Rant: I hate my job.

[Masshole Mike]

I can understand how being cooped up inside all day could drive you crazy or make you unhappy. That's one of the reasons I joined the army lol. I was in a similiar situation. The only problem is that I went from one extreme (mindnumbing boredom) to the other (friggin combat). I think I have finally learned that I will be happiest where I can be outside a little bit without getting shot at or being miserable.

I actually think that I'd rather live in a remote african shanty village than sit 18 hours a day in Middle East heat in a Bradley. Let me try to paint the picture for you.

First off, you're wearing an Interceptor Body Armor with MOLLE system. With your ammo, water, grenades, plates, and helmet, I'll call it about 60-75lbs. Now you have to fit on a bench that was designed for 3 grown men to barely fit without gear. Well...they have gear on too, so your crammed in there with no leg room. Overhead, there isn't enough room for you to move your head. If you're 6ft tall (like me) then you will have to tilt your head in order to fit in the back.

So you're mildly uncomfortable and weighted down, no big deal. Ramp up....now things get bad. It's dark. The only available light comes from periscopes that are about 3inches by 6 inches. Most of the time these are covered up so it is nearly pitch black. It's loud. I mean like rocket ship taking off loud. Metal is slamming pavement and rattling against itself creating a ruckus that is painfully loud. Put earplugs in. That helps a little. It vibrates. Not a good vibration either. Jarring your $%^&ing brains out vibrating. If you lean your helmeted head against any piece of metal, it feels like your head is moving faster than a jigsaw blade.

We didn't cover the heat yet. You can have a bottle of water, fresh out of the refridgerator. In 30minutes, you could make coffee with it. It burns when you drink it, so you don't wanna drink. But if you don't, you die. The body armor keeps moisture locked into your body, meaning that your sweat makes you hotter by acting like an insulator rather than cooling you down. Your hands have gloves over them and your pants are tucked into your boots. Heat can only get out at one place, and that's at your neck. So your own body heat drifts up into your face. This is just in the first hour.

By the 5th hour, you look like you jumped into a swimming pool. If the bradley crew would let the ramp down, you probably run the risk of going into shock. There is at least a 20 degree difference between the back of the bradley and outside and it's 130 outside. 150 easy in the back of the brad...maybe more. At this point you're drinking water that is burning the taste buds off of your tongue but you need probably a gallon each hour just to maintain. The humidity from sweat evaporating is making it stuffier and hotter. Muscles are cramping up and joints are stiffening. Your weapon is painful to the touch.

At least in an African shanty I have leg room and air circulation. Don't get me wrong though, I wouldn't wanna be there either.

now brian, and anyone else that has served our country in the armed forces, do not take any disrespect by what i have to say, because i honestly, truthfully have the utmost respect for you and what you do, but here's the thing...

there is no draft. that means anyone that has to endure those conditions is doing so under their own willpower. yes, those conditions are sh!@ty, but that's what you signed up for, is it not? not since the vietnam war has there been a draft, which means that anyone that has enlisted since then has done so willingly and by their own hand.

i'm not trying to get into a ticking match over who has it the worst, but for you military folks to come on here and start rattling off how bad you've got it (as if those of us not in the military don't know) and expect me to just "shut up" because my job is nowhere near as hard, is just downright aggravating.

my issue with all of this, is that you signed up for it (and i mean "you" in a figurative sense, in that it encompasses anyone that has enlisted). you enlisted knowing full well what conditions you might be have to endure. whether it's having IED's blow up your hummer, or an enemy sniper taking shots at you, or whatever the case, you knowingly signed up for that. as a person who would never subject themself to that, i have more respect for you than i do for a lot of other members of this country. however, i expect the same respect in return from those that are enlisted. it seems to me that our military personnel have some higher sense of being based on the fact that they are willing to put themselves in harms way for our country. i'm not saying this is the case with brian or anyone else in this thread, but i've seen it and experienced it first hand on more than one occasion.

if i were to come on here and tell an enlisted member to "shut up" because he was complaining about how tough he has it (take brian, for example) i would surely receive numerous replies about how disrespectful i was, and i'm sure it would turn into a huge **** storm, i'd end up being called a commie and ousted from the board for life, etc. yet when an enlisted member comes on here and posts up how bad he's got it when i complain about my job, i get 3 or 4 people telling me to "shut up" because "yeah, the military's got it rough!". how do i not deserve the same respect, as a human being, that an enlisted man deserves? because i decided my life is worth living at home with my family and friends, not overseas getting shot at? because i decided NOT to sign up?

i don't mean to take away from what our servicemen and women do for our country, but as a human being and a lifelong resident of the united states of america, i deserve (and expect) the same respect as anyone else.

and as i said before, i'm not trying to see who's got it the worst or get into it with anyone on here, but when i'm talked down to and told to "shut up" as if i stated my job were the hardest dirtiest job ever when i never said anything of the sort, is just disrespectful.

[Grandpa]

Really to bad you hate your job. That means it is not working for either you OR your employer.

MMM, I too love being in the out of doors but ended up working in an inner-city hospital lab in the basement. The advantage I had was being out of work before I was lucky to land the job.

Good people, good job, and while I have to spend way to much time there I do spend all of my free time on the lake.

Point? Your job/time/life is what you make it and how you perceive it.

Good Luck

[roadwarrior]

**  MODERATOR NOTE **

Okay, I'm sure everyone want's the last word, but I think we have gone far enough...

This thread is closed.

-Kent  a.k.a. roadwarrior

Global Moderator