Is what they say about the military true?

Question

That its some terrible place that is chock full of propaganda but in reality they treat you like dirt. Not hardships, but literally like you're scum. I'm ok with hard, but I don't want to be treated like an animal...or they sometimes don't pay you and stuff like that...to what extent is all of that true? I don't think it really is...

Answer 1

Duh, TYGBLOOD, and IHATEFINKS are either liars or do not know what they are talking about. I was in 21 years, was not treated bad, did not treat anyone bad. You are always paid unless you mess up and forfeit your pay. Any one who says differently is not leveling with you. Go to a real soldier, airman or sailor and ask them. Not just some screw up or some child on here who knows absolutely nothing.

Answer 2

I can only talk about my experiences in the Corps and what I think others felt from talking to them. I enjoyed the service. Sure, I was cussed at in boot camp, but boot camp had a very high pace schedule and we always had something to do, so time passed quickly. Post-boot camp training (SOI) was a little better. First year with my battalion as a boot was not fun. The NCOs hazed us for fun. After that, it got a little better, but there will always be those NCOs who don't lighten up and are pricks indefinately because they are on power trips. I enjoyed my deployment aboard ship outside of the U.S. I saw sights I never would have seen otherwise, and not a majority of Americans can say they'd been to a dozen foreign countries by the time they were twenty-one. Once I became an NCO, I had to be a hard *** for a while, but I eventually chilled out after my Marines started to get the picture. My second float was awesome, because I didn't have to do any working parties and my Marines were squared the f*** away, so there were no problems. I could talk about this all day, because I really enjoyed my military service, but I must add a caveat--it is a love-hate relationship. I had some of the greatest, most memorable times of my life in the Corps and I served with a few Marines that I keep in touch with to this day, almost five years after I left the Marine Corps, and that I would drop anything to help them out if they needed it. But, the Marine Corps, or the Army, like any other organization, will use you while they got you. So, in the end, it is really what you make of it. You can make your time in the service really hard, or you can roll with the punches, so to speak, do your work, show respect to your NCOs, learn all you can, so that you can advance and develop some good leadership experience. For instance, I was in charge of thirteen Marines when I was barely turning 21.

Answer 3

think of the military like a huge corporation. sometimes paperwork gets messed up, pay gets interrupted, yada yada. there have been mistakes made on my pay where i didn't get all of my paycheck, but it was usually a computer error. a trip to the finance office usually fixed it. keep some emergency money on hand just in case. if you're not good at sticking up for yourself or keeping up with your personal business, i suggest looking for employment elsewhere. in basic, you'll be talked down to, but you'll always have three meals a day, water, a place to sleep, showers, church and medical attention. it's hard, but you learn a lot. once you get out into the 'real' military, you'll find people who respect you as a human being. there will still be people on power trips, but that's true anywhere. remember, every person has a boss and is bound by the Geneva Convention and UCMJ to do the right thing.

as far as propoganda: i did 6 years and still have full use of my own mind and opinions. i see things a bit different, but that's because i understand how the military works, whereas i didn't know that stuff before. it's a different lifestyle. it's good for some, not for all, but it's not the Third Reich or anything.

Answer 4

NO. people watch movies and then assume that they know everything about the military.

you get treated just FINE. in bootcamp, sure they'll push you to your boundries, but they do it to make you into a better person. if you got an attitude problem, they'll get rid of that right away. if you have problems working with your company/division/platoon/squad/whatever, they'll make you more team oriented, because that's what the military is all about. it's not about one person, it's about the whole group. once you're out of basic training, you get treated pretty good.

remember this: in the military, even if you're a higher rank than someone, that surperior better show the lesser rank respect. if the surperior shows his/her people respect, they will respect the surperior in return. honestly, rank is nothing if you don't have the respect of the people. plus if bad treatment is found anywhere, a rank of higher standings will eventually find out and will make sure it doesn't happen EVER again. for example if a Marine Cpl. is treating his marines in his squad poorly, and his Sgt. sees this, that Cpl has hell coming his way.

my boyfriends a marine, and is currently a Cpl. and a squad leader. he'll be the first to tell you that he has the highest respect for his marines and because of this, they trust his judgement and will ride with him in through the gates of hell. that's what happens when you treat your men/women right.

you don't get treated like dirt. the job you have may be extreamly demanding and in harsh conditions, but never will you be treated like dirt from your COs. only if you step out of line and disobey orders. either that or the person who's giving you a hard time is just ALWAYS likes to give people a hard time. you quickly learn to stay away from those people though.

