No Subject (749 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: -0.79 on 47 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by hungry_24/7 (View user info) at 2007-12-06 12:05:23 EST
I was never especially patriotic, I was grateful for my freedom, and was glad I wasn't born in Ghana or North Korea, but as for soldiers and flags and shit, I wasn't all that into it.
Then I married a soldier, and saw firsthand what some people go through for a country that really hasn't given them all that much in return. There are no sick days, there is no "I didn't feel like showing up", there is no showing up any later than ten minutes early. Uniforms have to be perfect, no strings lose, no patches on crooked, everything picture perfect or they'll dock you pay two thirds for a month; and that's just the everyday stuff.
Then there are the nights when they have guard duty so they don't see their families for twenty four to forty eight hours, and the bills that pile up because they're paid just a little less than minimum wage. And the crappy housing with scratched hardwood floors and rusty sink drains that leak, and tile grout laden with dirt and grime from the last fifty military families that lived there.
Then there's the biggest pile of crap that they wade through. Because some nights are spent lying in bed and staring up at the ceiling and just knowing that that phone is going to ring, and with it comes a meeting, then after that meeting you have three weeks to figure out how to say goodbye for a year and three months to someone that you feel like you could never part with. In three weeks you've got the core of the earth between you, and you're as far away from each other as you'll ever get.
Then there are more sleepless nights, hoping for a phonecall and dreading looking out your front wondow and seeing two marines in their class A uniforms come to your door, doing their duty as messengers of death.
Now I have a sense of Patriotism. Our president is an ass, I will not deny that, but the everyday soldier that picks up his gun and goes to work even though the pay sucks and the endless useless rules suck and being so far away from their family sucks, they still do it, for nothing more than the sense that they feel it's their duty. I think the least I can do is hang a flag in my yard and feel respect when I see a man or woman in uniform walk by.
User Reviews
Submitted by beeltea (user info) at 2007-12-07 03:05:14 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
i just don't have any patience for your ass any more. go away.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-12-06 23:47:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-12-06 16:38:48 PST (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm actually curious about who's behind this alter, as signs are pointing more and more towards alter. You're capable of writing a basic sentence, so probably not Simon, but don't take it over the top, so definitely not Method or Jonnyx.
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I dont do alters
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2007-12-06 19:38:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm actually curious about who's behind this alter, as signs are pointing more and more towards alter. You're capable of writing a basic sentence, so probably not Simon, but don't take it over the top, so definitely not Method or Jonnyx.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 17:14:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
and the cost of living which is just as high or higher than yours.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 17:02:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
taht would explain the bah,
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 16:48:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
next county over from nyc in ct.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:42:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
inion, you in cali too?
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:37:58 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
ahahaha! That's amazing!!!
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:37:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:31:27 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
but inion - you're ignoring the everyday invasion by the poor - the mexican illegals...
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what's really funny about that is in this area the illegal workers are actually complaining about not finding jobs because there are too illegal workers.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:36:51 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
new improved urbane!
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:34:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:29:22 PST (#)
Ranking: 0
um, bah is housing, you're lucky if it covers more than the rent. that's all it's designed to do is cover your actual rent and sometimes included utilities.
that also sounds like bullshit. cuz the bah for me here is $1800/mo and i can get a decent 1 bedroom for 1200/mo and i live in one of the most expensive areas in the country. so i'm gonna go with you're lying or you don't live within your means.
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sounds like bullshit to you but thats life to me,
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:31:27 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
but inion - you're ignoring the everyday invasion by the poor - the mexican illegals...
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:29:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
um, bah is housing, you're lucky if it covers more than the rent. that's all it's designed to do is cover your actual rent and sometimes included utilities.
that also sounds like bullshit. cuz the bah for me here is $1800/mo and i can get a decent 1 bedroom for 1200/mo and i live in one of the most expensive areas in the country. so i'm gonna go with you're lying or you don't live within your means.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:25:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
we're really really just not. face that. our national defense has been turned into an international offense for no good reason.
and communism isn't bad, it's just impossible. please i hope you don't think we have a real democracy too.
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agreed, communism is impossible, and we really are extorting our military power as a nation. no, we aren't a democracy we have a screwed up corrupt republic of sorts.
also Bah for this area (which is extremely expensive COL anyway) is $1400 a slummy 1 bedroom apartment in the scary part of town is $1200. we'll suffer the nasty drains and rats under the house
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:21:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
oh yeah and china and india are still too poor.
you still think hiding under a desk during an atomic attack is a good idea don't you?
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:20:05 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:14:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-12-06 11:50:11 PST (#)
Ranking: -2
If you honestly, truly believe that the reason your "husband" and the rest of the military are overseas is to defend our rights to believe in pacifism or whatever, then I suggest you get your head out of your ass and do a reality check. They're over there because of our national administration's greed and lust for money and control.
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I do not agree with the war in Iraq, I think that its a waste of everything. And I don't see any reason for our soldiers to be overseas fighting right now. But having a national defense system, and having soldiers there to fight for it makes sense when there are other more communistic countries that would invade if we didn't have a military.
