Rotc - Page 5

Kayleigh Katz · 10-11-08, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethereal

The term ivory tower can have numerous connotations but generally it's meant to apply to someone who is detatched from reality. When you say the only reason someone would join the military is because they lack "better" alternatives you show a profound misunderstanding of duty and sacrifice. I did have "better" opportunities available to me but I felt a moral obligation to make a sacrifice on behalf of my country in a time of need. If you don't know anyone who understands or appreciates the nature of duty and sacrifice perhaps you should, as Tashah suggested, expand you horizons.

I readily admit that I'm fairly insulated from what a lot of other people probably think of as normal. I would like to get to know what other peoples lives are like but its difficult. I have tried a couple times and it has never ended well. The first time I didn't know I should go to somewhere like The Gap to buy a wardrobe I didn't care about, so when I had the chance to ruin a $4k pair of Louis Vuitton boots and I chickened out I was branded as a prissy rich bitch and compared to Paris Hilton. Everybody hated me but no one ever tried to get to know me, and I couldn't get to know them. I was treated very badly for being different. I could have taken that lesson to heart and decided that people like that weren't worth my time, but I try to be open minded and learn, so... The next time I tried I really dressed down and I sort of had them fooled for a while, but we never had anything in common. I didn't know there slang or what music they liked, what they liked to do. I had no idea that anyone could sit in front of the TV for so long. When they found out I had money they started asking me for things. I went along with it because I thought they were growing to like me, but I learned over time they were just using me.

What I learned is that "normal" people are just as capable of being vile as anyone I know. I'd like to think there are some really good people out there, but I have never met anyone that did anything that wasn't for there own gain. I don't know what selfless behavior even looks like. You could say this online adventure is another one of my social experiments, and so far... well things aren't really going great. I'm just dumb enough to keep trying tho.

Bodhisattva · 10-11-08, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dutch321

Why isn't the ROTC program allowed to be a recruitment center and why do people not like Military recruiters in school? You don't have to talk with the recruiters and you don't have to join ROTC. On top of that, its a PUBLIC GOVERNMENT compound and last time I checked the military was part of the government.

Military and education are two separate things...

Besides, military recruiters are rellentless assholes that hound people and never take no for an anwer.
I had to basically yell "No, leave me alone and stop following me" once and another time I just lied about information so that he would leave.

To have people like that on a school campus in which students cannot escape is ridiculous.

partier9 · 10-11-08, 09:26 PM

My school has military recruiters in all the time. With college applications going on right now its almost impossible to not see one or hear that is at school that. An Air Force recruiter was in school Thursday in fact. Personally I have no problem with it, in 8th grade I saw the army recruiter and so did a lot of other people. He was very informal about what ROTC and West Point are like. Schools that don't allow them are denying kids possible colleges, which is bad. My uncle was able to go to Boston University because of the ROTC scholarship he got.

Ethereal · 10-11-08, 09:47 PM

Quote:

I readily admit that I'm fairly insulated from what a lot of other people probably think of as normal. I would like to get to know what other peoples lives are like but its difficult. I have tried a couple times and it has never ended well. The first time I didn't know I should go to somewhere like The Gap to buy a wardrobe I didn't care about, so when I had the chance to ruin a $4k pair of Louis Vuitton boots and I chickened out I was branded as a prissy rich bitch and compared to Paris Hilton. Everybody hated me but no one ever tried to get to know me, and I couldn't get to know them. I was treated very badly for being different. I could have taken that lesson to heart and decided that people like that weren't worth my time, but I try to be open minded and learn, so... The next time I tried I really dressed down and I sort of had them fooled for a while, but we never had anything in common. I didn't know there slang or what music they liked, what they liked to do. I had no idea that anyone could sit in front of the TV for so long. When they found out I had money they started asking me for things. I went along with it because I thought they were growing to like me, but I learned over time they were just using me.

What I learned is that "normal" people are just as capable of being vile as anyone I know. I'd like to think there are some really good people out there, but I have never met anyone that did anything that wasn't for there own gain. I don't know what selfless behavior even looks like. You could say this online adventure is another one of my social experiments, and so far... well things aren't really going great. I'm just dumb enough to keep trying tho.

