Does anyone else fucking hate it when US veterans posture like this? Like why the fuck are you proud of being part of the US war machine and how is bombing brown people in the Middle East supposed to make someone not MAGA? Being a veteran should be a point of shame, not a badge of honor.
this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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I am a US veteran, specifically Air Force. I didn't do much in the Air Force, as I was really only an enlisted airplane mechanic, but it's been a disgrace to see America fall at the hands of a facist regime. And it's even worse to see veterans supporting Trump. I know some MAGA probably lurk around in places like this, so I'm gonna say it: if you are a veteran that supports Trump, you are not a veteran in my eyes. You're a disgrace to yourself, and the constitution you pledged to defend.
I don't give a damn what you call me. Call me a communist, woke, radical leftist if it makes you and your sorry ass excuse for existing feel any better. This is not democrat vs. republican. This is the working class of America vs the top 1%. If you're willing to throw out your oath to the constitution and let your hatred, bigotry, and ignorance cloud your judgement so much you would put a political party that hates you and America over common sense, you are NOT a veteran. You're lower to me than a civilian that's MAGA.
Originally Posted By u/Cherobis At 2025-04-18 07:07:45 AM | Source
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Being a veteran should be a point of shame, not a badge of honor.
Veteran here. For me it's neither. It was a job. Enlisted side, most people who join do it because they want healthcare or college and the shit system we live in has those luxuries locked behind a pay gate.
Very few people join because they're just bleeding red-white-and-blue.
Pride, shame, or anywhere in between is going to depend on the individual's experience.
The military has done some absolutely fucked up things, but the individual serviceman isn't going to internalize those.
Nowadays I'm a surgical technologist at a civilian hospital. The field of healthcare has done some absolutely fucked up things as well, but same spiel: I'm not going to internalize those.
What I can do is use my veteran status as leverage. Right wing nut jobs have a weird belief that all of us are automatically on the red team, and I do love pulling that rug out from under them.
...and that's why some veterans posture like that. We're not going to see eye to eye with you on everything, which is fine, but that doesn't mean we can't be an ally.
You should look at the comments on that thread. It seems at least 90% of the thread considers serving in the military to be a good thing when in all likelihood someone who served in the military either did nothing of value or actively made the world a worse place to be. I see no acceptable reason at all to praise someone for serving in the military, yet that's what half the thread is doing, and the notion that being a veteran should somehow correlate with being anti-fascist—or that MAGA is un-American or incompatible with veteran values—is straight up delusion. MAGA is the logical outcome "American values" and war on terror jingoism.
It seems at least 90% of the thread considers serving in the military to be a good thing when in all likelihood someone who served in the military either did nothing of value or actively made the world a worse place to be.
Again I'd draw a distinction between the military as a whole and the individual experience.
I'd say serving was a good thing for me:
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Prior to enlisting I was just about ready to kill myself. Outlook was hopeless as fuck; figured worse case scenario it's shit and I'd just off myself once I was in.
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Selected to be a surgical tech, so I got free training to be a surgical tech and 4 years xp, which gave me some actual prospects for when I got out.
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Didn't die, either by my own hand or from military bullshit.
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Got a fuckton of 'free' healthcare for myself and my wife.
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Got the fuck out.
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Currently a full time civilian surgical tech and part time student in nursing school, all on the govt's dime.
So yea for me personally, I'd say it worked out pretty nicely. Does that make the military a force of good? Fuck no. It means I got lucky. Is all of the above a sales pitch for enlisting? Depends on how desperate you are: my options were get lucky or paint the ceiling red, so if you're at the point you're willing to take that gamble, then by all means, fuck it, why not. But if you can make it by without getting involved with the military, do that first.
I see no acceptable reason at all to praise someone for serving in the military, yet that’s what half the thread is doing
Certainly not more than any other job. I couldn't begin to explain why I get the worship treatment for wearing camo to and from the OR for 4 years when my civilian surgical tech counterparts who paid for their own training and then did the literal exact same thing every day is somehow seen as lesser. The whole swooning over "thank you for your service!" thing is always awkward as fuck anyway.
and the notion that being a veteran should somehow correlate with being anti-fascist—or that MAGA is un-American or incompatible with veteran values—is straight up delusion.
Hard disagree there, but the word should is carrying a lot of weight. Every time I go to the VA I'm met with a sea of red MAGA klan hoods, so even though most veterans seem to swan-dive into neonazism without a second's thought, that should not be possible as it runs in direct opposition to the oath we swore and training we received. The take away here is that most veterans, just like most civilians, fall somewhere on a spectrum with stupid on one end and evil on the other.
MAGA is the logical outcome “American values” and war on terror jingoism.
MAGA is what happen when evil people are allowed to take unchecked advantage of stupid people. This is straight up why "and domestic" is in things like the oath of enlistment: every servicemember and federal employee of any type who's had the opportunity to take a shot a Trump and chosen not to has violated their oath.