Posted on 08/07/2012 8:06:17 PM PDT by boatbums
I am over 60 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing ass-backwards.
Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.
For starters, researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds. Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.
Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry.' We are impatient and maybe letting us kill some asshole that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for awhile..
An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10am. Old guys always get up early to pee, so what the hell. Besides, like I said, I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical son-of-a-bitch.
If captured we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainteaser.
Boot camp would be easier for old guys.. We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and we're used to soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling.
They could lighten up on the obstacle course however.... I've been in combat and never saw a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any pushups after completing basic training.
Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too... I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.
An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave, to start a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.
These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way.
Let us old guys track down those dirty rotten coward terrorists. The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple million pissed off old farts with attitudes and automatic weapons, who know that their best years are already behind them.
Think how happy wives would be. Their men would be home in their good-looking years, and away when they are older. The question of how to keep the old dude out of your hair when he retires would be answered.
Actually, I know someone who has done several active duty tours as a Naval officer in his 50s. His wife weathers the absences much better than when he was younger. And she comes to visit him in some pretty cool places, when he has leave.
Draft? Hell, they wouldn’t have to draft me. “Hey, Drill, two words - free ammo.”
The young are strong; the old, mean
Mean wins.
Oh, there’s some sense in that, no doubt. Speaking as one who had done the military thing, there could......could be a place for 55-62 year olds in the military. However, the military works against age. As far as I am concerned, anyone over 45 should be non-deployable. There are very few individuals, at or past that age, who can hack an actual deployment in the pay grades of E-1 thru at least E-5. Bringing someone in and making them an instant E-6 is...well, stupid. I’ll leave it at that. The reasons are fairly apparent.
Without prior service, there is a whole different world to get used to...and let’s face it, those past 45 don’t take to well to complete life changes.
These days, there is no shortage of the fabled young, dumb and full of cum. I was fortunate to make it through 25 years due to: fantastic parental genetic endowment, a bodybuilding regimen that bordered on the crazy and running. Lots and lots of running that I can no longer do due to hip problems. I can only do cardio on the eliptical at the gym.
Even in some of the lesser non-combat MOS’s, the military life can be a bit brutal on the body. Perhaps the Navy and Air Force can extend that, but the Marine Corps just doesn’t seem to place a big priority on that.
Every single combat soldier should be exposed to special operations training. I’m not talking about the physical part, I’m talking the knowledge part. The real shit. They do a much better job now with situational training then they did in Vietnam, training in the conditions but things could be better. I remember David Hackworth’s accounts of the training facilities and courses in Ft. Lewis. Yeesh. Just my $00.02.
Yes it does... As I tell people that ask me what I will do in the event someone comes into my store with evil intentions: "I'm not young enough to get into a brawl anymore, and I'm too old to take an @$$whipping - so I'm just going to shoot them and be done with it." When I disclosed this philosophy to my zoned police officer, he just looked at me and smiled, saying "Just make sure that I only have to put one side of the story in my report..."
I thought of this a long time ago. A young man has a lot to lose and a lot of fear. It takes great courage for the young. For an old man, a bullet is an easy way out. Compared to watching your flesh slowly deteriorate, and feeling the constant pains an agony of a slow death, a bullet is of little fear. Old guys are grumpy and pissed anyway. They would be the most fearless.
So your idea might be detrimental to the current command structure!
That might be a good thing. I can’t tell which side our government is on and the problem seems to be spilling over into the military as well.
Over sixty and ready to serve; I’ve had a full life and, after several very loud and opinionated girlfriends, don’t mind facing death.
It would at least save me several hundred dollars a year in meds, plus checking out with a costly and lingering illness.
So long as I can take my cane with me onto the field of battle and wheel my pack in a shopping cart, there shouldn’t be any problem.
Yes, I agree - let the kids have fun and let us Old Guys do the fighting!
I the k about girls all day and I’m 49.
But I’d take a month off to beat sumb Taliban Azzhats into the dirt.
Smiles
You guys are killing me.
Ok ok
Count me in. But don’t disturb me during my nap time
LOL
So true, I'm 62 and I don't crap from anyone anymore.
LOL - I forgot about nap time !
I could be a sniper way out there-think solitude.
Dang, I think I agree with every comment on this thread. Thanks for posting it.
Actually this is what was really wrong with the original Red Dawn movie. While rural kids would fare better than urban, there should have been 30, 40, and 50 somethings in the field. I do think they got it right with a sizable number of resistors remaining in their homes and playing the role of a beaten populace while secretly aiding the fight.
Despite some serious plot flaws elsewhere, the Falling skies series gets the make up of the fighting forces correct with everyone capable of fighting, doing so. They were also under a mixed military and civilian command with the civilian side having past ,military experience.
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