Combat Arms units

[longly]

I’ve been out of the military a long time, but when I was in I remember an individual could select their career field before they enlisted. I wonder if that’s changed. I hear that the army is having a hard time recruiting people. I am primarily concerned about the manning in combat arms units. Those are the people who actually go out and put their life on the line to engage the enemy. Many people maybe most entered the military to obtain a marketable skill for the civilian world. Few people enlist in the Army for patriotic reasons. I remember one of the main demographics in combat arms units were white southerners. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you might have noticed that a disproportionately number of the troops killed were white Southerners. I wonder if they are still volunteering at the same rate as they did in the recent past. Does anybody have any information on this situation; I can find nothing on the internet?

 

[rampart]

I’ve been out of the military a long time, but when I was in I remember an individual could select their career field before they enlisted. I wonder if that’s changed. I hear that the army is having a hard time recruiting people. I am primarily concerned about the manning in combat arms units. Those are the people who actually go out and put their life on the line to engage the enemy. Many people maybe most entered the military to obtain a marketable skill for the civilian world. Few people enlist in the Army for patriotic reasons. I remember one of the main demographics in combat arms units were white southerners. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you might have noticed that a disproportionately number of the troops killed were white Southerners. I wonder if they are still volunteering at the same rate as they did in the recent past. Does anybody have any information on this situation; I can find nothing on the internet?

i am a white southerner and we are disproportionately represented in the military.

i attribute a kind of "economic conscription, that decent jobs are so hard to find in the south that the only path upwards for a boy is through boot camp.

we also have generational histories of service, a sort of rite of passage in my family.

hell, 1/2 the yankee army was southerners, the other 1/2 immigrant irish.

 

[Rambunctious]

I wanted to go to Denver and learn videography... I wanted to be an under water videographer or for live TV like sporting events...
Then 9-11 happened and that changed everything...

 

[rampart]

I wanted to go to Denver and learn videography... I wanted to be an under water videographer or for live TV like sporting events...
Then 9-11 happened and that changed everything...

i signed up for "communications."

that means carrying a prc 25 from the mekong delta to the dmz on my back. hey, $128/ month was good money .

 

[longly]

I think it is entirely likely that this country may face fighting the Russians on the Arctic Tundra of Alaska and I’m not all that sure that we can win. I’m not even sure I want my grandson to go to fight a lost cause. I also wonder what life under the Russians would be like if they did manage to dominate the United States. I suspect my people might be OK; after all, we look something like the Russians and might be able to hide in a herd, but there are other Americans that might have a hard time of it. Gays will have to hide in the closet. What bothers me philosophically is that freedom, democracy, and liberty may be lost for another 1000 years. Sorry to post such negative and disturbing thoughts but if you can’t get it off your chest here where can you?

 

[rampart]

I think it is entirely likely that this country may face fighting the Russians on the Arctic Tundra of Alaska and I’m not all that sure that we can win. I’m not even sure I want my grandson to go to fight a lost cause. I also wonder what life under the Russians would be like if they did manage to dominate the United States. I suspect my people might be OK; after all, we look something like the Russians and might be able to hide in a herd, but there are other Americans that might have a hard time of it. Gays will have to hide in the closet. What bothers me philosophically is that freedom, democracy, and liberty may be lost for another 1000 years. Sorry to post such negative and disturbing thoughts but if you can’t get it off your chest here where can you?

I suspect my people might be OK; after all, we look something like the Russians

can you tell a ukrainian from a russian?

and you're gonna be ok?

 

[Silver Cat]

can you tell a ukrainian from a russian?

and you're gonna be ok?

Actually, from some points of view Ukrainians (Borderlanders) are a sort of Russians, as Californians are a sort of Americans.

 

[rampart]

Actually, from some points of view Ukrainians (Borderlanders) are a sort of Russians, as Californians are a sort of Americans.

they are slavs.

i am not sure that merely being white and a traitor will save longly or family.

 

[Silver Cat]

they are slavs.

i am not sure that merely being white and a traitor will save longly or family.

Actually, there are more than 190 of ethnic groups living in the Russian Federation, and almost twenty percent of Russian population is not Slavic at all.

Ethnic groups in Russia - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Of course, it depends on the postwar situation, but, say, Rupublic of Alaska may get pretty high level of autonomy in the Russian Federation. What is more important, Russians are not xenophobic about individual Americans. For example, town New York in Donetsk region (founded mostly by migrants from the USA) was successfully Russificated in few generations.

 

[Couchpotato]

I think it is entirely likely that this country may face fighting the Russians on the Arctic Tundra of Alaska and I’m not all that sure that we can win. I’m not even sure I want my grandson to go to fight a lost cause. I also wonder what life under the Russians would be like if they did manage to dominate the United States. I suspect my people might be OK; after all, we look something like the Russians and might be able to hide in a herd, but there are other Americans that might have a hard time of it. Gays will have to hide in the closet. What bothers me philosophically is that freedom, democracy, and liberty may be lost for another 1000 years. Sorry to post such negative and disturbing thoughts but if you can’t get it off your chest here where can you?

Yeah Russia couldnt take over Ukraine a country with 1/10 the population and 1/20th the GDP because we sent them some money and bullets but they are going to invade the US. Do you realize how dumb that is?

 

[longly]

Yeah Russia couldnt take over Ukraine a country with 1/10 the population and 1/20th the GDP because we sent them some money and bullets but they are going to invade the US. Do you realize how dumb that is?

The reason the Russians have not defeated the Ukrainians yet is because the Ukrainians are a tough people. Do you really think that we, the people of the United States, are as tough as Ukrainians? Don’t get me wrong we still have segments of our population that are pretty tough, but a lot of them are deciding not to enlist in the army: that is a bad sign. Also, wealth and population is no guarantee of victory; during the final years of the Western Roman Empire the Romans were richer and outnumbered the barbarians, but the German Barbarians did win in the end. We as a collective were once a tough people, but I think we’ve lost our edge. The thing, in my opinion, that keeps us safe now from an invasion is our tactical nukes, but they only have military value if you have a president who will use them if needed. Didn’t Obama get rid of most of our tactical nukes when he was president?