Anyone have military service under their belts?

[Grant Lamontagne]

It certainly could be viewed that way indeed- but then brave people have laid down their lives so that people can say whatever the heck they want. 

Def

[Don Pablo]

And "hurry up and wait" is a pretty common ex-army joke.

[Whoey]

I was never in the military, but my foster father was in the Canadian Armed Forces, so I was also a base brat.

I spent some time in Navy league/Sea Cadets.

[SteveC]

It certainly could be viewed that way indeed- but then brave people have laid down their lives so that people can say whatever the heck they want. 

Def

Agreed and for said people to be called out for it. 

[Sea Monster]

Right up until it is time to drive over an IED and you are the "lucky one" who only loses a leg.

Since Uber wasn't available in the middle east at the time, and Australians are oddly averse to losing legs (no idea why, seems like it would give you a good excuse to prop yourself up against the bar) they came up with a kind of battle-taxi
It has rather reduced the threat of IEDs (at the level of sophistication that they were dealing with at the time anyway) - although there has been some reports of survivors having their brains turned to mush due to the percussive forces going through the vehicle. Whether you'd rather die a hero in a bloody mess on the field of battle or come home and be a vegetable five years later with your loved ones is a personal choice I suppose.

The Canadian military tries to minimize a lot of wasted manpower by sending the military out on a lot of humanitarian missions, such as helping after floods, earthquakes and other disasters, and I have to say, I am extremely proud of that fact.  It keeps the military busy, makes use of their skills while teaching them new ones and keeps them grounded, knowing how good we have life in Canada, the importance of protecting it, and for helping others. 

We (the states of Australia?) occasionally call on the military to fight cyclones and the like, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yasi_Assist, or to provide a scary looking presence at key international engagement events - but for the most part our State Emergency services (Whether Police, or SES....which stands for State Emergency Services, but they just do environmental stuff, generally storms, flood, and fires, sometimes the bigger sorts of road accidents) and Rural fire services are all relatively competent, and as they all have to vie for their own budgets and prestige in the governments/public's eye, are reluctant to let anyone else into the limelight unless truly necessary.

the Navy is used for a fair bit for border protection, with the Border Force (who are more like cops - they dress better, and have more actual authority on day to day matters...) and the AFP (Who are cops, but only really care about the really bad crimes, like video piracy, and walking on the wrong side of escalators)

As it generally happens with these things, Border Force (and the AFP, and many state services) are filled with Ex-Military people who got old, had families, and wanted a more mature, predictable job with regular hours - so whilst the organisations are reasonably clearly different, when it comes to various memorial type days and events, the rogues gallery of decoration wearing folk is often the same.


Having said all that - for all the fun ways the military has of justifying being a massive gold sink, our military budget is still only 1/3 of our welfare budget - and last time I checked old people, sick people, and those otherwise unable to work did even less that was useful for the country 



(Taking a jab at 6.2 million people on income support is WAY more disrespectful than taking a jab at 60,000 in the military  )

[Butch]

If you an upside dowm limey, why are ya showing the Scottish flag?

[Sea Monster]

If you an upside dowm limey, why are ya showing the Scottish flag?

Well the poms don't have much of a head for sailing, so in order to find men of intelligence, charisma, and wit they had to invite Scots to work their navy...

and if you give a scottish man a boat, and a map to paradise - do you really think he's going to stay in a forsaken bog shoveling muck waiting for someone with a shiny sword to walk past and tell him to pay taxes?

[Butch]

Fair enough ..........

[Smashie]

Well the poms don't have much of a head for sailing, so in order to find men of intelligence, charisma, and wit they had to invite Scots to work their navy...

and if you give a scottish man a boat, and a map to paradise - do you really think he's going to stay in a forsaken bog shoveling muck waiting for someone with a shiny sword to walk past and tell him to pay taxes?

You are a weapons grade bell end

[Sea Monster]

You are a weapons grade bell end

You're just grumpy because it's raining 

[Smashie]

You're just grumpy because it's raining 

FU you tool

[Huntsman]

Hey Guys

Even if we disagree with each other and/or people say things that appear to be aggressive, idiotic, or just wrong 
.... We need to refrain from  provocative statements and personal attacks

It's  not the MTo way

And as always remember that as there is no body language or facial expressions online
- It's easy to take a comment the wrong way and/or not understand the intent of the writer 

H

[Gerhard Gerber]

Since Uber wasn't available in the middle east at the time, and Australians are oddly averse to losing legs (no idea why, seems like it would give you a good excuse to prop yourself up against the bar) they came up with a kind of battle-taxi
It has rather reduced the threat of IEDs (at the level of sophistication that they were dealing with at the time anyway) - although there has been some reports of survivors having their brains turned to mush due to the percussive forces going through the vehicle. Whether you'd rather die a hero in a bloody mess on the field of battle or come home and be a vegetable five years later with your loved ones is a personal choice I suppose.

We had the CASSPIR https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1EJFA_enNA793NA793&biw=1920&bih=969&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=5OK-XJKrJIag1fAPxIi6mAQ&q=casspir+vehicle&oq=CASsPIR&gs_l=img.1.2.0l10.21478.21478..24829...0.0..0.290.290.2-1......0....1..gws-wiz-img.BxGvpXJx9kM

Well the poms don't have much of a head for sailing, so in order to find men of intelligence, charisma, and wit they had to invite Scots to work their navy...

and if you give a scottish man a boat, and a map to paradise - do you really think he's going to stay in a forsaken bog shoveling muck waiting for someone with a shiny sword to walk past and tell him to pay taxes?

 

[Sea Monster]

That looks pretty cool, and I'm impressed by it's age! It seems they encountered (and solved) a lot of problems 20 years before the rest of us (UK, Australia, USA, whomever else developed MRAP type vehicles)

I try not to blame the Australian military for it's stagnation too much - it had a few decades of twiddling it's thumbs, so when they started getting involved in Stuff and Things and suddenly realised all their planes, vehicles, and ships were out of date when they bought them, it's bit an uphill battle for them to reevaluate pretty much all their systems and introduce new ones (with the associated scrounging for coin and retraining for everyone that that requires) (I don't know why they bother - living on a little island most people can't find on a map - the time would be better spent fishing and drinking gin than playing at war )

[Wessaen]

Who in their right mind drinks Gin?

Rye or nothing I say. 

Anyways; I was USAF Intel with the Reaper drones for 5 years to get the GI Bill. I work in Healthcare now.

Different kind of stress but at least it usually doesn't follow me home now. And it pays better.

[Gerhard Gerber]

That looks pretty cool, and I'm impressed by it's age! It seems they encountered (and solved) a lot of problems 20 years before the rest of us (UK, Australia, USA, whomever else developed MRAP type vehicles)

I saw the most fascinating  vehicle in the Johannesburg Military Museum, only pics I can find are on another forum, but just google "VW Thing in SA Army" and have a look 

[Sea Monster]

Do you mean the rhodesian leopard mine protected vehicle?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_security_vehicle

[Gerhard Gerber]

Do you mean the rhodesian leopard mine protected vehicle?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_security_vehicle

That's it