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no no no no no. no.
no.
no.
see, this war TAKES AWAY our national defenses and puts them thousands of miles away from us. NO COUNTRY in the middle east has the resources to invade us. actually, besides china and india, no country at all has the resources to invade us just cuz of the sheer manpower it takes.
we're not going to get invaded.
we're really really just not. face that. our national defense has been turned into an international offense for no good reason.
and communism isn't bad, it's just impossible. please i hope you don't think we have a real democracy too.
Submitted by triangle_man (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:19:11 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
tough room
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:14:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:07:01 CST (#)
Ranking: 0
if I want sympathy I'll go play emo in a christian chat, this would definitly not be the place to get it.
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You're learning quickly...+2 for that. Unfortunately that doesn't fix the downward spiral on this particular post, but hey, there's always next time.
Uber is about 20% nice, constructive realist personas and the remaining 80% is all alters or assholes.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:14:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-12-06 11:50:11 PST (#)
Ranking: -2
If you honestly, truly believe that the reason your "husband" and the rest of the military are overseas is to defend our rights to believe in pacifism or whatever, then I suggest you get your head out of your ass and do a reality check. They're over there because of our national administration's greed and lust for money and control.
---------------
I do not agree with the war in Iraq, I think that its a waste of everything. And I don't see any reason for our soldiers to be overseas fighting right now. But having a national defense system, and having soldiers there to fight for it makes sense when there are other more communistic countries that would invade if we didn't have a military.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:14:16 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:03:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
save your sympathy, I wasn't asking for it and neither are they. They happen to be busy defending your right to be a pacifist.
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-2 for that though and not understanding what's actually being fought over.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:12:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
well there's also the majority of soldiers and sailors that have a girl in every port so to speak. swings both ways, military marriages are harder than regular ones when it comes to keeping up the basic parts of a relationship, ie the face to face bits. it actually makes finances a lot easier so no bitching about his wages. nmcrs will give you loans at reasonable rates. he can also apply for loads of basic allowances it just takes time to get them. you can't do that as a civilian.
btw, if you calculate an e1's salary to the fact they're technically on call 24hrs/day it's only something like $1.25 an hour. an e4 is something like $2.15. that's nowhere near minimum wage.
re: being paid to be married to you from whatsisname. separation pay is the only "bonus" and that only comes along if you're separated for more than 90 days (unless it's changed). a $150 increase for being married, per month is nothing and sure as hell not enough to support a whole other person on.
move off base. as a married soldier he's entitled to bah. apply for it and get real housing.
i absolutely loathed military wives who didn't get a fucking job. i expected the officer wives to be cunts about it but as enlisted spouse you are just a fucking moron to not get a job. congrats on being less of a cunt i guess.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:07:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
This wasn't meant to be a whine fest and it wasn't meant to try and get sympathy, if I want sympathy I'll go play emo in a christian chat, this would definitly not be the place to get it.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 15:01:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2007-12-06 11:39:58 PST (#)
Ranking: -1
I served six years in the US military. I found that the majority of my cohort that got married while in the service ended up with people like you. You thought you were getting free ride on the gumment and you'd be able to live it up while your husband (who gets paid extra for being married, as I'm sure you were well aware before you even met him) would be gone most of the time.
Then you realized there's little money or glamor in it, and you became bitchy and dissatisified, but still unwilling to take it upon yourself to help out in any meaningful way. Now you're at the point in the marriage where you actually think you might even respect what he's doing a little, whereas he's at the point of realizing that it may have been a mistake to take on the added responsibility and headaches of a spouse when he's already facing potentially being shot at.
Don't worry. Soon you'll realize that he's not going to be the princess-enabler you wanted and he'll realize that you're not going to stop fucking the locals and drinking his paycheck while he's gone. Then you'll get a divorce, and you can fuck the locals and drink your alimony check, small as it will be, until you hit 35 but look 60 and no one will fuck you anymore. You'll drink more and more as you try to forget the crappy waitress job you have and the princess you thought you were, until your liver gives out at 55. In the hospital, on the admissions form where it says "next of kin/contact", that line will be blank. In a ward with seven other uninsured probable non-payers, you'll fall asleep, then go into a coma, and finally die, just as your name goes from 380th to 379th on the liver donor recipient list. No one will be notified, no one will know, no one will care.
Or maybe you'll realize that spending time on a website complaining that you're not getting your entitlement impresses no one and helps yourself not at all. And then in a moment of clarity perhaps you'll realize that you are not actually entitled to happiness, but it does say in the Constitution that you are entitled to the pursuit of happiness. And then just maybe, you'll get off your lazy complaining ass and do something to make you, your husband, and your joint place in the world better. Here's hoping.
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1. I don't drink
2. I love my husband and would never consider cheating
3. I work my ass off for our finances too, where would I get the idea that the "gunment" would pay enough? it never does, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I married him.
4. I never said I wasn't happy.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:59:53 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
BTW, I'm sorry, I should have said "tolerance" instead of "sympathy."
He (and you) made your choices...why can't you accept the consequences of those choices, instead of bitching about them?
