directoryarmy.com Blog

For some reason many bodybuilders join the military. Is it for the money, the patriotism for their country, or is it just a job that keeps you in shape? These are just a few of the reasons but the real question is why would would you want to do such a thing? The military is NOT a place to be wandering around in. You have to have a motive to be there or you`re going to regret ever signing up. During training, you sometimes go days without sleep, food, and even water. You`re almost guaranteed to overtrain sometime, not only during basic, but during the extreme lifestyle you`ll be living fighting in a war. Talk about being in catabolic mode. This is the exact opposite of what us bodybuilders need to be doing.

When you`re in the military, you no longer exist as an individual. You belong to whatever branch of service you`re in and are basically consider a number. Bodybuilding is the exact opposite. In this sport, almost everything you do is by yourself and most of us don`t depend on other people like you do in the service. Most Bodybuilders are also very nice people. We may look mean but most of us act very humbly around others.

People from all areas of life join the military. Some do it as an escape from their troubled lives, some because of their financial status, and many other reasons. What some don`t realize is what the military is all about. People are dying simutaneously in Iraq and you are risking your lives if you join. You also have to consider the fact you`re going to be away from your family and friends and will be around new people that you probably won`t even like. I`m not trying to keep you from joining but I don`t want you guys to make the same stupid mistake I did. We are more than slaves to the government. We are slaves to ourselves and that is how it should be. Now don`t get me wrong. If you`ve joined for your country I have nothing but respect and I salute you.

If you are a non-union, unskilled, blue collar worker who dropped out of high school, but has good native intelligence (passes a very challenging aptitude test) and a good work ethic, the military pay and benefits are better than you can get on the outside. If you are a highly educated, technically skilled worker with some experience, the military doesn’t even come close to paying what you are worth on the outside. Most people do not fall in either extreme. There are also many other reasons to serve besides pay and benefits. And pay and benefits cannot make-up for the potential of major injury or loss of life, if you do not wish to give up some of your freedoms and offer your life for your country.

Every year the Army Times publishes a putative pay and benefits comparison for various jobs in the military, and their assumed civilian job equivalent. This might be a good article to look at for some insight to your question. Benefits are assumed at a high level, even if the military member never uses that benefit. Thus I am assumed to have a benefit advantage of being able to use military health care, the commissary, and the Post Exchange, to the tune of about $10,000 in savings a year (which the Army Times would add to my annual salary to inflate that number). However, I live too far away from a post to take advantage of these “benefits.” The cost of gas to get to post would far outweigh any reduced price savings I would get. So my actual pay and benefits is lower than the “typical” pay an benefits the Army Times claims. When I lived in DC my salary did not go nearly as far as it does when I live in the middle of nowhere Alabama. A young PFC working in the Pentagon will find it hard to make ends meet, but the civilian secretary doing a similar job, with locality pay, will make far more. That same PFC at Fort Benning Georgia can live very well. It is probably better than the local business secretaries.

In military school, the physical activities are given special emphasis. In addition to the academics, the students are kept busy in different kind of physical activities and sports. Although you can find a few co-educational military schools across the country, it is the single-sex schools that are more in demand and as the records show, these are the schools that display a better all round performance.

However, the military schools do not admit the unwilling teenagers. The students who are academically too poor or have gross behavioral disorder also do not have any place in the military schools. The most reputed military schools have their own admission procedures which are rather tough to crack. In case of any non compliance of rules, the student is expelled from the school with immediate effect. So a military school is not a mere coercive tool for inducing proper behavior in a troubled teen, a military school is in fact the most rewarding experience for a young person.

The Iraq war is a conflict between the United States of America and Iraq. In the year 2003, during the month of March, the United States army invaded Iraq. The main reason and cause for the Iraq war was Iraq’s development of weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqis supposedly were working on developing nuclear weapons, which was creating a threat to the security of the United States of America. The main cause of the war in Iraq was the information that the US got regarding the development of the weapon of mass destruction in Iraq. However, contrary to the information, the Iraq was not found to hold any such weapons. Moreover, Iraq was limiting oil it supplied to other countries from being used in the military services.

