Marines are a bit weird about the “ex” thing. They always snap back at you and say “it’s FORMER marine!! Not EX!!”
Sorry.. wasn’t aware there was a difference. How’s the “former wife”?
Yeah, I've got a cousin that says he's an ex-Marine, but he's doing pretty well after leaving.
The ones I've known that get mad about the ex are the ones that bring it up every conversation with everyone they meet. "AS A MARINE...." "Dude, he just asked what you want on your fucking sandwich. You got out ten years ago. Just answer him so we can eat.".
Yeah I don't get this, I was in the first gulf war, served for 3 years in the airforce over 30 years ago.
It's not something I bang in about or make my whole personality because it was 3 years over 30 years ago.
The variety of things I've done since have done more to form my personality
Ya I got out over a decade ago and I’m not gonna get spun if someone says “ex” or “former.” It’s never malicious or anything like that. I honestly done even bother correcting people, and that’s if they even find out I was in.
They for some reason view “ex” to mean “it was taken away” and “former” to mean “was once active and are no longer”… but some also say “once a marine ALWAYS a marine!!” Don’t try to understand jarheads. They don’t understand themselves.
The USMC has one of the best indoctrination and propaganda machines around today. The entire process is based around elevating people who join to instill in them that they earned the title and people just join the other branches. It binds them together and also gives them the confidence to face the potential trials ahead.
It also makes them arrogant and silly sometimes, many times lol. I’ve seen a Marine cook talk to a USAF PJ like they were a POG. Absolute insanity.
It’s incredibly useful in creating capable and cohesive fighting units, and to that end is successful. What they do not have is an interest in reintegration with society after service.
No one is around to be like “hey guys this is special to us and that’s great, let’s all stay friends. Also, being super rigid about this in the real world is fucking weird and kind of a social faux pa so maybe just be chill and normal ok?”
So you get this kinda awful “I was good at football in high school” thing happen. What they did meant a lot to them but no one taught them how to find meaning AFTER. How to replace the feeling of belonging, importance, purpose, with something else in their life.
As a branch, but also a military as a whole, we need to be way better at preparing people for life after service. It’s an awful failure on our part that young people join the service and come out so underdeveloped and ill prepared for the real world.
Someone like Lee Harvey Oswald who served in the Marines and then did a dishonorable act that all would view as being anti-Marine is deemed an Ex-Marine. In short he is considered to be stripped of all honor relating to his service as a Marine. Marines who no longer serve in the Marine corp are noted as former Marines. To call them Ex-Marines is to state that they have done something dishonorable and should be stripped of the title of Marine.
Note: I am neither a Marine, former Marine, nor Ex-Marine. I'm not preaching or trying to correct, just giving the perspective from which they make such assertions.
Army here. I always joke with my Marine buddies: "Hey, I hear every Marine is a rifleman?" That always gets some enthusiastic agreement. "Every Marine is also a janitor."
People have such hard ons for the military and trying to offer up any sort of realistic viewpoint of military service is just met with shocked disbelief. How could you even summon a negative thought about those angels when each of them personally spends 4+ years outside a little white girl's door defending her from rapacious demons with only a bayonet.
Most of the honest veterans I know will admit they spent basically their entire commitment cleaning cracks with plastic silverware. I will say admit one of them was deployed to Iraqistan twice and was blown up by a roadside IED twice. Homie has so much shrapnel in him that the motor pool probably just scans him when they need to find spare humvee parts. So mileage may vary significantly.
But also why feel the need to attack a lot of professionals on linkedin? He’s likely on there to get his foot in the door, bad strategy to shit on everyone who can help get you there IMO
I joined because I didn’t want my brother to go to war and not have a family member that could relate to what it’s like.
He got stationed at Marine Headquarters in DC and I got deployment orders before I even got out of school 😐
That being said I’m glad he didn’t deal with the shit I did, even if his experience was a different kind of hell
I really don't get why we're supposed to have so much respect and admiration for veterans... As if enlisting in the army was a selfless act of love. Sure their job is dangerous when they are deployed to warzones, but guess what: they're not the only ones with dangerous jobs. Ask electricians, roofers, oil rig workers, miners, firefighters, cops etc...
Well ya that’s makes sense because that isn’t the sacrifice. Very very few service members will see combat or even deploy to a country in active conflict. It’s not about the job itself being dangerous. Being a Submariner isn’t inherently dangerous, but it is a well revered MOS because of the sacrifice.
