In light of recent events

flamingo_pinyata , 10 hours ago

Tbh I’m surprised any recruitment strategy works in peacetime at all

zakobjoa , 10 hours ago

Gotta jack those uni tuitions way up then.

PugJesus , 8 hours ago

Investing into healthcare for rural areas so 90% of the local population isn’t unfit for service would probably do more than luring uni kids into the service.

ThrowawayPermanente , 6 hours ago

Bariatrics is expensive, though

ShinkanTrain , 8 hours ago

Lying to teenagers always works. That and Jingoism

cobysev , 3 hours ago

The Air Force got me by mentioning that college was practically free (became 100% free a couple years into my service) and that my job training counted toward a degree in my field. Also, I would get food and housing allowances on top of my paycheck, so I could afford to live anywhere they stationed me without spending my own paycheck on bills and food. Plus, free travel around the world on the govt’s dime.

I also was given the option to retire and collect a pension for life after only 20 years served, which I took advantage of. At 38 years old, I retired and now I don’t need to work anymore. Granted, my wife and I both earned 100% disability from our military service, which pays out more than my pithy 20-yr pension and allows us to be fully retired. But still, the military took pretty good care of me while I was in.

I’ll admit though, I signed up one month before 9/11 happened, and as soon as the planes hit the World Trade Center, my first thought was, “Fuck… I just signed up to die in some foreign war.” Thankfully, I survived that conflict; although my disability rating might suggest otherwise…

zakobjoa , 2 hours ago

Might I ask what you did in the air force and what gave you your disability? Feel free to decline.

cobysev , 1 hour ago

I worked in IT, fixing computers. Spent 20 years in the Air Force and I know absolutely nothing about planes, haha.

I didn’t get 100% disability from one specific thing; a whole bunch of smaller things across 20 years of service added up to a 100% rating.

The biggest thing was a PTSD evaluation, which gave me 70% alone. I was in Iraq and saw some shit; nearly died a few times, so that kind of messed me up for a while. I don’t have the stereotypical “go nuts and murder your family in your sleep” kind of PTSD; it’s more just mild anxiety and insomnia that strike randomly. But the military is trying to make up for decades of neglecting PTSD symptoms, so they’re hyper-vigilant about identifying/treating it nowadays, hence the high rating.

On top of that, I broke my leg while serving and it never healed properly, so I’ve had leg pain for the past decade. I barely made it to retirement. I almost got medically separated, but a doctor decided at the last minute that I didn’t need my legs to sit at a desk and do my job, so they put me on a medical waiver and let me finish the last few years of my career. That earned me a pretty decent disability rating as well

Plus I’ve had a few other minor medical issues throughout the years that got small ratings. They have some weird diminishing returns formula for calculating disability ratings, so 20% + 20% ≠ 40%. It’s more like 25%. It’s super hard to earn a 100% rating. I got approved for about 30 independent ratings, which barely made it to the 100% cutoff once added up.

zakobjoa , 29 minutes ago

Thank you for taking the time to answer!

I don’t quite understand why the air force would send an IT guy to a place in Iraq where it’s actually dangerous and not somewhere there’s computers. But I don’t know anything.

nuke , 6 minutes ago

There are needs for IT, logistics, medical, administrative, engineering and so many other professions everywhere the military goes. Most jobs in the military are non-combat roles.

Tja , 12 hours ago

They have the good crayons!

ViperActual , 4 hours ago

Green flavored is the best

DragonTypeWyvern , 4 hours ago

Heresy, blue tastes like blue