I do not believe in equality

fanaskin_sl said:

I find it ironic that mists thrifty eating habits will only prolong the misery of her life.

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What Mist needs is her mom to suffer an accident. Sometimes an accident can be an unhappy woman's best friend.

I'm a veteran using the post 9-11 GI Bill and its pretty nice. Everything paid for, and a housing allowance that easily supports a student life.

I think only 1 or 2 percent of citizens enlist and of them, about half never touch their GI Bill. I'm assuming a bunch use it for dumb degrees but that's a fixable problem.

I'd like to see some sort of govt program that offers structure and discipline similar to the military, with a carrot at the end of it similar to the GI bill. I'm pretty sure the USMC has taken in tons of fucked up kids and gave them another shot at entrance into the middle class.

Whenever I hear people imply that bootstrapping is dead it makes me wonder how many billions of people would literally give everything for the opportunity to serve for four years then use the GI Bill. Yet our citizens don't.

I went on to do nothing with the degree I earned but the GI Bill let me get that degree while basically being paid to do so. I graduated without a single nickel worth of debt. The military really is a great option.

Seriously, Post 9-11 GI Bill is fucking insane. If my kids were of age right now, I'd guide them into a cushy gig and have them spend 4 years getting swole as fuck and learning a trade or something, then come out and go to school, then go conquer middle earth. Thing is, since I had the GI Bill my kids wont even have to do that, they already have college funds that will cover a good portion of their college costs. I was always conflicted about whether or not I would want my kids to serve, but the new GI Bill is just too good.

One time I got called to a 15 year old female with pregnancy complications. It was about 1 o'clock in the afternoon and she waited at the window watching for us so that when we got there she was able to come immediately outside to meet us. She made sure to close the door behind her. Barefoot, she explained that she is scared. Of what? Of being pregnant. Fair enough. As young as she was I would be too if I was her I guess. She explained that she had unprotected sex last night and now she is pretty sure she can feel the baby kicking this 'morning'.

My partner and I sort of smirked silently to each other and he explained that there is no way that is possible. "You can't feel the baby kicking after just one day."

"What about 1 week? I did it last week too."
"No, not even a week."
"Well then how many weeks does it take?"
"Several months."
"Oh..", she said, followed forlorn look of concentration.
"How many weeks are we talking about?"
"Probably a lot of months", she said.

She didn't think she could be pregnant on those other prior weeks because she didn't feel the baby kicking the next day.

We explained that she didn't have a big enough tummy to have a kicking baby in there. Maybe a microscopic one, though. "Did you throw up?"

"Yes."
"Okay you might be pregnant but only by a couple weeks or so."
"Can you give me the test?"
"We don't do that. Go to Walgreens."
"I don't have a car."
"There's one like 4 blocks that way."
"I don't have any money."
"Where's the man?"
"He's gone."
"Where's your parents?"
"My mom is upstairs."
"Can I talk to her?"
"She can't come down. She has a health problem."
"Can I go up and see her?"

Now the fear was in her eyes. Not in her voice though, she held it together well enough. It was obvious she didn't want me in there, but she was a minor. Sucks to be her.

"Yeah."

And in I went. Dave stayed outside.

Inside directly in front of me was the staircase up to the top floor. To the left was a dining room stacked with random furniture. Not neatly. Almost as if it was a pile of chairs and end tables that people threw on there as if starting a bonfire. The entire room was impassable and filled with old wood and aluminum furniture. To my right was a big screen TV in a room with completely blacked out windows. It was almost totally dark. Looked like the middle of the night in there. The TV was on to something pop-culture. Three couches formed a U shape in front of the couch. On each was a man in his 20's in full clothes, with shoes on and everything, sleeping. Dead to the world. Weed and booze was all over the place. The guys heard me come in, heard my voice, were hit with the light from the front door, and not a single one even so much as flinched. Absolutely assed out to the world. There was a portable cradle with a blankie and a bottle on the ground by the foot of the stairs.

Up I went and had the girl lead me to Mom's room. Mom looked a little surprised to see me there but handled it well because I was probably even more surprised to find a 500+ pound woman taking up an entire room. Thinking about it now, I do believe that may have been the first time I had ever seen anyone euphemise extreme morbid obesity as 'a health problem'. I get it these days now but back then I think I was a little surprised. So I explain to Huge Mom that Little Girl asked us for a pregnancy test.

"Again?! GIRL!!!! That girl I tell ya. Thank you sir. I'll get her the test. WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU GIRL! Thank you sir. Where do I sign? Thank you so much. GIRL GET YO ASS IN HERE! Here you go sir. I'll take it from here. Ya'll take care now. GIRL I'M GONNA WOOP THAT ASS GOD DAMN!!! GOD DAMN!!! Bye now!"

She signed the release and we left. Even after all the screaming the guys on the couch hadn't moved an inch.

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Just to help flesh out what our proverbial chicken and egg actually look like. You explain to me what's going on in that house. You tell me how to intervene there. I am at a loss. What chance does that 15 year old have at life? What chance does the one with the bottle and the cradle have? What about the one 'kicking' her insides? What about the dudes on the couch? Where are they headed? They're all fucked. Each and every one of them. One of ya'll needs to explain to me how to crackthatcycle right there because I'm baffled.

I am a big fan of the GI Bill as well. What a great idea. Nowthatis how I want to spend tax money. It has directly either shrunk or inhibited the spread of ghettos, I guarantee it.

I'm a small sample size being just me but all the black NCOs that were either my instructors during basic/AIT or were in my unit at permanent party were all good guys. Actually every single one of them. You give people a fair shake and they'll exceed expectations. The military just happens to be a place that is good at giving someone maybe the first fair shot they've ever had in their lives.

Yeah, the military has a higher black population than the US population at large, and that carries over into the intel/contracting/govt communities that feed off of the veteran/retiree population. Some of the coolest, most together guys I have ever known. Real role models.

... but almost without fail, if you talk to them, they have some relatives back home just like the ones in that story right there. Which is whatever, everyone does, so do I. Just seems more common.

Mist_sl said:

Well, that's the counter argument to this thread, isn't it? If people are given a fair shot at life, they will tend to do better than if they aren't.

The only way to a true meritocracy is to give everyone a fair shot. Only once you've given someone a fair shot and they still choose to fail can you honestly blame their decisions.

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You can still join the Army. Door closes when you turn 36.

Be all you can be.

Mist_sl said:

I was actually looking at the Air Force, they bumped it to 39. It's been on the table for a while, to pay for the last 2 years of my psych PhD, or the easy route, I'm sure they'd take me as a telecoms technician.

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Sign up. One of the perks you can get for having prior college is getting to pick where you'll be stationed. Choose to be very, very far away from wherever you are now.

fanaskin_sl said:

Except for Combat roles.

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I don't know that this is true. Too busy to really dig into it, found some USA Today article but couldn't find the source study and it says the military is about 20% black and of those 24% are in combat roles, didn't have numbers for whites in combat roles. It doesn't immediately cry out "disparity". There is a disparity in number of officers, which may be linked to education levels, idk.