As far as the claims are concerned, none of the claims were true. It is interesting to know that on 20 March 2003 the US army along with the army officials of UK and some other allies invaded the Iraq. The invasion was made to get rid of Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq. The US army and the armies of the other allies of US were successful in defeating the army lead by Saddam Hussein in a very short span of time. Iraq was occupied and conquered by the US army, and for a short time, a small coalition government was found to have the situation under control. However, the coalition government was unable to maintain order. This led the Iraqi Insurgents to take up war with the US. Most of the members of the coalition government decided to withdraw from the government and this led to failure. There are scant details of the causes leading to the invasion, and there are a large number of discrepancies and uncertainty related to this topic. Moreover, the consequences are also not clearly visible and still remain a mystery. There are no official reports or statements that the US could provide to support the war, and its invasion in Iraq. This war has made a large number of people suffer, as there were a number of causalities have been reported in Iraq, as well as the United States military.

Military loans are actually a wonderful benefit offered to those who are currently or formerly in any of the US armed forces. Whether you are in the air force, army, navy, marines, or any of the national guard or reserves, you are eligible for these short term military loans. However, not everyone knows about them or how they work. Here are military loans explained so that you will be able to see and understand just how valuable they can be.

When you have military loans explained to you, the first thing you will likely be told is that they can be used for almost anything. You can use your military loan money to add on to your house, buy nursery furniture for the new arrival, go on vacation, or even pay off a bill that you are running late on. The great thing about these loans is that they have very little in the way of restrictions on them. Getting a military loan is easy. The best way to do it is to go on the internet and make a quick search for military loan institutions. Once you find a place you like or with which you are comfortable, you will have to fill out an application. Almost all institutions offering military loans offer the applications online for your convenience. You will be asked to fill out personal information, including your social security number of military information. Then, you will get a response, in most cases, that same day.

On March 20th in the year 2003 at around 2:30 UTC, a series of explosions were heard from Baghdad. It has only recently been found that these explosions were a result of the group of special forces such as British SAS, US Delta Force, US Navy SEALs, Australian 4RAR as well as SASR etc. It has recently been proven that these troops headed straight for Baghdad even before the air war had started.

In military parlance this term is commonly used to refer to the use of overwhelming force, dominant maneuvers and power displays to cripple the enemy’s power to fight. In order to accomplish victory as soon as possible the US strategy in Iraq involved the simultaneous usage of ground and air attacks to immobilize the Iraqi forces. Thus while the US army was attacking, the US Navy SEALs were also assaulting the forces in Iraq. Many Iraqi military units were bypassed successfully as part of the Navy SEALs operation. During the closing hours of March 20th there were several amphibious attacks, as well as assaults carried out simultaneously by the British 3 Commando Brigade, the Royal Marines as well as US Navy SEALs to secure oil fields in Iraq. However in the course of this Navy SEALs mission close to 44 oil wells were destroyed and exploded by accident or by explosives launched by the Iraqi forces.

The crafty Iranian leadership, rethinking their agenda of reckless self-endangerment – such as their inevitably suicidal attempt to gain nuclear weapons and their calculated meddling in Iraq – have decided that the safer course of action may be to apply for U. S. statehood.

Upon admission as the 51st state, Iran would become a nuclear power without the possibility of being attacked, at least, by the United States, and George Bush could order the governor of Iran to keep his state’s conniving hands out of Iraq.

In fact, as the 51st state, Iran would transform the United States from being any sort of threat to being obligated to defend it as much as it’s prepared to defend Texas.

Of course, if Iran’s initiative toward U. S. statehood is to stand a chance for Congressional approval, Iran and America will obviously have to make some mutual accommodations. For instance, Iran will have to fly the American flag in the state capital, most likely Tehran, and America will have to find a place for the Iranian flag in Washington, as well as the addition of a 51st star to Old Glory.

