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Old 08-09-2011, 10:11 AM
dekeguy dekeguy is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Virginia and London
Posts: 1,025
[QUOTE=Drolefille;2077434]Or you die or are disabled (Physically or TBI) and unable to work, or suffer from PTSD or commit suicide.[QUOTE]

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Dulci et decorum est pro patria mori. Although I prefer General Patton's comment that the idea is not to die for your country but to make the other poor dumb son of a bitch die for his! [dekeguy]
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I don't think there's a real problem with JROTC but there are, obviously, very serious risks involved in the actual military. Particularly during a time when we're fighting multiple wars and have been at war for the past decade. It doesn't serve anyone to understate or ignore that.[Drolefille]

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Life in the real world by its very nature involves risk. Service in the military can be seen as about as risky as being a cop or a firefighter. The points one gets for service come not from cooling it in a nice safe place but going out in harm's way and taking responsibility and demonstrating courage, determination, and savvy.
With opportunity comes responsibility and with service comes a bit of danger. No one in the Army ignores or understates this. The more training, maturity, and savvy one can acquire the better prepared one will be. When one understands the risks and possibilities one is far better prepared to deal with the downside of it all.
As is the case with very many units which have been forward deployed my outfit keeps tabs on one another. I lost no one KIA but some of my troopers were wounded (I caught one myself). None of us have committed suicide, some stayed in the Army, some like Cincinnatus have returned to civilian life, all (I guess) have experienced some degree of PTSS but we deal with it, work through it, and drive on. Life is life, deal with it!
There is one other point which I think is worth mentioning. Through my readings and my Dad's stories of way back when, during the Viet Nam War, I found that ROTC was excluded from very many schools and universities. The recruiting pool was very limited and the services had to lower standards for selecting leaders. It is apparent to me that this situation brought about Lieut. Calley and the Mei Lai Massacre tradegy. Unprepared leaders not ready to lead and command and take responsibility for what they and their soldiers do or fail to do! So, I believe that JROTC begins the process of forming the leader who is responsible and able to command with some degree of wisdom and honor.
dekeguy
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Last edited by dekeguy; 08-09-2011 at 10:14 AM.
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