I joined the Army at 17yrs 1 day old and served 4 years in Infantry. I'm now 21, I've been a civilian for 6 months and I can't for the life of me just be a normal person again. I don't remember what I was like from 0-16 and the adolescent period most people spent in college partying and growing up still in the learning environment, I spent in a totally different mindset based upon mission, teammates, self. I look at the way people centre and direct their lives purely with emotion, living in the moment without thinking, treat timings as infinitely flexible, zero planning, the entire concept of 'going with the flow', gossip about each other behind their backs, guys tearing each other down trying to assert their dominance as an alpha in a world without rank or order, and the pure selfishness of people who do things like push in queues, abandon their drunk friends at the club, pick fights over nothing, screw each other over for insignificant temporary gains, and the sheer goddamn laziness of most people to get off their asses and exercise.
Maybe I just lived in a bubble for all this time but it feels like putting my life on the line to protect a bunch of people who act in such an intolerant manner wasn't worth it. At least when I was serving the civilian world was just an abstract concept to me and this has been one brutal redpill.
Plenty of vets feel this way, and the Army does a poor job addressing the cultural shift from the Army lifestyle back to the civilian world. Here's what worked for me. It's important to do a few things to help you adjust 1. Find some vet friends. Even if it's just chilling with them once every month, it helps to have someone who knows and feels the same mindset as you. 2. Stop giving a fuck or having standards for people who can't do anything for you. That doesn't mean treat them like shit, but just to let them live their undisciplined shitty lives on their own. Modern culture lets people get away with being garbage, but there are plenty of people who choose differently. 3. Try to find a hobby or sport that you enjoy. This is anecdotal, but when I got out, I found a lot of relief and purpose in chess, batting cages, and home improvement DIY stuff. This will at least distract you and provide some decent benefits rather than just drinking or working out.
This can all be a bitch to do, especially when you're used to having a purpose and mission every day, but try to do at least one of these once a day and soon enough you'll be reintegrated with society.
Samuel Cook
I thought you had to be 18 to join?
Jace Gray
Not in every country. In the UK you can join at 16 and as far as I'm aware in the USA you can join at 17 with parental consent.
You have been in a bubble. Civilians care more about political and celeberty scandals than they do any sense of military good.
Why do you care what we think anyway?
Go shoot some class III weapons for me.
Matthew Perry
Why did you leave the military?
Jeremiah Hall
Had 4 vet friends suicide so far, so I went overseas to pick fruit with a bunch of backpackers just to distance myself from everything but I can't; I think it's just too difficult and I'm going to end up reenlisting. Finished my contract, thought it would be better on the outside; maybe go to school and pick up where I left off.
Nolan Hernandez
Interestingly enough it's the opposite here.
The army is weird in many ways, before the army I had hardly even interacted with people beyond my close circle of friends, now I feel completely fine interacting with everyone.
I really don't know how to help OP, I suggest you talk to other former military men.
Jaxon Cook
>How do I need normal again The worst thing you can do is try to normalize yourself to the everyday degenerates of this society , OP. Dont be normal, be better
Luke Brown
>Can't distance yourself from everything I went through traumatic experiences in life myself, very serious things which I was almost condemned to a psych ward for and which nearly killed me on multiple occasions. Trauma is not overcome through escapism, it comes from inner peace. Prayer, meditation, and excercise is what ended up saving me, but trauma is something that never leaves you. You just need to learn how to overcome it, not run from it. I learned this from some of my vet friend, actually.
Those scenes of horror in your mind and the remnants of your nervous system being shot to shit from stressful scenarios are things that just need to be normalized and accepted. They're just like any scars on a man.
Parker Hernandez
Can you not renew your contract?
Dominic Diaz
What happened to cause you such trauma?
Christian Harris
One good thing I did was get my high school diploma when I was still in the Army; turns out I can pass my classes when my old man isn't beating the living shit out of my mom and I, in-between alcoholic-induced comas. I'm going to give it another 6 months and if I'm not mentally prepared to commit to school I'll be talking with reenlistment. I think the greatest divide lies in the experience your everyday civilian lives as compared to a grunt, and the mindset you develop to overcome it. You're right that I can't hide in Jow Forums, overseas, or at the bottom of a bottle; you have to get along with yourself before you can hope to do the same with other people.
Aiden Cox
Sounds like you need to listen to some Jocko podcast my nigga
Isaac Clark
I'm 21 too. I work three jobs and I don't have college education. I pay for my parents stuffs because they are ill and we are poor. I hope to party one day
1) There's no such thing as good guys, nor bad guys
2) There is no circumstance ever where deliberately making yourself a human shield is a good idea. It is always stupid.
3) This has nothing to do with honor and everything to do with glorifying stupidity.
>How to be normal again Just don't .Are you asking to downgrade your life? What exactly do you want help with? People are dumb and free to be. They will live by the merits of their actions, as you will yours. As time passes, the judgment of natural consequence will put you all in order.
I assume you'll have a nice house, respectable bank account, and a loving wife. They'll still be cheating and scheming lowlifes.
Why are you externalizing so much into what other people do? It's not your life. If anything, they need your help. So set an example for them. Show them how they should be living.
Also you were pretty dumb for spending your time in the military. I know it feels good, because of all the propaganda and stuff shoved down American's throats, but you really know you didn't do anything more than waste the most primordial years of your life blindly following simple orders, having simple male comradery, and under-utilizing your intellect. You would have been far better off being an honor student at a university, hanging out with other honor kids and women, exposed to a wide variety of very stimulating topics, in the real world. Then you'd be super well-adjusted, educated, and have a nice degree instead of a lousy DD-214. Just accept this is how you spent your life and just move on. Nothing you can do at this point.
If you really regret it, then tell your kids when the day comes and advise younger people along the way in your life. Don't let others repeat your mistakes, it's a way of not letting your suffering go in vain.
Jaxson Ross
Feelsbadman.jpg
I have a different military problem.
> work hard to join officer college >finally become an officer cadet >we almost exclusively have civian subjects >most people are lazy and prefer to cheat on exams and fitness tests >there is no brotherhood >I expected people to be open and strive for improvement >most people start fights over the smallest things >shittests all the time >its a big rat race, where everyone only cares for his own butt
This is not what I excpected from future officers, or from the military.
I feel like I might be better of becoming a civilian again.
