Breaking into the ROTC, bowling, smoking a lot of thai stick...

[Rev Dave Man]

Well...today my son has advised me that he's going downtown to take a physical for the Marine Corps.  He wants to enlist in the Corps.  His recruiter asked me how I feel about that...I didn't know what to say.  I wanted to say that I have the utmost respect for the men and women of our armed forces and honor their service, but that I also have utter disdain for the political machine that sends them into harms way for corporate greed and the special interests of big oil and the military industrial complex.  But I didn't say any of that.  I simply stated that we all have our own path in life and it's up to us as individuals to walk that path.  I can't walk his path and he can't walk mine...and I can't try to force him to walk mine.  But I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit more than concerned that he'll end up killing or dying in some far away land all for the profit of some corporate entity.  I don't know dudes, I just don't know.

[BikerDude]

That's a tough one.
In my opinion you are 100% correct in allowing him his freedom.
But when it comes to kids sometimes that only goes so far.
I know that as a parent I'd never forgive myself if god forbid the worst happened.
I guess I'd let my son know that he is free to chose his own path but I would plead with him to find another.
If I felt better about our current military involvements around the globe it might be another story.
But I agree that there's no good scenario in the current situation.
Tough one Dude.

[jgiffin]

Poignant, that. He's a grown-ass man, though, and it's his call. You raised him. You gotta trust him to do what he thinks he should. He'll be right sometimes. And he'll be wrong sometimes. Hard to say which this is. Maybe a bit of both.

[EsmagaSapos]

What can I say?

In my country young guys go to milliliters when they don't see a future perspective for themselves, a path, so they think that is a path like all the others, because they will earn money, they will serve something and someone. Of course in my country no one goes to war, in US they go and they kill and die for something they think they believe, but in reality they don't, because most of them don't even know why they are killing, who are the persons they are killing, why those persons should die, and about them dying, that's not a decision they can make, and the after-effects belong to there parents not them, and there parents can live with a feeling of pride, patriotism and honor or a sense of anger to the system because they have enough strength to see the real reasons there young children is dead.

So, what can I say? Find him a job, construction, don't know, something where he can earn his own money, something he can fell he have value. Does he have low self-esteem? I know that is hard to know and hard to answer if you know the answer. Did that came from his head or some friend also want to go? Does he watches too many movies and his easily influenced? Does he have emotional problems? Does he sees that decision his about to perform as a financial or a life path? My advice is: Talk with your big guy and not with us. Ask him, analyze, if you believe with that age they know what they really want you are dumb as fuck, they don't, see if that's what he really want's or is just something he though would be good, because of A or B.