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What's the purpose of this group?
Anonymous User
Visual Storyteller
Chief
Additional Posts in Veteran Bowl
Any Navy Nukes in this bowl?
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How are you going to post in the Veteran bowl about regretting even thinking about serving? 😂
Ameren 1, this is not an uncommon opinion. And I’d think twice about if it’s really necessary to make light of it.
It taught me the meaning of ambivalence.
I wouldn't take $1MM to do it again and I wouldn't take $1MM to not have done it.
1M to not do it is an easy pick, u lose out on some experiences but woulda used the opportunity cost/time to do other stuff that may be more rewarding esp w/ the seed money to juice ur efforts
My body will never be the same and I lost friends (by their own hand and others). The benefits are nice, but I wish I could sleep at night.
I’m sure you tried a lot and I’m really sorry this is happening to you. What all have you tried to help your situation?
Not me. I feel proud of my service. If nothing else we gave people in Afghanistan a few good years. I try and think of how many women went to college and got an education during that time before taliban took back over. Idk maybe that’s an optimistic mindset but it’s hard to dwell otherwise esp when so many of us lost friends and have physical and mental wounds.
I am glad I served (Coast Guard). I miss the people but not the job so much. Although the job (ET/information systems) opened a lot of career pathways that would have been otherwise inaccessible. 5½ years was plenty and was probably the most meaningful job I have had.
Nice! Happy for you
how did u save ur students life?
even before serving I had no misconceptions about the military being about saving lives vs a geopolitical politicians enrichment tool.
Pro
I’ve felt deeply ambivalent about my own service since around 2015-16.
In my experience there is a divide in experience between those who were in combat/direct action units and those who those who weren’t. I mean this in no way to be disrespectful. I don’t miss much of my service. I do miss the people I served with. No other time in my life have I been a part of something where I would give my life for others and they for me. And not in an abstract way, but a real way that could present itself at any time. To experience that is something that I miss dearly and would accept no amount of money to undue.
I hope that because I walked that path my kids won't have to.
OP, are you ok?
I’m grateful for what it gave me, but if I could go back in time, I would not do it
It is a hard thing when we look back on our careers. Hindsight is an amazing tool, but it can be destructive when we use it to regret anything. Your service you see based on your set of experiences, but what you do not see is the effect you had on those you served with, fought for or the many who trained you. To become a teacher after serving, man that allows you such a deep well of compassion to dip into to better serve your students.
Looking back when we are low is very destructive, and it is a game our brains play on us. If you are there, please find someone to talk to, do not go into a shell of regret and frustration. If the person you find, is in the same place you are, you will work against each other, driving yourself and them deeper into their shell. Find someone who has worked the problem and can be that positive light for you. When I got out, I wasn't done but my body was. I took shrapnel to my left knee and I could never pass the Physical Needs Assessment they do here in Canada.I went from the highest performing role in the Forces, traveling, missions every week or training, to being in Germany and a surgeon telling me the damage was bad and my ankles were ruined, at 25. I have been in explosions, shot, stabbed, beat to one big bruise and I wanted more. When my time came I went just by a finger on the map to a place I thought I could stay away from people. I ended up in Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada. There I met this old man who thought like me, knew a lot of the same bush techniques I knew and even some of the same language I used. He helped me learn how to laugh and smile again. I started finding who I was going to be now. Years past and I was sitting at home watching a History Channel show on the Battle for Italy and how the Canadians fought there. Who pops up but my friend Morely White, he never told me he fought, let alone he was one of the first of the Devils Brigade, and I was a part of Canada's current Special Forces, designed after the SAS and Devils Brigade. So no matter what, in life you will find that person who is the right person for you, just open your eyes and allow it to happen. You do not need to be anything in relation to your service, but you do deserve peace with the fact that you and you alone did make a difference in someone's life, you just may never know who it is.