Some in the military want the Afghanistan War because wars are how you advance in your career

[zulchzulu]

I talked a while back with a friend I know who is serving in the Army. He shared with me how the war in Iraq was terrible and that the war in Afghanistan was at one point a good war until Osama escaped. He now thinks both wars suck, but he told me how many in the military who see it as a career look at those wars and wars in general from another perspective that I found both troubling and understandable.

If you want to advance in your military career, there is no better way than to fight in a war. You advance up the chain of command and get a chance to make your mark if you serve in a war. Peace is bad for a military career if you are looking to be a decorated soldier. War gets you the medals, the story, the creds.

So if you were in the military and wanted to get a CMH, you need OEF.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. It's true.

Unfortunately...

:(

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Also you make Military Industrial Complex contacts after your military career

is over.


With the amount of contractors at the war zone its pretty easy to help
grease their wheels for future favors.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Yes, it is called punching your ticket

and this is important for enlisted, but critical for infantry officers.

You want to get beyond Major, maybe Colonel... you need to punch your ticket with that infantry combat badge.

It is not the CMH, though that looks good in your record if you manage to live and chiefly not be so broken you are medically retired. (Realize the last CMH to be given to somebody still breathing was Nam) It is the Infantry combat badge or equivalent in any other combat arm.

Oh and this is not just the US Army by the way.

[zulchzulu]

6. Correct...

I know it's not just the Army... I only alluded to that fact from talking with my friend, who is in the Army.

As for the Congressional Medal of Honor, I would think that's the "ultimate medal" that would come from many more that led to that honor.

I support the troops and even understand the fact they want to "punch their ticket"... it obviously comes at great cost.

[Kutjara]

4. T'was ever thus.

The old Royal Navy toast "to bloody wars and sickly seasons" was made in hopes that combat or disease would sufficiently thin out the office ranks to make swift promotion possible.

[Ozymanithrax]

5. Nobody in his or her right mind goes out to wind the CMH...

For a Army or Marine Officer, leading a unit in combat is critical if you want high command. Under Desert Storm, almost the entire senior officer corps were Vietnam Vets.

[Firstzar]

7. I saw an interview years ago.....

...in which an arms manufacturer said, "The best advertisement for your product is an actual war."