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llacer96 t1_ja4qvcb wrote

First off, thanks for everything you guys do with the podcast and whatnot. It's hard sometimes to get personal accounts and opinions from the warfronts when you live in the middle of the US and don't travel much.

What were your initial motivations in enlisting in the military? How much did you support the military going in, and how disillusioned were you by the time you left?

Bonus question for levity, what are y'all's favorite ice cream flavors?

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theboardwalkpodcast OP t1_ja5d9at wrote

Kyle - I went in during a really big unemployment crisis in 2011. I was young and had no idea what to do with my life and thought I wanted to see what the Army is about despite reading all the famous war novels warning against it. I really just wanted to try it and go and have the experience. They were offering a bonus to linguists and going to study languages in Monterey CA seemed nice. And it was nice and it was difficult and at the end of it I could speak Korean. Well, Kim Jong Il died at the time and the army asked any native Korean speaker to switch to a linguist job and they’d promote them. So I finished school and since everyone had been promoted into the slots above me, my only chance at promotion was to switch jobs. Lol. Hard to explain but that was the first sign it was a shit show. Then I was assigned to fort hood which is a terrible place to be. Then I worked the Afghan mission in spy planes or remotely with drones. I met a lot of good people who are my friends to this day, but you quickly realized all the missions didn’t really matter because at the time no one could tell you why we were even in Afghanistan. I knew I wanted out so used my security clearance to do more Intel work when I realized that everyone knew the war was a failure and we just had to keep going through the motions. See documentary: hypernormalisation. We all knew it was a sham and kept going. I realized I wanted no part it in it, quit, went home and became an RN and got my masters degree with my GI bill. All that killing and death and hard work for a mission everyone knew didn’t matter.

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pantalonesgigantesca t1_ja6xfhd wrote

Wow yes, thank you for mentioning Hypernormalisation! I hope you’ve just turned a lot of people on to Adam Curtis docs here.

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theboardwalkpodcast OP t1_ja4tke3 wrote

Zach - My parents both retired from the Army and tried to steer me away from joining. After pissing away an academic scholarship, I went to the recruiter. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do but I knew I wasn't ready to continue trying to be a student. I took the ASVAB, scored really high, and joined. I don't know if I had a choice but to support the military when I joined, considering its impact on my upbringing. It's safe to say I certainly became disillusioned by the time I got out, but not necessarily with the military, but rather with senior leaders and policymakers.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

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theboardwalkpodcast OP t1_ja5gu94 wrote

Kyle - Cherry Garcia is the best ice cream, but chocolate chip cookie dough is second.

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