• kvasir476@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Two things not mentioned it that article:

    1. Why would anyone want to fight for a country that is so callously disinterested in the welfare of it’s citizens?

    2. In the last quarter-century it has become extremely apparent that the US Military is not the “global force for good” that it wants to portray itself as. Most young people probably aren’t interested in joining up to commit war crimes in the name of making money for the military industrial complex.

    • SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago
      1. Every branch of the military has become increasingly toxic, cutting things like training and cleaning up black mold in favor of new uniforms every 2 years
    • Grumble@techhub.social
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      1 year ago

      @kvasir476 @throws_lemy Suggested edit: After “In the last quarter-century” insert “I’ve finally noticed”.

      Butler saw the scam first-hand, 100 years ago. Every generation seems it must relearn the lessons of our grandparents.

      As for young people not enlisting for wars of convenience - exactly. That’s partially why a draft was around, and why it was so unpopular. And why the money each service pays for college benefits goes way up when there’s a shooting war and goes down in peacetime.

      My time in the Navy overlapped with the VEAP program, which would give me a 2-to-1 match for college - up to the maximum contribution of $2700. What a joke.

      Compare that to the current GI Bill plus extra money each service pays directly.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

        • diprount_tomato@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          After Germany declared war on them? They didn’t defeat them out of good will, in fact, I’d say America and South Africa were the closest things to Nazi Germany outside of the Reich

          • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Not really, no. And let’s ignore the part where the only reason they even fought is because Russia wanted to conquer some of the same land as Germany 😂

              • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Because Stalin didn’t invade Poland and the Baltic states, right? And he didn’t sign agreements with hitler before the war?

                Oh oh let me guess, they were “saving them from Nazis”! Now where have I heard that before…

                • RichCaffeineFlavor@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  The west constantly uses the memory of appeasement to justify its killings today but back when it was happening Stalin tried to start the war when Hitler could be easily crushed. It’s only after the west decided they would rather use the nazis to kill the communists than prevent the holocaust that deal was made.

                  • ieatpillowtags@lemm.ee
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                    1 year ago

                    What are you even talking about? Hitler attacked the Soviets, not the other way around. And it was because they broke their agreement and took territory that they said they wouldn’t.

                    Appeasement isn’t even relevant in this context, so not sure what you mean by that.

            • Nudding@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It was a combined effort, but Russia did most of the work and lost most of the lives? Nice

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                The Russians did nothing on the Western Front or North Africa.

                But yes, they lost the most lives. I’m not sure why that means it wasn’t a collaborative effort. Are you claiming that if the U.S. and Britain had sat by and done nothing, Russia would have defeated Hitler singlehandedly and liberated Western Europe? Because I find that to be a very spurious claim if so.

              • FireTower@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Suffering more losses does equate to contributing more to towards the victory. For example America’s Lend Lease Act didn’t cost American soldiers but contributed towards the allied victory.

    • littlewonder@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      \3. Pay hasn’t kept up with civilian work.

      \4. They stopped offering student loan repayment as a benefit.

      • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago
        1. They stopped offering student loan repayment as a benefit.

        What really? That was the biggest reason anyone joined when I was in. Wow. So the headline should be “Military reduces benefits of service, less people willing to serve”