Answer 5

Well, lets get this out of the way first. Every one's experience is going to be different so don't take any one's word for it. There are too many factors to determine what your experience would be like.
First what branch of service you go into as they (despite some people's belief) are entirely different.
Second how you behave, as someone who is already well disciplined is not going to be treated as bad as a problem child. 70% of the leadership spends 80% of they're time dealing with 2% of they're troops and it p*sses them off so they aren't exactly polite to them.
Third is what you concider to be treated like scum. A drill instructor is there to break you down then build you back up and in the break down proccess you are brain washed into thinking you are not as good of a person that you could be. That could be considered by some to be treated like scum.
As for Pay issues, The only ways you wouldn't get payed is if someone screwed up big time just like in any other accounting system, or if you screwed up big time and had your Commanding Officer dock your pay as a punishment for a crime which would have to be within the lines of the UCMJ Uniform Code of Millitary Justice which are explained thuroughly to you.
In my experiance I have not seen anyone realy misstreated, I've only seen people who complain about being misstreated when what was happening to them was they're own fault.
Exception being when I came back from war in Iraq I was misstreated by some anti war *sses that thought it would be funny to spit on a dissabled vet and try to slash his tires. Good thing a cop showed up God Bless The CHP's.

Answer 6

Why not talk to someone that is actually in the military and ask them.

First of all, if they didn't pay you, no one would ever join so that one is out. Also, if that was the case, I'm sure every media outlet in the country would have it as front page news. The media in the US hates the military as it is and they'd love to print that one.

I've never personally been in the military. Both of my brothers were. Boot camp is hard work. Neither of them ever said they were treated like scum though and I'm sure I would have heard about it, especially from the older brother, if they thought they had been.

Answer 7

I served five years and my pay was always there on time.

In basic training they treat you poorly- they have to see who can take the pressure and who's gonna crack. If a person can't handle the stress, it's better to find out in training than in battle, so basic training is designed to be pretty stressful.

Once you learn to do your job and get little experience, it's pretty good. There are restrictions, but most civilian jobs come with rules of some sort, too.

Answer 8

Where to you people get this crap? The U.S Military is NOT the Roman army of 2,000 years ago!!! Why not do some REAL RESEARCH before asking those questions for a change!
Those that BELIEVE such male bovine excrement fall into TWO categories:(1)THEY HAVE NEVER HAD ANY CONTACT WITH THE MILITARY AND BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY HEAR ABOUT IT; (2) BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY HEAR AND EVERYTHING THEY GET ON "FWDS' IN THEIR E-MAIL.(for example "IF YOU DON'T FORWARD THIS EMAIL ABOUT THE LITTLE BOY WHO HAS AN INOPERATIVE TUMOR, CHEERIOS WON'T BE ABLE TO COLLECT ENOUGH MONEY TO GET THE TUMOR REMOVED AND YOU ARE AN INSENSITIVE UNCARING PERSON AND 3 BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU BY FRIDAY!") amazing!
Now, go report me because your sensitivities have been insulted.
(USN/retired)

Answer 9

What you describe may be true of the Russian Army but certainly not the American Military. I was always treated well, so was my sister (who retired) and another sister who served, my niece is currently serving and no bad treatment there either. There has never been a problem with being paid. EVER.
USAF Veteran

Answer 10

None of that is true, except boot-camp or basic training might tend to be a bit demoralizing or demeaning in the first stages to weed out recruits who wouldn't be fit for combat or the military lifestyle.