Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Army Studies Thrill-Seeking Behavior
NY Times ^ | 10/30/2010 | Elizabeth Bumiller

Posted on 10/30/2010 6:23:12 PM PDT by Saije

Senior Airman Michael Kearns had been back from Iraq for only two months when he was pulled over on a Florida highway for going more than 120 miles per hour on his new Suzuki. He knew his motorcycle riding was reckless, but after living through daily mortar attacks on his base in Iraq, he said he needed the adrenaline rush.

“When you get here, there’s nothing that’s very exciting that keeps your pulse going,” Airman Kearns, 27, said in a recent interview.

His experience is so common that the United States military, alarmed by a rising suicide rate and the record number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who die in highway accidents back home, is asking a provocative new question: Nearly a decade into two bloody wars, are the armed forces attracting recruits drawn to high-risk behavior?

“In January 1990, you could join the military and think, ‘You know, I’m probably not going to get deployed,’ ” said Peter D. Feaver, a Duke University professor who has done research on the gap between the military and civilian society. “So on the margins it is reasonable to expect that there might have been a few more people in the pre-9/11 period who said, ‘I have no interest in war and there are other reasons for me to join.’

“By 2005, there were very few, or nobody, like that,” he said. “Or if you were like that, you were a fool. The evidence was staring you in the face that you would be deployed in ground combat.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Military/Veterans; Sports
KEYWORDS: health; military; psychology; thrills
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-24 last
To: CodeToad
Thrill-seekers are usually overachievers, and the military pushes for and rewards achievers... QED
21 posted on 10/30/2010 9:46:12 PM PDT by ArmyTeach (Vincit qui se vincit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: ArmyTeach

My Squadron Commander ordered me and my buddies to stop sky-diving without permission. (I think he enjoyed the gravitas though) :^)


22 posted on 10/30/2010 9:50:36 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Talisker

Agreed— While it raises the hackles of the progressive and effeminate male politician suicide remains a factor associated with the homosexual lifestyle choice.INDEED a majority of those deaths deemed “suicide” may not be rightly associated with homosexual behavior— but that does not change the fact
spoken of earlier.


23 posted on 10/31/2010 4:51:47 AM PDT by StonyBurk (ring)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pops88

Since my bud never went skydiving (nor have I) and you’ve done both, I’ll take your word for it. The closest I ever got to skydiving was military reserve training when we free jumped from 6 feet up— the distance which supposedly simulated a sky jump landing. Never, ever land in a way which could twist an ankle— roll to your backside and let it absorb the impact if necessary.


24 posted on 10/31/2010 6:31:55 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-24 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson