Your Country Needs YOU!

[Hazell B]

Would you make a good soldier?

I'd be rubbish :)

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Apart from being very un-fit, lacking basic common sense, having an awful aim, being a liability in a team, not very could at fighting and not being able to understand orders....... I think I'd be a very good soldier ;)

[Hazell B]

I'd say you're over qualified :p :

Thus far I've never seen a single squaddie with any form of common sense. The one I know best was stuffing toilet rolls up his backside and lighting them the night before guarding Tony Blair on a helicopter from a secret Ireland meeting. He ended up burned to a crisp (and hairless :laugh: ) and didn't even get a warning :mark:

Can't fault his political leanings, mind :D

[Erki]

I am me. I am not the geographical area with government. There is no thing as "my" country, it's just where I live/locate at this moment.

Suffice to say, I'm not a soldier material.

[LeonBrooke]

I'd make an awful soldier. First off, I'd be reluctant to cut my hair. And studies have shown that I don't have the stamina to last an entire sword-fight.

[Daniel]

I'm not fighting or anyone elses country! ;)

[RaikkonenRules]

I'd be pretty crap, would never shave my hair off

[janneppi]

Would you make a good soldier?

I'd be rubbish :)
I am rubbish at it :)
Altough i am highly trained to appear being busy while avoiding actual work.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I would make a lousy soldier, but I would be a great WOG (without gun) guy in the back doing logistics and/or making the unit work. The sharp end stuff would be something that if I was 20 years younger, I would have to think about. As a kid, I wanted to be a fighter pilot, then I realized I don't like being upside down and 6'2" 220lbs is a bit big for being in fighter. That and my math sucks....

[A.F.F.]

I'd make an excellent soldier :)

[jens]

I'd be an awful soldier, 'cause I think I'll fail to follow all those strict army rules, which pulls the physical capabilites to the limits. I'll probably sooner or later die in exhaustion. :p :

[EuroTroll]

I think I'd make quite a capable soldier, and whether I'll ever become one is just a question of when the Russians will attack next. :\ :)

[LeonBrooke]

Anyone got experience with that all-important soldier skill, sword-fighting? I joined a club once, but lost interest because I wasn't very good.

[Ian McC]

I joined the Air Training Corps when I was younger, I only went twice :s There again when I was even younger I joined the Cubs, think I only managed twice there too!

Whatever the reason, I have no wish to be trained in how to kill someone.

[Quattroporte]

If I were to join the army. (Which I wouldn't and couldn't anyway. Haha) I would go to the air Force.... I always wanted to fly 'dem Fighter jets! Although I wouldn't shoot anyone down, I'd just do cool flips and stuff. Hehe

[fandango]

I don't think I'd be such a good soldier, but wouldn't it be great to drive round in a tank for a day?

[janneppi]

It's not really different from driving a car. :)

[A.F.F.]

Sitting and travelling in one is very different though.

[donKey jote]

I'd make a terrible soldier :s
Not that anyone would ever want to dunk a donkey in his egg anyway :D

ok ok back to my stables
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

[Ian McC]

ok ok back to my stables
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

Oh no, it's off to the barracks for you lad :robo: :p :

[Camelopard]

I'd be lousy, I don't like taking orders and I like to think for myself!!! :p

[LeonBrooke]

I'd make a terrible soldier :s
Not that anyone would ever want to dunk a donkey in his egg anyway :D

You never know, there are some strange people out there ;)

[viper_man]

I would be an absolutely awesome soldier.

[CarlMetro]

Like most on here I doubt I would make a very good soldier. Extremely unfit, hate taking orders (unless they're worth lots of money to me ;) ) and I have a very profound sense of self-preservation.

I love my country but don't feel obliged to lay down my life for the frredom of others. I do have a certain respect for those who do though.

[Gannex]

I would make a terrible soldier. I'd be far too scared all the time. Now air crew? That I might be able to cope with. I remember one Cobra pilot telling me that he positively enjoyed Vietnam, and felt a bit guilty about that. He said it's not bad, if you love flying, sitting in an air-conditioned cockpit all day, listening to forces radio as you buzz around the sky. It takes some of the shine off the thing if you think about the people you're killing, and all the shine off it if you get hit yourself, which he had been, on more than one occasion. But overall, he enjoyed it.

I wouldn't though. Not at my age. And being in the infantry is my idea of hell. Any infantryman has my unending respect.