I would say the same to anyone in any situation who bitches about the consequences of a conscious decision that they made, not just military folk, so don't take it personally. I do recall enjoying a few of your other posts.
Just a bit of advice if you want to survive on Uber...few around here care for a whine-a-thon. I learned that the hard way, as well.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:50:11 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
If you honestly, truly believe that the reason your "husband" and the rest of the military are overseas is to defend our rights to believe in pacifism or whatever, then I suggest you get your head out of your ass and do a reality check. They're over there because of our national administration's greed and lust for money and control.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:48:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
If this didn't read like a shitty chain mail you would get a +2.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:39:58 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
I served six years in the US military. I found that the majority of my cohort that got married while in the service ended up with people like you. You thought you were getting free ride on the gumment and you'd be able to live it up while your husband (who gets paid extra for being married, as I'm sure you were well aware before you even met him) would be gone most of the time.
Then you realized there's little money or glamor in it, and you became bitchy and dissatisified, but still unwilling to take it upon yourself to help out in any meaningful way. Now you're at the point in the marriage where you actually think you might even respect what he's doing a little, whereas he's at the point of realizing that it may have been a mistake to take on the added responsibility and headaches of a spouse when he's already facing potentially being shot at.
Don't worry. Soon you'll realize that he's not going to be the princess-enabler you wanted and he'll realize that you're not going to stop fucking the locals and drinking his paycheck while he's gone. Then you'll get a divorce, and you can fuck the locals and drink your alimony check, small as it will be, until you hit 35 but look 60 and no one will fuck you anymore. You'll drink more and more as you try to forget the crappy waitress job you have and the princess you thought you were, until your liver gives out at 55. In the hospital, on the admissions form where it says "next of kin/contact", that line will be blank. In a ward with seven other uninsured probable non-payers, you'll fall asleep, then go into a coma, and finally die, just as your name goes from 380th to 379th on the liver donor recipient list. No one will be notified, no one will know, no one will care.
Or maybe you'll realize that spending time on a website complaining that you're not getting your entitlement impresses no one and helps yourself not at all. And then in a moment of clarity perhaps you'll realize that you are not actually entitled to happiness, but it does say in the Constitution that you are entitled to the pursuit of happiness. And then just maybe, you'll get off your lazy complaining ass and do something to make you, your husband, and your joint place in the world better. Here's hoping.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:33:20 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
This stinks more than the huge, steamy dump of "fish and chips" I just took.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:27:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by ConorJS (user info) at 2007-12-06 11:10:55 PST (#)
Ranking: -1
I have guns. I can defend myself and ensure that my natural and constitutional rights are not violated and don't for two seconds think that I want or need someone to do it for me.
I know this sounds like internet Tommy Toughguy bullshit, but this is who I am and how I feel. Don't call me a pacifist.
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You ass, I wasn't talking to you. Captain whateverhisnameis called HIMSELF a pacifist. I agree, being married to a pvt sucks, but he won't be one for much longer
Submitted by i_can_get_you_a_toe (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:24:21 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
who cares?
Submitted by TonyDanza (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:17:58 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by ConorJS (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:10:55 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
I have guns. I can defend myself and ensure that my natural and constitutional rights are not violated and don't for two seconds think that I want or need someone to do it for me.
I know this sounds like internet Tommy Toughguy bullshit, but this is who I am and how I feel. Don't call me a pacifist.
Submitted by daddiesgurl01 (user info) at 2007-12-06 14:03:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
save your sympathy, I wasn't asking for it and neither are they. They happen to be busy defending your right to be a pacifist.
Submitted by ConorJS (user info) at 2007-12-06 13:56:40 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
That's why no one below the rank of 1st Lieutenant should get married.
Deal with it.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2007-12-06 13:41:46 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by TheDoctor (user info) at 2007-12-06 17:19:43 GMT (#)
Ranking: -2
Soldiers and flags are not what patriotism is about.
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At the risk of being accused of being this guy again, he's got a fucking point.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-12-06 13:40:13 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I have zero sympathy for people who CHOOSE the military path/spouse and then bitch about it.
For those who are unwillingly drafted (which has been YEARS since any mandatory draft), then that's a different story.
Of course, being a pacifist, I fully support global disarmament and elimination of all military groups/jobs. There's never a good excuse for fighting.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-12-06 13:39:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-12-06 13:39:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-12-06 13:25:20 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I just felt like -2ing something and this was right at the top. Thanks.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:48:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
yes and no
Submitted by DeathJester (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:35:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
SPT, and this was shit.
Submitted by TheDoctor (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:19:43 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Soldiers and flags are not what patriotism is about.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:17:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm torn here.
I agree with the writer, but the detail, or lack thereof leads me to believe that you didn't write it.
Submitted by stone8946 (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:15:50 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Void_Where_Prohibited (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:14:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BeforeEmily (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:09:50 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2007-12-06 09:07:42 PST (#)
Ranking: -2
I am not reading it. You have a sucky attitude and I wish you death
...
Excellent.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2007-12-06 12:07:42 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I am not reading it. You have a sucky attitude and I wish you death