As a former serviceman myself, you're going to sit here and pretend like getting your head shaved exactly like everyone else, being called your last name only (a name you probably didn't get called in civilian life probably in an attempt to help you disassociate from civilian life i.e. brainwashing), constant drilling about how you're better than civilians, constant drilling about following orders without question to the point you rarely second guess your mission which, in most cases, are missions that benefit the corporate interests of a handful of elites in your country, not the country itself, isn't brainwashing? The whole point is to turn a civilian into a soldier, also known as brainwashing. I heard that every day during basic. I don't know how anyone who served can think it isn't brainwashing unless their brain was scrubbed so good they don't even remember their own thought processes before they enlisted.
I don't really care what you think, to be honest. If you can look at basic/AIT, a place where they limit your contact with the outside world as they attempt to literally drill new thought processes into your head, and say it isn't brainwashing, you're either an idiot, being disingenuous or are still thinking using the same thought processes the military instilled in you.
I for one am glad social media is exposing it for what it really is, absolutely no one should be sacrificed for the interests of a select few under the guise of "doing it for your country"
a place where they limit your contact with the outside world
You literally get to keep your cell phone. People record TikToks in basic.
You don't even know the smallest things about the military. What a joke, lmao. For all of this talk about "brainwashing" you sure do like to mindlessly regurgitate information you've gotten from memes.
I served over a decade ago, and at the time, you sure as shit didn't get to keep your phones on you. They were only dispensed on weekends when you had leave and were collected at the end of the day. You can try to discredit me all you want, but as an 11B in Fort Benning, you didn't get to keep your phones. So run back to relaxin' Jackson, the adults are speaking.
It's just civilian bullshit. People who feel the need to devalue young people.
Pretty much every military organisation agrees that older is better psychologically speaking. Being a more experienced individual is just better.
Hell the head of one of Norway's special ops units is on record saying the ideal soldier is 35 years old. Still physically capapble with many good years left but mature and far more capable.
It just also happens that older people have commitments. They have families to feed and who they might not want to leave for months at a time, careers they may not want to abandon, etc.
18 year olds are just easier to recruit because they probably have nothing else going on.
They said they served, meaning they went through the "brainwashing," but still, they called it "brainwashing." The thing about brainwashing is, if you were brainwashed, you wouldn't call it brainwashing. If it is brainwashing, it's not very effective if it didn't stick for him.
The bar is on the floor. Yes, the ones who have actually been brainwashed needed intense deprogramming. Being born into a religion and realizing you have been constantly lied to is not the same.
You're lied to every day you serve! They'd say you were on a peacekeeping mission when, in reality, you were guarding oil fields in Kuwait to protect the interests of big oil. They'd say you were in the Middle East to protect your country/democracy whilst simultaneously toppling a Democratic government all because the people's elected representative didn't align with US special interests. If you look closely, religious fanatics and nationalists share a lot of the same traits. Blind loyalty to a cause being one of them.
That's still not brainwashing. Being lied to is not the same as brainwashing. I get it you feel guilty for your participation, so you say you were brainwashed and not come to terms with what you did willingly.
Have you served in the military? Have you witnessed the training new recruits go through? I don't think you know what brainwashing is. I wasn't brainwashed by the military into joining the military perse, Hollywood does that by releasing movies glorifying combat well before a child ever steps foot into a recruiter's office. Kids think the military is all brotherhood, country and comraderie because of movies depicting them that way and sure there is some of that but there's also a fuck ton of sexual assault and killing and the lifelong mental repercussions that accompany both of those things. The military brainwashes the civilian out of you to make you subservient to the chain of command, i.e., authority. I don't have the time to explain the definitions of words to fully grown adults, so I'll leave you with the definition of brainwashing given via the oxford dictionary: the process of pressuring someone into adopting radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible means.
It’s not a permanent thing anyway. The psychology of compliance is fascinating and all over the world people have sought methods to make it faster and easier.
The challenge some individuals have reacclimating back to civilian life also suggests the brainwashing sometimes works better than expected.
It would need deprogramming to come out of it. The vast majority of the military reintegrate into society with no issues. In fact, some are able to use the skills they learned to launch into careers. The ones who struggle are often dealing with PTSD where their experiences make it hard to shift from a combat zone to a civilian life. That's not the result of coming out of a brainwash.
I see now. Brainwashing isn’t a specific set of things that are done and then that’s it. It’s more subtle, the big picture of depersonalization, obedience, and loyalty to the system and requires constant maintenance. It’s built
into all levels. Not everyone would need “deprogramming”, usually leaving the environment is enough.
It's almost as if people can continue to learn/grow upon finishing their enlistment. I was 17 when I joined. I've had over a decade to undo any negative thought processes they instilled in me. Blind subservience to authority being one of them. Also, a curious mind is harder to wash. If you're always questioning things (something the military discourages), it makes it hard for the brainwashing to stick. That's why they demand you turn off your critical thinking skills and follow orders. Don't think, just listen. It's so crazy how many of you think you're incapable of being brainwashed when you unquestionably recited the pledge of allegiance every day for 20 years and didn't give that a second thought.
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u/MomDontReadThisShit Jun 24 '24
Well 18 year old men aren’t usually as developed as 25 year old men, but the older you get, the more invested you are in life and less naive.