[janneppi]

Sitting and travelling in one is very different though.

Not really, only difference is what happens when you hit a tree or a house, otherwise it rides pretty much like a 4x4, it even oversteers when playing around in icy conditions. :)

[Erki]

Not really, only difference is what happens when you hit a tree or a house, otherwise it rides pretty much like a 4x4, it even oversteers when playing around in icy conditions. :)

Try left foot braking or handbraking. :)

[janneppi]

In the thing i was, both would result in a rather unpleasant smell of asbestos in the cabin.

[Hazell B]

I have no wish to be trained in how to kill someone.

I have no need to be trained in how to kill someone!
Some call it natural ability, I call it natural selection :p :


So most of us wouldn't be good solidiers on the front line.

How about pilots, sailors and general ground crew organising missions? Some of us would be okay, what about the rest?

Again, I'd be rubbish :mark:

[Hazell B]

By the way, I once tried 'borrowing' a tank at Oulton Park in the dead of night. Had a great big bunch of keys and four helpers, but we couldn't find the ruddy keyhole :s

I somehow don't think it would be anything like the Land Rover 90 I had parked next to it at the time ;)

[Mark in Oshawa]

Driving a tank would rock!! An Abrams with the governer off will do 60mph, and think about that while you realize it can fire on the fly. Nothing that big has any business going that fast shooting other tanks!!

On a more serious note, one of the big misconceptions is you dont think in the army. Privates are told to just follow orders, but that is a bit of a lie. Every soldier has to be socialized to understand that orders are orders for a reason, and at times, the reasoning behind them isn't always apparent but will be. That said, most soldiers are given a lot of latitude in most modern militaries, and within a strict structure, they have to think. Fighting a war isn't a simple case of being a robot. Most soldiers have a very techinical job and understanding how to attack problems, whether it be an enemy soldier, or more often, logistical and life saving problems are a lot more common. Lets face it, most soldiers in most nations spend a lot of time being posted to other duties. Lifesaving, helping out during natural disasters, being sent on peace keeping missions are not tasks for mind numbed robots.

I think a lot of us would make better soldiers/sailors/airmen than we think, and regardless of our political stripe or nation, we should think about the sacrifices they make or would make to protect our nations....

Now...now that I have gotten a lot more serious than I intended to when I started this post, go back to the silly stuff...which is what I usually come to this side of the forums for!!!

[Hazell B]

I think a lot of us would make better soldiers/sailors/airmen than we think, and regardless of our political stripe or nation, we should think about the sacrifices they make or would make to protect our nations....



Umm, perhaps. But I think you're getting into the whole rescue mission idea that soldiers save lives ... and they aren't stricktly employed to do so! We can all be brave and do the good stuff when the time comes, we'd just be pants at the war part :p :

[Rudy Tamasz]

I'd try to do my best.

[A.F.F.]

I take it we served in same location Janneppi ? ;) Parola that is.

[Donney]

I would be the worst soldier ever. Unfit, don't like taking orders if I don't see the reason behind, not interested in killing people, don't care about tanks, planes or boats, don't feel comfortable with too many people around and basically too lazy.

[janneppi]

I take it we served in same location Janneppi ? ;) Parola that is.
Yessöörii Bob.
I commandeered a whole fleet (well, two and only one at a time :) ) of BMP-1 TJ's.

[Eki]

helping out during natural disasters,
Putting out forest fires has traditionally been a task for the military in Finland. Never had to do it myself, but once it was close. I was the non-commision officer on duty on one evening when they called me that there was a forest fire about 20 miles from our barracks. Just when I had gotten the troops ready to go, they called that it had just started to rain and the troops weren't needed after all. Well, actually, I wouldn't have had to go myself, since I was supposed to sit near the phone in the main guard room.

[A.F.F.]

When I served, the Finnish army had an important task of chasing a lion. :bounce: Actually one corporal claimed he saw it. I wonder how he feels now :rolleyes:

[millencolin]

id be a good soldier... if they kept the level of alcohol in my sstem at a constant high level...

if not id be too much of a whimp

but then again, if i was around for world war two, i would fight then...

