Aw, the kiddo of U-E is ready to take their Oath.

[Rulekeep]

6 hours ago, MidAmUmp said:

It's about an hour and a half from Springfield. You'll be in my backyard. 

I'm afraid I won't have time to visit. All that running and such. You understand, I'm sure. 

[Mudisfun]

This is cute. 

Cute?

Have fun. Adulthood is coming fast.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

[Rulekeep]

1 hour ago, Mudisfun said:

Cute?

Have fun. Adulthood is coming fast.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

You didn't think that a kid joining the military on their seventeenth birthday, before they've even finished their junior year, has any idea what adulthood is like? I'm certainly not enlisting to play with guns. I've been in it for the past year, dude. I don't have heating oil because I decided to buy groceries this week, and I lose my health insurance June 30th, thus (part of) my reasoning for joining the Guard. Not only am I in it, I'm in the SH*# part of it. I don't have to be proud of this country and I don't have to be proud of myself for joining it's military when it's done out of necessity for survival. ESPECIALLY when it's done out of necessity for survival at SEVENTEEN. Some of us have a very long upwards battle to fight, and it's not just the final hike at Basic. If I had my way I'd be going to paramedicine academy or umpire school but I don't, because I've been dumped on the street by one parent and forced to live with the other, not entirely excellent one, who's broke as hell too. So save the "travel the world and then you'll be proud of your country" for when YOU'RE being threatened with electrocution because you don't "conform" and bills are being pushed that strip you of your dignity. GD. 

[stevis]

Sounds like adulthood has already arrived, sooner than it should have.  Sorry to hear that.

[Thunderheads]

8 hours ago, Rulekeep said:

You didn't think that a kid joining the military on their seventeenth birthday, before they've even finished their junior year, has any idea what adulthood is like? I'm certainly not enlisting to play with guns. I've been in it for the past year, dude. I don't have heating oil because I decided to buy groceries this week, and I lose my health insurance June 30th, thus (part of) my reasoning for joining the Guard. Not only am I in it, I'm in the SH*# part of it. I don't have to be proud of this country and I don't have to be proud of myself for joining it's military when it's done out of necessity for survival. ESPECIALLY when it's done out of necessity for survival at SEVENTEEN. Some of us have a very long upwards battle to fight, and it's not just the final hike at Basic. If I had my way I'd be going to paramedicine academy or umpire school but I don't, because I've been dumped on the street by one parent and forced to live with the other, not entirely excellent one, who's broke as hell too. So save the "travel the world and then you'll be proud of your country" for when YOU'RE being threatened with electrocution because you don't "conform" and bills are being pushed that strip you of your dignity. GD. 

What you don't understand obviously is the way your comment comes across.

Not necessarily proud of the country you live in or military that protects it, but you're going to count on it to survive .....  that there's a nice big old slice of irony!

[Aging_Arbiter]

I too questioned the way your remark came across. Until you've served in a combat zone (and I do pray that you never have to), I will take your remarks in stride and attribute it to a narrowed view of the life that you have, relative to the rest of the world..  I'm sorry that times are hard for you.  I for one, fought for you to have that right, and it IS your right to feel that way.    Just remember, a Veteran is someone who at one point in their life, wrote a check to the people of the US of A for the amount of "up to and including my life".  If you aren't willing to sign that check, I would seriously suggest that you try an alternate avenue.

Best of luck to you kiddo'!

[Rulekeep]

5 hours ago, Thunderheads said:

What you don't understand obviously is the way your comment comes across.

Not necessarily proud of the country you live in or military that protects it, but you're going to count on it to survive .....  that there's a nice big old slice of irony!

I shouldn't have to join the military to not freeze to death on the concrete and yet here we are. That's why I'm upset. 

[Thunderheads]

4 minutes ago, Rulekeep said:

I shouldn't have to join the military to not freeze to death on the concrete and yet here we are. That's why I'm upset. 

understood, .... but my comment still stands

[Stan W.]

Good old Fort Leonard Wood................nestled in the scenic woods of St. Robert Missouri.............. 

[Mudisfun]

On 1/8/2017 at 7:51 PM, Rulekeep said:

You didn't think that a kid joining the military on their seventeenth birthday, before they've even finished their junior year, has any idea what adulthood is like? I'm certainly not enlisting to play with guns. I've been in it for the past year, dude. I don't have heating oil because I decided to buy groceries this week, and I lose my health insurance June 30th, thus (part of) my reasoning for joining the Guard. Not only am I in it, I'm in the SH*# part of it. I don't have to be proud of this country and I don't have to be proud of myself for joining it's military when it's done out of necessity for survival. ESPECIALLY when it's done out of necessity for survival at SEVENTEEN. Some of us have a very long upwards battle to fight, and it's not just the final hike at Basic. If I had my way I'd be going to paramedicine academy or umpire school but I don't, because I've been dumped on the street by one parent and forced to live with the other, not entirely excellent one, who's broke as hell too. So save the "travel the world and then you'll be proud of your country" for when YOU'RE being threatened with electrocution because you don't "conform" and bills are being pushed that strip you of your dignity. GD. 

I think many many kids have joined the military for all of those reasons and more. Many joined have joined to be gung ho, some for financial reasons, some to escape poor living conditions, some for education, some for etc, etc. Truly I am sorry for how your life to this point seems to be so horrible. I would think if you are being tortured or threatened with torture "YOU'RE being threatened with electrocution because you don't "conform"" that someone from the state should and would need to intercede and remove you from that environment.

