In this episode, I answer a question sent in by a 24 year old who is thinking about joining the military. I discuss the pros and cons of serving in the military, why it's a thankless, thankless profession, and the benefits of joining.
00:12:40.160Which, you know, in America, the cavalry was converted into the, if I understand correctly, and I'm ex-Canadian military, the cavalry was converted into air force, helicopters.
00:12:56.600At least that's what we were soldiers taught me.
00:12:59.200In Canada, Australia, and I believe Britain, the cavalry was turned into the armored.
00:13:05.420And so, you're talking about a light armored division that is primarily tasked with wrecking and scouting.
00:13:11.100And, I would advise, and now, alright, combat engineer is you build, you mostly blow things up.
00:13:22.860Alright, sometimes you build bridges, mostly you make things go boom.
00:13:30.520Infantry, everybody is infantry at the end of the day.
00:13:34.380And you're, it really sounds to me like you're looking for some specialized skill.
00:16:12.460Then again, the Western economies are so over-regulated that I wouldn't be surprised if to get a job as a laborer would still,
00:16:19.220I would still have to spend as much time at trade school if you had 10 years experience as a combat engineer as you would if you come out of high school.
00:16:28.260This is why you go reg force, by the way.
00:16:31.220If you stay reserve force, then, yeah, you get a decent paycheck for showing up on weekends.
00:16:36.260Maybe you can do a six-month roto somewhere and get some combat pay.
00:16:40.200If you go reg force, you are going to cap out very quickly on learning the job skills.
00:16:49.320You know, you'll still be doing exercises every weekend.
00:16:51.620You're getting a little, you're getting a little bit better.
00:16:53.280But there's only so many courses that you can take.
00:16:56.300So many courses that are offered on how to be a recce, how to do, I don't know, jump school, how to do drive or wheeled, etc.
00:17:05.360The army is also chock full of all these other courses that you can be taking.
00:17:14.080You know, I don't know specifically how it works in Australia, but I guarantee you, you can constantly be getting certifications under your belt.
00:17:23.040You know, the army is, it's like we've got nothing to do because we're not really at war, but we need to have people being busy.
00:19:18.440Okay, they'll pay for an engineering degree.
00:19:21.300They'll, and then you can get a, you know, then you get, you, by serving, you have to work a few years as an engineer before you actually get certified as an engineer.
00:19:30.040So, by the time you are done with the military, you are now officially a professional engineer and an ex-military engineer.
00:19:37.680That's probably out the door for you right now.
00:19:43.360Just because, like, it's been too many years since you got out of high school.
00:20:31.300You know, it sounds to me like you're interested in Air Cav.
00:20:33.920And you can probably, if you put in three years to Air Cav, where you're getting paid, and after basic, you know, you can go off base and meet the local girls at the bar and the local men who hate you.
00:20:50.440You know, you're getting three years of room and board paid for, and having a job that's, you know, more rewarding and not that much harder than others, actually learning real skills, actually developing as a man, you know, it's a lot better than being a greeter at Walmart.
00:21:11.560You can probably switch to another trade.
00:21:13.640You need to figure out, if there's something that really interests you, then go for that.
00:21:21.720But it sounds to me like you already have something that interests you.
00:21:25.120International politics that you were studying in school?
00:21:28.280Yeah, useless degree, but that doesn't mean that you're a useless person.
00:21:31.460It means that you got scammed into taking the wrong degree.
00:21:33.300If you're interested in politics and history and diplomacy and, you know what, man? Combat arms.
00:21:43.020You're really interested in combat arms? Go combat arms.
00:21:47.100It's dangerous. Yes, it's dangerous, and we'll get to that in a minute, but I think cavalry scout.
00:24:07.960Um, and this is, this is why I'm often hesitant to recommend the military to people.
00:24:13.880Because, especially in America, I don't, I don't want some idealistic 17-year-old with a bright future getting his legs blown off and, uh, ask Krakistan to help the Taliban take over the, the country.
00:24:28.260Which is what we're fighting, we're not, we're now allied with the frickin' terrorists.
00:24:32.160Listen, ours is not to question why ours is but to do and die.
00:24:41.860You join the military because that's what you are.
00:24:44.580You know, like, you, you stand up for, you fight because that's who you are.
00:28:03.460But, I, I'm sensing two big things from you.
00:28:06.460On the one hand, you, you feel the, the romantic excitement of being in the military.
00:28:15.400Like, if you were just a thrill seeker, you would do, you'd dive out of airplanes or you'd rock climb or you'd, you'd, you'd, you're in Australia.
00:28:24.680So you'd, like, punch out crocodiles or whatever it is that, that you crazy Aussies do.
00:28:30.420Um, yeah, you wouldn't be thinking about military, cold, wet, tired, hungry, you know, um, moments of terror interspersed by hours of boredom.
00:28:39.260You're more than just a thrill seeker.
00:29:01.760It's, um, you do, listen, every job's dangerous.
00:29:09.580And the military, it's a little bit more dangerous than most jobs.
00:29:12.480In fact, though, uh, keep in mind that most, most military deaths are actually not from combat, but it's because young men are expected to take responsibility and do things they don't know how to do.
00:29:25.980Like, most deaths are guys falling off of roofs, guys getting electrocuted.
00:29:30.500Uh, these are preventable deaths if you keep switched on.