[gadjo_dilo]

When I was a student the military service was compulsory. Boys had to do a 9 months service before the first year at uni. Girls had to do a day/week during the semesters and in the summer there was a month when they had a shooting campaign. Just imagine the pleasure to wear boots at 35 C degrees....
I was so embarassed by the uniforrm and terrorized that I might meet an officer in the middle of the street and I'd be obliged to greet him that I managed to get a medical certificate and left it.

[schmenke]

Can't see myself in cammo fatigues crawling around in the muck with a ton of gear strapped to my back :mark: .
Mind you, I think I'd do o.k. in the intelligence side of things... you know, studying aerial spy photos, looking for weapons of mass distruction in some rogue state 'n all ;) :p :

Or driving around in a big honkin' tank :D

Or chasing lions... :mark:

[Captain VXR]

I ain't patriotic in the slightest, meaning I wouldn't bother to risk life and limb for Queen and country and i'd be b0110x anyway.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Schmenke, we just want the glamourous jobs!!

[BDunnell]

Given that most wars that are fought nowadays are politically contentious in ways of which I don't approve, I don't think I'd be that happy at getting involved. Plus, I do not believe in conscription, and I'd be rubbish.

[A.F.F.]

Or chasing lions... :mark:

Chasing that lion in the woods wasn't even he stupidiest thing I had to do in the army. The funniest thing is that there never was a lion.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I was going to say A.F.F., was someone drinking too much vodka? Last I looked, Finland was rather short on having the African style Veldt country a Lion would love to live on, not to mention short of antelopes and impalas!!!

[BDunnell]

Chasing that lion in the woods wasn't even he stupidiest thing I had to do in the army. The funniest thing is that there never was a lion.

No, there definitely was a lion there, and it was capable of attacking you within 45 minutes.

[schmenke]

Is a lion considered a weapon of mass distruction?

[janneppi]

Chasing that lion in the woods wasn't even he stupidiest thing I had to do in the army. The funniest thing is that there never was a lion.
It's that long since the Ruokolahti lion? Damn, time sure flies

All we got to do was have constant fights with the officers about wheter we could use "half shoes" instead of combat boots. :p :

[A.F.F.]

Time run like a moose.

[Erki]

Is a lion considered a weapon of mass distruction?

Dunno, but from AFF's and janneppi's words, it seems like it was one heck of a weapon of mass distraction.

[viper_man]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_of_Babylon_tank ?

[A.F.F.]

No, there definitely was a lion there, and it was capable of attacking you within 45 minutes.

You're right bdunnell. Helsingin Sanomat reported it
http://personal.inet.fi/luonto/ruokolahden-leijona/Helsinginsanomat/hs27.htm but they never said it would attack you within 45 minutes :eek: I guess they didn't want the population to fall in to panic.

[jso1985]

Don't think being a soldier is that difficult, besides that my aim is rubbish and I'm not confortable with many strangers aroud me I think I'd be a good soldier.
But the main point is that I have no interest at all in being a soldier, my patriotism doesn't go that far, and in case of war in my country what's the point of fighting? all our possible "enemies" have much larger and modern armies than us

[FrankenSchwinn]

i am so critical of everything, i've been taught to look through government politics, i've been raised by people who suffered enough through world war 1 and 2 and i've moved enough in my life not to feel attached to a country and especially not an army.

but if i had to choose, it would be the "Chasseurs Alpins" from the french alps. when i was a kid i'd see them train in the mountains and just about every old dude in town had been part of it and would tell the stories of survival trainings and the awesomeness of living on your own in the harsh nature etc. they really are bad ass and like all of the french militaries they are trained in psychologies of war and the victims of war which is something that i feel no military should be without. plus, i am great at paintball already.

but the problem with me is that i know i could kill without remorse. being a sniper would be fun too.

oh, and i would not mind joining the swiss military just because i've also seen these guys work and it's impressive. here's one of my favorite army quotes from the book "The Swiss, The Gold and The Dead":
right before world war 1, the Kaiser was visiting the armies of eastern switzerland and after the swiss demonstrations he said:
kaiser to an unamed general: your armies are well trained and impressive, but mine is twice as many.
unamed general: then we will ask our soldiers to shoot twice

[schmenke]

Is a lion considered a weapon of mass distruction?

(Good gawd, my spelling has been pathetic lately :s )

[Hazell B]

Is a lion considered a weapon of mass distruction?

When it's grammar's not being laughed at, or when it's hungry, I'd say yes.

Nasty piece of work, a hungry ridiculed lion :p :