I know nothing about Alaska other than all of those wonderful shows on the History Channel however a brief search revealed that Alaska has several Health Insurance sponsored plans for minors who meet family income requirements and based on your comments you may qualify:

https://www.insurekidsnow.gov/state/ak/index.html

http://dhss.alaska.gov/dhcs/Pages/denalikidcare/default.aspx

Lastly since arguing with you is like arguing with my 12 year old... and I refuse to argue with my 12 year old I will close with this:

Several persons have pointed out to you that your comment's regarding your perception of this country and our men and women in service was poor and your response although filled with sadness and self pity belies your age and immaturity. You are not the only one who has had to endure, fight or deal with sad and often time horrific experiences however your current situation leads you to assume that everyone else's life has been only rainbows and roses. I wish you well and hope your situation improves.

[Rulekeep]

On 1/10/2017 at 10:00 AM, Mudisfun said:

I think many many kids have joined the military for all of those reasons and more. Many joined have joined to be gung ho, some for financial reasons, some to escape poor living conditions, some for education, some for etc, etc. Truly I am sorry for how your life to this point seems to be so horrible. I would think if you are being tortured or threatened with torture "YOU'RE being threatened with electrocution because you don't "conform"" that someone from the state should and would need to intercede and remove you from that environment.

I know nothing about Alaska other than all of those wonderful shows on the History Channel however a brief search revealed that Alaska has several Health Insurance sponsored plans for minors who meet family income requirements and based on your comments you may qualify:

https://www.insurekidsnow.gov/state/ak/index.html

http://dhss.alaska.gov/dhcs/Pages/denalikidcare/default.aspx

Lastly since arguing with you is like arguing with my 12 year old... and I refuse to argue with my 12 year old I will close with this:

Several persons have pointed out to you that your comment's regarding your perception of this country and our men and women in service was poor and your response although filled with sadness and self pity belies your age and immaturity. You are not the only one who has had to endure, fight or deal with sad and often time horrific experiences however your current situation leads you to assume that everyone else's life has been only rainbows and roses. I wish you well and hope your situation improves.

k

[Rulekeep]

On 1/10/2017 at 9:29 AM, Stan W. said:

Good old Fort Leonard Wood................nestled in the scenic woods of St. Robert Missouri.............. 

Everybody is talking about this place like it's the Parris Island of the Army...

[Stan W.]

It is fairly remote.......not that you will be seeing anything outside the main gate for a while........but you have a Wal-Mart, a number of restaurants, the usual predatory businesses that prey on young soldiers......Springfield is a hour and a half away.......St. Louis is 2 hours away...........

My daughter and son in law were recently stationed there for 2 years....Son in law was an instructor at the MP school there.

You are going to do fine..... 

A while ago I posted in a thread where the discussion was about an umpire calling balls and strikes with his left hand. As I remember the poster was left handed and said it was more natural to call B&S with his left hand. Of course the consensus and the accepted mechanic is to use the right hand.

The only exception I ever saw was at a youth game in St. Robert where the umpire called all B&S left handed. He had lost his right arm to the elbow in an IED blast in Iraq. IN my eyes, He was perfect....    

 

[dumbdumb]

I think you will find that in anything in life, someone is in a better situation than someone else, and there is also someone in a worse situation than someone else. From the penthouse to the outhouse.

In old times, although the stories are usually about the males rather than the females, many families had a father to die young, and it was left to the oldest son to forget about any career dreams and immediately seek a full time job. If you go look at old registries at companies, you will see several men who retired at 65 with 50 years with the company. Now how did they start at the company at 15 as child labor laws were in effect??? In the old days companies gave people who went into the military credit towards company retirement. So, many men lied about their age and went into service at 15, many times to put food on the table for their mother, brothers and sisters, since they were the man of the house. Given a choice, they would never have done that and waited to be drafted, but life's unfairness in their situation caused them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and carry on with the mission at hand and what life and the hand they were dealt, fair or unfair. Just like Mayo and I got no where else to go.

Just like umpires who call games for money but not from their heart, it was a desperation/necessity move to immediately bring in a full time income to send back to the family. Others have gone into law enforcement for the same reasons. They could not find a good job for various reasons and signed up for the police academies in many cities. Many times love of the profession had nothing to do with the realities of their life situation. When life gives you crap, you got to make crapola.

There was also the draft issue for many. They figured they would get drafted, so they might as well volunteer since service was 'mandatory'. They did not necessarily agree with war----think Sergeant York as a conscientious objector---but they served their country anyway.

Go in and use everything the service does offer. Many have become, medics, nurses, doctors, dentist's (mine), leaders of corporations, (Fed Ex) whether they really wanted to join the service or just did the service for every other imaginable reason. Security careers to catch hackers trying to hack into top secret information, etc. etc.

Many umpires served our country whether that would have been their real preference or not, and there are old articles about them also. Augie Donatelli was actually in a German prisoner of war camp. There are others who served over the years and of course more recently, Laz Diaz in the Marine reserves.

Stay a while and then go to the below if you decide a full time career in the Military is not for you.

Life has given you a bad hand to play so early in life. It is up to you to make the most of that bad hand you have been dealt.

Good luck.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/baseball/2016/05/14/mlb-umpire-camp-attracts-local-hopefuls/84378306/