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Ordrakon posted:As a man with a passion for the Lord and a deep respect for our men in uniform, I'm curious to know how service in the military or law enforcement has affected your views of God and religion. Has it been difficult to keep the faith? Did service help you find it? Share you stories. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is here for you. https://www.lds.org/callings/military-relations?lang=eng First a little background about me. I was raised in a Catholic family and went through the whole religious education thing in school and was confirmed by the local Bishop, etc. etc. Somewhere around 3rd or 4th grade I started to have serious doubts about the factual truth of the Bible, specifically the Old Testament's version of how the Earth was created and how life came to be. During basic training I attended Catholic mass but that was mostly just a way to get out of the barracks for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. At my duty station in Germany I pretty much didn't do anything religious because I was too busy working and having fun living in Europe as a single 20-something. When I was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in 2003 I had a few words with God during the invasion, especially during the sand storm that rendered us effectively blind for 24 hours. Later on during the first few months of the occupation of Iraq I got to see firsthand the effects of religious zealotry. I guess that I should point out my job in the Army was a 19D Armored Reconnaissance Specialist. The TL:DR on that job is that we shot guns and drove trucks (Humvees). The net result is that from 2003 I am an agnostic. I don't know for sure if there is a God or not and what form or forms he might manifest himself in. What I do know is that religious extremism of all stripes (Christian, Muslim, etc.) is a divisive and dangerous force.
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May 29, 2014 19:11
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Dantu posted:3rd ID? Yup. I was in the 1st Brigade's reconnaissance troop / task force / RSTA squadron / insert cool sounding Army buzzword here.
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May 30, 2014 05:57
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Mad Dragon posted:We weren't really allowed to sleep, so some of us would get under our racks, prop an arm up under the frame, and tighten our sheets for a half hour or so. The name of the game was to get organized and post a watch at the end of the hall nearest the stairs or the drill sergeants' office. That was necessary until later in our training cycle when the drills pretty much openly acknowledged that nothing was planned and that as long as we didn't cause them problems they were perfectly happy to chill in the office with the radio up and we could read / talk / gently caress off until formation for dinner or whatever.
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May 30, 2014 20:36
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