How a soldier is made

This is how an American soldier is made.
For 27 months, Ian Fisher, his parents and friends, and the U.S. Army allowed Denver Post reporters and a photographer to watch and chronicle his recruitment, induction, training, deployment, and, finally, his return from combat. A selection of photos from Ian’s journey are posted below.
The story was written by Kevin Simpson with Michael Riley and Bruce Finley. It was reported by Riley in Colorado and at Fort Benning, Ga., Finley at Fort Carson and in Iraq, and photographer Craig F. Walker throughout.

I was surprised how closely the photographer was able to follow this kid through his training, and deployment in Iraq.

Check it out.

That was cool. Great link.

They look so young in this picture.

They seem to get younger every year.

That struck me too. Of course compared to myself, they are younger every year.:D

Man, four girlfriends and two engagements in just under two years.

I'm real confident he and this last one are gonna stay married. :rolleyes: I mean, they got a dog together, it must be love!

That's what I was thinking Clod - new picture, new girlfriend...

xoxoxoBruce;597834 wrote:

That struck me too. Of course compared to myself, they are younger every year.:D

Next year The Doctor will be younger than me (Matt Smith, 26)
Now that feels like I'm really getting old!

Sorry, I am taking the OT seriously.
But then I've always thought of the world of soldiers as a world apart from mine.
For a while I dated a guy who had an older and younger brother. The older wanted to be in the RAF but developed (or was discovered to have) epilepsy. Went off the rails, lived in a squat in Brixton (at the time a very troubled part of London) and *gasp* smoked drugs. He fascinated me!

My BF only ever wanted to join the RAF, but couldn't because of his eyesight. When we split up he was looking into joining the Police (I have no idea what their sight requirements are)

The younger started as a squaddie and was promoted up, and came onto me every time either he or I were drunk. Or both of course. And told me really nasty squaddie stories (shit sandwich anyone?)

I fully respect the Armed Forces. I like the Cellar for showing me the American approach to them, and therefore colouring my approach to ours (ie the Christmas packages I sent last year.) So I like this IoTD. I just have to work on soldiers a bit - perhaps it's a cultural gap.

ETA - anyone who has Big Sarge details, PLEASE pm me - I lost the ones he provided me and feel like a heel not contacting him.

Thank you. This was very special to see.

I enjoyed that. Great coverage.

Clodfobble;597835 wrote:

Man, four girlfriends and two engagements in just under two years.

I'm real confident he and this last one are gonna stay married. :rolleyes: I mean, they got a dog together, it must be love!

jinx;597876 wrote:

That's what I was thinking Clod - new picture, new girlfriend...

chortle

Pico and ME;597828 wrote:

They look so young in this picture.

I must agree.

I was quite shocked to see this picture, as these boys barely look out of their early teens... They look like children, dressed up to play war... What is wrong with this world, where boys are sent out to fight, to die?

War has lost all sense of honour, of "decency," if such a word could be used.

We're meant to protect our children from the affairs of grown-ups, not send them out to do the dirty work, whilst we sit in offices, dictating their lives, their deaths...

This "war on terror" is a terror upon war... Shame on "them."

I doubt people were much older when sent to war in the past. Those kids have to be around 18 and that was the age many went to war in Vietnam and WWII. I'm also fairly positive 18 year olds have been fighting in most US wars throughout our history.

We just don't have actual picture records that some 18 year olds look like they are 14.

Edit - Plus, I think that photo was taken to get the "look how young they look" reaction. Those aren't the norm.

Back in college I visited Fort Dix and ran into this really young private. I told him where I was going to school and he told me his recruiter told him he could finish high school in the Army. I think he was 17.

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Rich, the thing to remember is that the military is a slice of society. We have the same percentage of idiots, scamers, drugies, etc. that the general population has. We also have a much higher percentage of really dedicated people who just want to do right, get an education, and protect your right to say whatever the fuck you want about anything, including them. Peace.

TheMercenary;598188 wrote:

Rich, the thing to remember is that the military is a slice of society. We have the same percentage of idiots, scamers, drugies, etc. that the general population has. We also have a much higher percentage of really dedicated people who just want to do right, get an education, and protect your right to say whatever the fuck you want about anything, including them. Peace.

I wasn't coming down on a 17 year old who wanted to enlist. I was coming down on some recruiters who make promises the Army won't keep. I do think they probably did help the kid get a G.E.D. Other kids get lied to.

At least some in the Army do not have a problem with this.

piercehawkeye45;598169 wrote:

I doubt people were much older when sent to war in the past. Those kids have to be around 18 and that was the age many went to war in Vietnam and WWII. .

Paul Hardcastle wrote:

In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26...
In Vietnam he was 19.

[INDENT]Myth: The average age of an infantryman fighting in Vietnam was 19.[/INDENT][INDENT]Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. [CACF] The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age. [Westmoreland][/INDENT]

link

<b>[INDENT]Here are statistics from the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall):[/INDENT]</b>[INDENT]Average age of 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action) [CACF][/INDENT]
Deaths Number Average Age
Total 58,148 23.11 years
Enlisted 50,274 22.37 years
Officers 6,598 28.43 years
Warrants 1,276 24.73 years
E1 525 20.34 years
USMC 0351 1,122 20.46 years
11B MOS 18,465 22.55 years

That Paul Hardcastle! he lied to me! :eek: :lol:

You can't trust anyone over 30.

but he told me he was twenty-nunununununun-nine

monster;598200 wrote:

In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26...
In Vietnam he was 19.

Then what is the average age of the soldier today? And just because the average age of soldiers in WWII was 26, which makes sense because of the draft age, doesn't mean that kids who couldn't grow any facial hair weren't sent to the front lines.

oh dear.

you need to get yourself a requisition order for a new sense of humor.

jinx;598203 wrote:

You can't trust anyone over 30.

The older you get, the higher that number gets.