On being questioned about Iran’s possible movement toward statehood, Iranian President Mamoud Ahmadinejad stated, “I have considered the idea of U. S. statehood very carefully and I actually find merit in it, especially since our Assembly of Experts and our Expediency Discernment Council have both advised me that they find merit in it. Should the United States be fortunate enough to have Iran as the 51st state, my hope is that I’ll be elected governor of Iran, just as George Bush was the governor of Texas. Then I’ll finally have some influence on American policy.”

President Bush, on hearing about the rumored Iranian initiative, responded, “I’m skeptical that it can work. Frankly, I don’t see how a Persian nation can fit in. But, as always, I’m open minded. So I’m willing to consider the benefits, if anybody can point one out. Until then, my assumption is there’s a less diplomatic answer.”

Surprisingly, Dick Cheney did not immediately dismiss the idea, commenting, “Much as I am inclined to oppose statehood for Iran, I am aware that, should that remote possibility become a reality, it would add significantly to U. S. oil reserves.”

Supreme Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, otherwise known as President Ahmadinejad’s boss, while suspected of having his last liberal thought at the age of five, voiced guarded interest in American statehood for Iran, saying, “I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be as an American Islamic cleric but, as such, I would be able to address the infidels over there as my fellow Americans. I would even be able to say politically correct things like, ‘Allah bless America.’ Such heaven-sent opportunities might increase my chances of converting America to Islam.”

The former President of Iran and mild-mannered reformer, Mohammad Khatami, who is now serving as chairman of the Militant Clerics League, was jubilant; in fact, when hearing about the remote possibility of a statehood initiative, he leaped up from his prayer rug so enthusiastically that his turban flew off. Replacing it, he commented, “What an astonishing turn of events! As you know, I have often been considered pro-Western, which largely accounts for my political defeat in the presidential election. But, should Iran become a state, my stance will not make me so much of a political pariah; in fact, I can go from being pro-Western all the way to being pro-American.”

And the Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of Experts and Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, oil millionaire and devoted mullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, commented, “I have advised the Assembly and the Council and anybody else who will listen that I do find some interesting possibilities in the idea of American statehood and will continue to find them as long as, after I’m an American, I can become the chairman of Exxon-Mobil.”

Of course, should Iran decide to move forward with its initiative to become the 51st state, the motion will have to be debated by the U. S. Congress. As usual, Democrats and Republicans have expressed divergent views on the issue.

Senator Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said, “We in the senate know quite well all the things the Iranians have been doing that upset us. You may also have noticed that the Bush administration has been powerless to stop them. While such confrontational behavior may hurt Iran’s chances for passage of a statehood bill, should it somehow pass, I can see that having some Iranians in Congress might make Tehran more responsive.”

On the other hand, Senator Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, expostulated, “The entire idea of Iran as a state of the Union is preposterous. I mean, how can you welcome people into these United States who shout things like ‘death to America? And what’s that language they speak, Farsi? And I’ll bet, even after they’re Americans, they won’t let their women wear dresses.”

Meanwhile, Britain, miffed over Tehran’s arrest of 15 British sailors for allegedly trespassing on Iranian waters and the arrogant manner of their release, expressed enthusiasm for the possibility of Iranian statehood, with Prime Minister Tony Blair noting, “The rather curious effort by Iran to become the 51st state is a welcome way to prevent any further meddling with our navy in the Persian Gulf, principally because British sailors have not been arrested in American waters since the Revolutionary War.”

Of course, Iran’s application can only commence after Supreme leader Ali Khamenei tells everybody else in Iran that the idea is OK with him.

His final word may be forthcoming sooner than later, since the Iranians are well aware that, if they do file a formal application for statehood, they will have to contend with Congress, which is the only body that can rival them for stalling on an issue.