My Personal Distaste for the Military

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

 

I’ll get right to it. I enlisted in the USAF on September 11, 1964. I told my recruiter that I had severe migraines, but he told me, “not a problem.” I was forced out of the Air Force on March 9, 1965 under a general discharge, which kept me from receiving certain benefits, including medial for my military service. The recruiter and the USAF committed fraud and I continue to pay for their crimes today.

The draft was in force in the 1960s and recruiters received bonuses for their record of enlistments. Our military is another corporation, not an organization formed to protect our nation from foreign interests. Those who work in the Pentagon waste at least fifty cents of every dollar they are allocated playing with toys they will never use. Wars will not be fought on the battlefield in the future. To make matters worse, America has lost every war it has fought since WWII.

The draft was eliminated by Richard Nixon. However, a volunteer army is expensive, and our armed forces are larger than those of all other nations combined. It is true that our military is better paid than when I was in the USAF, but one thing has not changed. When our finest leave the battlefield, they are basically forgotten.

My personal complaint is based on something I learned years after I was released. I was unemployed and no longer had healthcare. While looking for employment, a counselor familiar with the military, informed me there was no doubt that I was intentionally released after five months and 29 days to prevent me from seeking medical service from the VA.

I have a problem with members of one branch of our armed forces: the Marine Corps.

I worked and lived near Camp Pendleton, located in Oceanside, California. I had two very unpleasant experiences.

I took my small son and one of his friends to a Star Wars movie. After we were seated, the friend went to the restroom. Two Marines sat in an empty seat and the seat I was saving for the young boy. They refused to move. The theater refused to help me and rather than engage in a physical altercation, we moved to a less desirable area of the theater.

On another occasion, I, and some of my employees went dancing at the disco located three doors down from our shop. At 1:30 in the morning, they announced that the bar was closing. I made a joke about Kate Smith singing the national anthem at midnight. A young Marine walked up to me wearing an angry expression on his face. I later learned that he had a beer bottle behind his back. Two of the girls who worked with me grabbed his arms and prevented another possible situation where violence might have occurred.

None of this prevents me from supporting our military who have the courage to fight our country’s battles. However, a military life would never be right for me. I have little respect for the officers who have little concern for our finest men and women before and after they go to battle.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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