downtown to the first memorial Day service in which Viet Nam vets were turning out in force. Must have been like 1980 or so. I stood on the curb and watched my contemporaries march and limp past, many of them wounded, many of them proud, many of them angry, and the feelings I experienced were so complex and conflicted that I haven't sorted them out to this day.

 

[cantdog]

My associations with the word are varied.

I have known decorated heroes, I have seen that these people were killed, sometimes in an act of analloyed altruism, as young Clair Thurston was. My favorite grandfather was a captain in the army.

That grandfather was treated very shabbily by it, though. My brother was Airborne, and they jailed him repeatedly, among other poor treatment.

I have also been systematically lied to by the recruitment branch, who sought me out personally in order to lie to me specifically about the benefits of enlistment, more than once. Other people in that branch of the military did the same to my daughter. Blatant and inconsistent lies.

I have friends whose relatives were raped and despoiled by troops in uniform, and so do a lot of people in the southeast part of the United States. Yet many of those Southern people love the uniformed services of the Union with a fervor their great grandparents, watching burn all they once had owned and being left to bury their dead, would deeply wonder at. All these things, so long as they happened to other people, can be set aside, evidently.

I admit it: the things which happened to me personally have had the most effect. Losing Clair Thurston increased my respect. Knowing particular veterans of Viet Nam increased my respect. Watching my brother's struggles with them increased my disrespect. The lying, a negative. The squandering, the corruption, some of which occurred before my eyes at the base fire station, a tiny cog in the vast structure, led me to conclude that here was not the abode of honor, certainly not in peacetime. Young men and women become military young men and women often for exemplary reasons and are mercilessly exploited for base purposes.

To hear that something is "military," then, puts me on my guard against it. In my experience the best of people do despicable things there, often enough so that if something military approaches, you should be wary .

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I'll tell you one thing additional: I think the current appearance of US troops is frightening. I mean the physical appearance: the new helmets, the kevlar vests, the goggles, the helmet cams, even their weapons. They look scary and inhuman, like Star Wars storm troopers.

When I imagine what it must be like to be an Iraqi civilian, say, and see these guys coming at you, no matter how benign their intentions, I get the deep shudders. They're just scary.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Virtually all the men in my family have been in the military, mostly non-US. Two have served in the US Army and one in the Marines and saw action in the Persian Gulf. One of my closest friend was a US Army captain for years and spent time in both Bosnia and Iraq - he's now DoD. Like others who've posted in this thread, I find it hard to separate 'the military' from individuals.

I understand why our military is necessary, though I don't always agree on where our leaders send them. In general, I tend to think of them as boys, very young men, who put their lives on the line, though I know many of the officers are older.

Otherwise, I'm a sucker for a man in uniform. Swoon!

 

[nightdancer2876]

The first thing that comes to mind is my family obligation. I am the first in seven generations not to go into the military. Its not for lack of trying. The first time I tried, I got my ASVAB scores, my + pregnancy test and my acceptance letter from Stanford all in the same week. So it was out then, as I would have been a single mother, and there was no one that I could have keep her while I was away. But thats another story. I tried a few years later and because I dont breathe so well *shrugs*, I couldnt. If you have asthma and 86% lung capacity, you cant. So, it kind of tweaks a little that I am the first not to and there is much of my family that looks down on me for breaking tradition (Hmmmmm..."The gas chamber in Basic could have killed her, but dammit, she shoulda tried..." )

Anyway, the next thing that comes to mind is my WAY hot, but perpetually 22 year old, exhusband in Class A's...mmmmmmmm Thats still keeping me entertained, to be honest.


D

 

[elsol]

A piece of paper that allows me to look at someone when the shit hits the fan and say "You first!"

Not as heroic as a firemen on a day to day basis.

Not as likely to put a bullet in a minority for reaching for a wallet as a cop.


Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Dar~]

Six years ago if you had asked me what came to mind when you said military, I woudl have laughed and said Jetters who date thirteen year olds. But now as an adult and a woman married to an Airman, I can look clearly at why I had those notions.
In my home town, there is an Airbase and the girls from Middle school up dress themselves up trashy and try to hook up with these 18 year old boys. They lie and I remember thinking "I don't get this" when I was thirteen and hearing some girl talk about the "Jetter" she was dating. WTF!!!

Now The military is to me our life as a family. It's the one thing that can take my husband away from our children and myself, but its also the thing that gaurantees I can take my kid to the doctor adn not worry about how I will pay. It's my home, my protector, and its my husband. Being in the military has made one thing happen for sure to my way of thinking. Now the military isn't just a faceless thing, it's my husband. It's my neighbors and it is my friends. They all are a part of this big thing called military and now it is impossible for me to separate the people from the thing.

 

[snooper]

Just remember ...

Without the military, the biggest disputes on the Lit forums would not happen.

I refer, of course, to the Queen's English versus US English disagreements.

They would not happen because the Brits would be speaking German and the Americans would be speaking Japanese. When you go to bad-mouth the military, remember that, "at the going down of the sun, and in the morning".

 

[cantdog]

Parable of the Tribes

snooper places his finger squarely on the first problem of history. Schmookler called it the parable of the tribes.

Imagine ten tribes, equally organized, equally armed. None can reliably get the best of the other. If one develops a new way to organize itself, more effiently from the point of view of projecting power, then the others must inevitably also change. Usually they adopt the innovation whole, but they have to react in some way or cease to exist separately as a tribe. The new thing might change the character of the culture, and I suppose frequently does. People in the tribe may even have to live in a less ideal manner, or lose some essential virtue of their way of living before the innovation occurred. But they must adapt or go under.

This is unfortunately one of the engines of history.

Britain would be speaking more German, he says. Moreover, it would be half a century under a fascist state. Same for America. But language aside, there is a pretty good argument that could be made here that the fascist ideas have been incorporated already into the fabric of the respective cultures. The parable's rule rather guaranteed that it would be so. To what extent, over that half century, the cultures were distorted by them is probably best evaluated another half century hence, since it is clearly a political issue now. Some embrace the secret police, others resist the idea, but all can see that something has indeed changed.