neverforever

When i went to get issued a new set of military dog tags for those of you that don't know they say name, ssn, blood type, and religious preference. anyway for religious preference i put agnostic and when i got my dog tags they said no preference which i really don't like. I really dont think of agnostic as a non religious preference.

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If i talk to god i don't know if he is listening ...
I'm talking to myself because no one else is listening..

Vinterland

Do tell, why are you joining the military?

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And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment."
—Gibran Khalil Gibran, “The Greater Sea.”

neverforever

I'm already in the miltary they were making new dog tags for everyone that needed a new set. Mine had gotten ruined so i decided I would get new ones that said agnostic but they put no preference i did end up getting new ones made that say agnostic.

__________________
If i talk to god i don't know if he is listening ...
I'm talking to myself because no one else is listening..

debdodd

No preference has been on dog tags forever ..... I was in the military a billion years ago and it was the same way .... just lets them know you aren't Catholic who wants last rites, Jewish who require burial before sundown or what ever ... it's not meant to be anything other than that. I agnostic in itself implies an indecsion or otherwise you would have said atheist ... thus "no preference" fit your belief .... had you said satinist ... it very wel could have been on there. It isn't always necessary to think the military are the bad guys. The military is as only good/bad as their leaders.

__________________
"Ubi dubium ibi libertas."

"We are all lone souls. It pays to know humility, lest the delusion of control, of mastery, overwhelms. And indeed, we seem a species prone to that delusion, again and ever again ....."

Vinterland

At what age did you join and for what reasons? Did you go to college?

Any regrets?

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And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment."
—Gibran Khalil Gibran, “The Greater Sea.”

debdodd

I joined when I was 21, they sent me to school for nursing. When I got out I resumed college and went on to study more nursing .....

Regrets? Not about joining. I'm not quite 5'2" and my basic training class was the first with co-ed basic training. males and females doing the same thing. The guys low crawled thru the mud ... we were required to do the same. They threw hand grenades .... then it was our turn .. It was a time in military history in which the military was trying to gage the female's ability to function in the military the same as males. It was right after the whole women's lib movement and such. It was a lot of work but a lot of character building in the process. Since we were the first going thru the whole co-ed thing there were lots of statistical things they compared on us. We were always checked on by the high "muck-mucks" to see how we were doing. I have always been a maverick and ready for any adventure or new challenge so I enjoyed most of it. 4am wake up calls sucked, marching in the cold December rain in South Carolina with an M16 and a full pack wasn't fun but finding that I could over come obstacles made it all worth while. It made me a stronger person. There have been times when I have been over whelmed with the crap that life throws at you and when ever I have had a "boo hooed, whoa is me I won't survive this" attitude, thinking I can't make it thru something ..... I remind myself of other times when I thought I wasn't going to survive and tell myself how stupid I am, etc. Sounds like I am psycho "talking" to myself but you knew what I mean .... the military, like anything else is what you bring to it and what you take from it.

At times I regret not staying in longer but then my life would be so very different and as of today I am happy with my life, check with me tomorrow I might not feel the same LOL.

I think, like the Swiss, everyone should be required to do some military training. What are your feelings on that?

__________________
"Ubi dubium ibi libertas."

"We are all lone souls. It pays to know humility, lest the delusion of control, of mastery, overwhelms. And indeed, we seem a species prone to that delusion, again and ever again ....."

neverforever

I guess i didnt think about the religion preference like that thanks for your input.
As for me i joined when i was 18 im 19 now im currently deployed in kosovo if you don't know where kosovo is consider yourself lucky its not a country yet its technically part of Serbia there trying to split and that would be why we are here.

__________________
If i talk to god i don't know if he is listening ...
I'm talking to myself because no one else is listening..

Vinterland

When you say school for nursing do you mean you were in college, joined the army, and then wen back to college? Did you do nursing as a career?
I would love to hear every little detail if you don't mind sharing. Did you enjoy the exercises; which ones? Did you enjoy shooting and throwing grenades? How much did your packs wigh back then and what was in them? What was your biggest obstacle?

It sounds like na amazing program. Besides makin gyou stronger, did you experence any other changes?
I really do think everyone who is physically capable of doing military training should be required to do it because I believe it does make a lot of people stronger. My family plans for me to head straight to college in 2 1/2 years when I graduate HS, but I think the army would do me a lot of good for reasons you mentioned: beuilding character, and discipline is also something I think I could use more of. I'm at a crossroads where I have two big decisions, one choice to make and it could drastically change the outcome of my life.

Indecision implies lack of conviction. That doesn't mean one does not have an opinion. Every one does so this means an agnostic is a theist or atheist.

__________________
And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment."
—Gibran Khalil Gibran, “The Greater Sea.”

AB517

thank you for your service.

No preferences are just for logistical reasons.

Let’s say you are unconscious.

To a good clergyman that just means he can pray as hard as he can for you in his area of belief.

If a Catholic priest saw the tags and they said “Islamic Religion” he would recite the prayers just as hard as he could of Islam for the situation you are in.

I good clergy knows it is about you and not him.

So I think it bothers you more than what it actually means.

romansh

There was a CBC radio article recently, some group had done a study on the effect prayer on people in hospitals. They had three groups of patients, those who were not prayed for, those who knew they were prayed for and a group who were prayed for but did not know it.

The bad news from an atheist's point of view. There was a slight benefit for the group that did not know it was being prayed for compared to the control group that was not prayed for. The difference was small but apparently significant.

The bad news from the patient's point of view, if you knew you were being prayed for, you did a lot worse and it also was more significant.

So AB517..... telling people they are going to be prayed for regardless is not actually helpful.

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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams