Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Vudak on January 09, 2007, 10:41:58 PM
-
I always hear vets tell kids signing up, "Don't volunteer for ANYTHING."
Why is this?
Is it because they already stand a good chance of getting stuck with it anyway?
Or is it rooted in superstition? (The volunteer in the movies almost always bites it, I notice)
Or is it for other reasons?
Also, for those of you who've been Drill Instructors... What do you think of a kid when he actually does volunteer? Do you think he's an idiot who doesn't listen to advice? Or a suckup? Or is it a good thing in your eyes?
I was driving around and, for whatever reason, started wondering about this.
-
I volunteered to serve in the United States Navy. I thought it was a branch of the armed services. here is what I discovered navy is actually an acronym
Never
Again
Volunteer
Yourself
yet I'm glad I served and I hope my son follows my lead. but I'll warn him.
don't volunteer for ANYTHING!!!
-
Because they only ask for volunteers for **** jobs or suicide missions.
-
That's really odd.
I volunteered for active recall twice and didn't get activated either time.
So you can volunteer and have nothing whatsoever come from it.
-
never volunteer.
maybe its good maybe its bad but non of those that did ever came back to tell us...
Since most soldiers are familiar and abide this rule, whenever the sargent or lieutenant needed a man he asks some silly question like:
sarg: "which one of you speaks french?"
a private: "I do sir".
sarg: "ok, take this shovel and dig a trench over there".
-
We had a commander in my unit who would directly as for volunteers, 9 outta it was total crap jobs every now then he would be like ok you volunteered for a 4 day weekend off have fun.
90prf
-
Elite forces are almost always volunteer. Of course conscript or mediocre forces and thier personel would have a saying like this.
Thank God we have men and women in America that believe thier cause is important enough to volunteer. My oldest son just EAS'd out of the Navy with 2 stretchs to the gulf. My youngest son deployed Al Asad last week as a Marine.
I served as a Marine 20 some years ago. To all 3 of us the never volunteer phrase is just what I think it was origanally coined for. Its a nervous joke as you prepare to go about the business at hand,that nobody WANTS to do but needs to be done.
To all that volunteer in thier turn for me and mine. THANK YOU
-
Saying probably originated in the non professional military.
When you see some serviceman with a really kick bellybutton job like living at a 4 star hotel near the beach and blowing **** up during the day and sharing a beer with his supervisor at luch. Remember he volunteered for that duty.
-
I realize that they all volunteered to be in the military.
I also realize that every single time I've ever seen a guy do that, others who have been in there have said "don't volunteer for anything [once you get in there]."
Just clearing that up since some people already seem to be gettin ancy :D
-
U.S. ARMY
Uncle
Sam
Aint
Released
Me
Yet
:D
"Don't be first" and "don't be last"
That is the best advice I can give for anyone going to basic training...
:D
-
I volunteered to serve. I then volunteered to go over seas. In both cases the experiance was certainly (IMO) worth it.
The bit about never volunteering desn't necessarily have a full basis in reality but is a "tradition" that has been carried on since the Romans had an Army. It ranks right up there with the phrase that "it's the nail that sticks that gets hammered". In some cases it's true and something bad can happen. In other cases it's an invitation to something that can enrich your life. Timing and knowing which situation is coming up is everything there. :p
Don't forget another military "truism". It's every soldiers right to gripe. When, where and to whom are critical considerations.......
-
I was advised:
"If you make to the end of Boot and the DI has to ask your name, you did it right."
-
Originally posted by Rikitic
My oldest son just EAS'd out of the Navy with 2 stretchs to the gulf. My youngest son deployed Al Asad last week as a Marine.
Hey Rikitic, what unit is your son with? My step son just over there this week with MAG 29.
-
The basic reason for the advice Never Volunteer seems to be that when the worst tasks come up, ranging from undesirable to potentially fatal, leaders can ask for volunteers both to give troops a chance to show their spirit and to somewhat reduce the effect on the leaders' consciences for making choices that could result in injuries or deaths.
Volunteers in any situation usually perform better than those who are drafted (in the large or small sense), so asking for volunteers is often a wise thing to do in many circumstances, good or bad.
Situations not being good times to ask for volunteers are any that would make the leader look ignorant (not knowing which of his troops do which tasks the best), indecisive, or cowardly.
-
because volunteering in the marines will get u scrubbing toilets or scraping soul chicken crap off sidewalks. i volunteered enough to last a lifetime by signing up
-
Back in Basic, our Drill Sargent had to get some people for a work detail to clean up the gim( you know, the building you play sports in, cann't spell worth anything). This was after we got paid that morning. So, he ask for all of us you have an military licenes to drive the General's car. So he gets all of us that have one. But there was one dude in our Platoon who really wanted to "drive the General's car". So with a grin, so he marched the whole group of us back to our payday activities. When we got inside, he said handing each of us a broom,"here, drive this". That one dude was pissed. He got suckered. I just had to grin. That was funny.
-
U
Suckers
Miss
Christmas,
again.
-
A good NCO spreads around the crap details fairly -- in theory. They key is to be strategic in your volunteering :)
Charon
-
While as an Instructor at Ft Gordon I found at times getting someone to volunteer was difficult until I found this simple solution to the problem.
I would have the Platoon of students all raise their right hand...up high where I could see them. Then mention that I needed 10 volunteers LOL the first ten hands that went down were my volunteers.
Worked everytime!
:aok
On a lighter note as student at the 82nd Recondo Course at Bragg the Ranger SGT needed a volunteer...everyone was hesitant. I raised my hand and had to watch over the quionsent hut barracks while the remainder of 2 Platoons had to go and burn 4 half 55 gal drums of human defecation with MOGAS and stir it with sticks to get it to burn right.
Best time I evar volunteered!
:D
Mac
-
Originally posted by Charon
A good NCO spreads around the crap details fairly -- in theory. They key is to be strategic in your volunteering :)
Charon
Quoted for truth.
-
Originally posted by Vudak
I always hear vets tell kids signing up, "Don't volunteer for ANYTHING."
Why is this?
Is it because they already stand a good chance of getting stuck with it anyway?
Or is it rooted in superstition? (The volunteer in the movies almost always bites it, I notice)
Or is it for other reasons?
Also, for those of you who've been Drill Instructors... What do you think of a kid when he actually does volunteer? Do you think he's an idiot who doesn't listen to advice? Or a suckup? Or is it a good thing in your eyes?
I was driving around and, for whatever reason, started wondering about this.
As an instructor I have to say those kids that jump and snap to when you say "give me two bodies" often stand out above the rest. It's usually those that are first in line for things (except for chow) that have a greater abundance of moral caharacter than their fellow trainees.
Don't volunteer for anything doesn't work. As an NCO when troops don't volunteer they often get "voluntold" anyways. If you can pick your poisen usually you pick the less painfull one.
"it's a big watermelon sandwich and we're all gonna have to take a bite"
"Some get a bigger helping than others" -Gunslinger