The fact that you can speak with candor is indicative of your spirit and intelligence - the only thing you are lacking, it seems, is perspective. Do not give up on this experience because forums are a good way not only express oneself but to have one's ideas exposed to the scrutiny of others. That you feel some level of difficulty in your encounters here is good as it means you are learning, don't shy away from it. My intention wasn't necessarily to make you feel bad, rather it was an attempt to expose you to another perspective and sometimes other perspectives can be difficult to absorb. Just open yourself to new ideas and do not fear criticism; given your inherent good nature you will develope a new appreciation and understanding for the world around you.

bobnelsonfr · 10-12-08, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethereal

Because schools are full of children who are we are trying to educate.

Whatever happened to "whom"?

Ethereal · 10-12-08, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Whatever happened to "whom"?

It was burried beneath the flaming wreckage of the Bastille.

bobnelsonfr · 10-13-08, 03:39 AM

.

Whatever happened to "whom"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ethereal

It was burried beneath the flaming wreckage of the Bastille.

Bien vu!

"Whom" isn't the only thing that has disappeared over the last few decades......

I've lived in France for a long time. For almost thirty years, I only went back to the States for funerals or marriages -- no time or mental availability for watching the world go 'round.

Then, five or six years ago, my (French) wife and I spent a long month (French vacations, you understand

) in the States, visiting family in the evenings and doing the tourist thing during the day.

When my folks picked us up at the airport, the first thing we did, of course, was have something to eat. The waitress said, "Hi, my name is (fill in the blank). What would you guys like to have?"
Now, the name thing is dumb -- do we care? .

Buy the "you guys", coming from a twenty-something adressing two couples in their fifties and eighties, was shocking. ... ... Except that my folks didn't seem to notice... . .

At the next table, a young mother was installing her two little kids. "Hey! You guys settle down now!" .

Over the next month, I heard "you guys" everywhere.
I came to realize that nowadays in spoken (NOT written) American English, the second person plural is "you guys".

In the decades that I'd lived in France, there were a lot of changes in the States: almost all the big chains had different names, Tex-Mex was new to me, and so on.
Many times, I turned to my wife, "Regardes là! Ce n'est pas comme chez nous!"
But nothing expressed the time gone by as clearly as that linguistic evolution "you guys"... .

Serdna · 10-14-08, 01:56 PM

Whether you agree with the ROTC or the army period is irrelevant. This is censorship. It's not like they are forcing kids to sign up. They are just informing students of the option. How dare they, right?

RightOfCenter · 10-14-08, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobnelsonfr

.

Whatever happened to "whom"?

Bien vu!

"Whom" isn't the only thing that has disappeared over the last few decades......

I've lived in France for a long time. For almost thirty years, I only went back to the States for funerals or marriages -- no time or mental availability for watching the world go 'round.

Then, five or six years ago, my (French) wife and I spent a long month (French vacations, you understand

) in the States, visiting family in the evenings and doing the tourist thing during the day.

When my folks picked us up at the airport, the first thing we did, of course, was have something to eat. The waitress said, "Hi, my name is (fill in the blank). What would you guys like to have?"
Now, the name thing is dumb -- do we care? .

Buy the "you guys", coming from a twenty-something adressing two couples in their fifties and eighties, was shocking. ... ... Except that my folks didn't seem to notice... . .

At the next table, a young mother was installing her two little kids. "Hey! You guys settle down now!" .

Over the next month, I heard "you guys" everywhere.
I came to realize that nowadays in spoken (NOT written) American English, the second person plural is "you guys".

In the decades that I'd lived in France, there were a lot of changes in the States: almost all the big chains had different names, Tex-Mex was new to me, and so on.
Many times, I turned to my wife, "Regardes là! Ce n'est pas comme chez nous!"
But nothing expressed the time gone by as clearly as that linguistic evolution "you guys"... .

"You guys" is to the North what "Ya'll" is to the South.

bobnelsonfr · 10-14-08, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightOfCenter

"You guys" is to the North what "Ya'll" is to the South.

I wouldn't want to push things too far... but my folks picked un up in Florida. We spent a few days there before driving up to North Carolina, and then we flew out of Atlanta.

Lots of "You guys" in the South, too.

... and I like emoticons... what's wrong with them?