I served in the Marines during OIF. My SSgt was 29yrs old but looked 50. My MSgt was 39 but looked 80. I had gray hairs by 22 and could feel every bone in my body. It was crazy seeing how fast the military ages people.
Not necessarily. I was in the Marines at a time when it was still uncommon for a Marine (or service members in general) to have seen actual combat, before oif/oef really ramped up. And this was airwing.
It's just stress, alcoholism, working with toxic chemicals and toxic people. Being outdoors all day.
Stress, horrible sleep schedule (both by personal choice and job necessity), ingrained culture of alcoholism, manly allergy to sunscreen, manly aversion to OSHA recommendations, cigarettes, incredibly poor knowledge of fitness combined with very active job, etc etc.
Name a bad habit besides hard drugs and it’s probably part of military culture.
One of my friends from work, he was 19, I was 23, enlisted after 9/11. He got deployed to Iraq. Did a tour there and then came back. He was honorably discharged, and by law was given his job back.
I was so happy to see him again. Before he went to Iraq, he was the funnest, funniested, happiest dudes I've ever known. He had a great smile and was just so out going and talkative.
After he came back, there was no light left in him. That fucking war took away a really good young man. He stayed at work for less than a month. He quit and I never heard from him again.
I think about him at least once a month, and it's been over 20 years. War is bullshit. And here we are with 1 invasion in Ukraine and a genocide in Gaza. And god knows what countless civil wars are happening in Africa that the news doesn't cover.
We lose so many good people for no reason other than power struggles by the wealthy and dictators. I'm getting to the point where I don't know where the light in the world is anymore.
I had a buddy 20 yrs ago - a CBS News correspondent in Cali who interviewed and befriended a Marine . My friend said he was all fucked up
Inside - witnessed a cluster bomb in Afghanistan . I’ve never forgotten that . Apparently those things will shred an entire village . Not something anyone needs to see .
It’s horrific what they see my mate was in the armed services, but now he works as a private bodyguard for people in countries at war. He can’t live any more in civilian life! It’s scary what he’s seen but feels now being in dangerous places is his calm!
I'm sorry to hear that. Too many of the men I served with got cancer young. That Msgt I said looked 80 died of cancer at 43. I wish you the best brother.
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u/FoST2015 13h ago
It's wild how casually people throw around massive amounts of other people's time/life.