Asklemmy

44123 readers

493 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

What explains the disparity of outcome in people who join the military? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 days ago by Subject6051@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

American culture seems to be rife with men who went to the Marines and after being discharged of duty went on to either lead successful lives or who's life took a turn for the worse and ended up on the street.

Of c, the two groups are not equal in numbers and the third much larger group lies in between these two groups. Now, I still am interested in the disparity between the extremes. Why do some people who join the Marines go on to create an over represent the Marines amount the successful, while others end up on the street? They are all given a clean slate somewhat and are exposed to the exact same environment, what do the successful learn which the unsuccessful don't?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] ProfessorOwl_PhD@hexbear.net 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They are all given a clean slate somewhat and are exposed to the exact same environment

OK, try actually imagining this "clean slate" and "same environment". Imagine yourself, right now, going to boot camp alongside someone who's lived a life of relative privilege with lots of educational and exercise opportunities - someone better educated, fitter, even taller than you. Imagine yourself alongside someone who lived a life lacking in privileges - a crappy or unfinished education, not particularly healthy, shorter than you.
Imagine how you and those two hypothetical people tackle the different obstacles this "same environment" gives you - imagine going through an actual obstacle course with them. How easy or hard does each person find each obstacle? Will a short person find climbing a rope or wall as easy as a tall person? How about balancing on a log, crawling under wire, or jumping over a ditch?
A "clean slate" isn't any kind of reset of their abilities and experiences. "The same environment" inherently means it challenges their individual abilities differently. They get different outcomes because they were different people to begin with, so react differently to their experiences, like everywhere else in life.

[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Excellent points. The military is a human endeavor, and is just as rife with all the same issues as any other organization, with all the expected biases. Boot camp is tiny part of overall service, and honestly barely relevant to the day to day. Mostly, you will have the same experience in the military as out, just with added hardships. People are still people, even when in uniform.

An attractive, fit, nuerotypical, charming person will have a much better experience than someone out of sorts with the above.

The military doesnt stamp you and everyone elese into the same person. It just presses you into a specific shape to do the specific task they need. Everything else is still there, if not exacerbated by the trauma of it all. They earnestly dont give a shit if that task destroys or improves you, as long as you do the task for the time allotted.

Different outcomes happen because people are different.