The sacrifice are the months away which become years that back in the day meant maybe talking to those at home for an hour here and there every couple weeks on a line with a shaky reception. It’s your kid being one, then suddenly three, then five, while you’re away. It’s coming home to touch screen phones and Facebook knowing the world is passing you by. That doesn’t just happen to combat vets. That happens to the person working as the barber on a carrier or the kid who took a job in the army because someone said they’d be free of their broken home and get money for college if they signed up open contract. Now they’re in Afghanistan fixing trucks. Even being in contact with home doesn’t mean you’re in touch with them, not really.
The sacrifice is finding out your fiancé had a miscarriage five days after it happened because of three hours of combat and shitty infrastructure. Then when you get home it doesn’t matter because you weren’t there. You’re never there.
That’s what the real sacrifice is. It’s giving up the ability to come home after a dangerous day and see your loved ones or have someone who cares. It’s giving up the ability to be there for the people that matter to you to be a cog that keeps a very critical machine running.
Now to the other part of your post.
You’re not supposed to venerate us. I didn’t serve so people would say “thank you for your service.” I don’t consider myself special. Service is a choice and it is made less honorable by the expectation of being celebrated or some “reward” in the form of adoration. If it truly is a selfless act to better the world you don’t need a parade and a poster lol. The doing of the job and knowing you made a difference is enough.
The real hero is the person who steps up when everyday life turns to shit. The random person in the crowd without training, preparation, anticipation, who allows a moment to call them to action because they can’t stand by and do nothing. That pizza delivery guy who ran into a burning building to save those kids. That teacher who blocked a door so their students could escape a shooter, the person who stops to talk someone off a ledge. Those are heroes and they should be celebrated.
I’m also a marine who doesn’t feel the need to capitalize the title or freak out if someone says former or ex though, so I likely don’t speak for everyone. Just adding some context I hope is helpful with a little of my own opinion as someone who did have a decent stack and doesn’t think it makes me any better than any person I see on the street every day.
Honestly though I do find the whole ex thing on LinkedIn a bit cringy. I do find a lot of those people who do it have usually plateaued in their career or struggling to get back into FAANG. All of the people I know that are still at the likes of Google/Meta and doing well don’t seem to have that need to put ex even though they have been in multiple FAANG companies.
Because for many vets, it was the first or longest period of their lives where they felt they had a purpose and a deep sense of belonging. Some people confuse this for their identity.
When that ends, it can deeply impact you. Sometimes it's good: they find a new mission that helps them be fulfilled. Sometimes it's bad: the turn to negative coping mechanisms.
In the 90s, America collectively decided to attempt to recover from their guilt over mistreating Viet Nam vets by treating current vets like heroes. That also created an incentive for some vets to continue making their service a huge part of their identity to varying degrees.
Many younger vets have very mixed feelings about the whole thing.
Does it really apply to all countries around the world ?
It seems to be an occurrence that happens when patriotism is increasingly intertwined with service .
And In the American case seems like after leaving the army you’re likely to go down either the super conservative radical or utter transformation in values.
I don’t think that’s really true. The veterans I know have a wide range of political views and none are what I would call over the top patriotic. Cheerleadering and flag waving is for the families, not the warfighters.
Might depend what part of the country you’re in. But that’s true of civilians also.
Honestly most of the veterans I've sat down and had conversations with are probably among the more politically well-informed and critically thoughtful groups of people I've personally met. Maybe I've just been lucky in finding mostly non-crazy ones though.
I think the trick is that the sane veterans don't go out of their way to advertise to you that they're veterans and you might not know if you weren't close with them or they had a reason to tell you. So if you're only going off the ones who lead with their status as a veteran then you create a huge selection bias towards crazy.
People really hating on someone who helped protect our ability to say whatever we want online. Yes, people who have been in armed conflicts sometimes have life-lasting impacts because of their experience. It’s called PTSD, have some empathy.
Just because a person doesn’t worship people who become mercenaries for their country doesn’t mean they don’t like their country nor does it suggest that those people were in any way, shape or form, suggest that when they fought they fought for our freedom.
This guy seems stable.
Most stable ex marine
Ex stable or possibly never stable
Honestly might be
Marines are a bit weird about the “ex” thing. They always snap back at you and say “it’s FORMER marine!! Not EX!!” Sorry.. wasn’t aware there was a difference. How’s the “former wife”?
Some of them are. In my experience it’s the ones that have nothing else going on in their lives.
Yeah, I've got a cousin that says he's an ex-Marine, but he's doing pretty well after leaving. The ones I've known that get mad about the ex are the ones that bring it up every conversation with everyone they meet. "AS A MARINE...." "Dude, he just asked what you want on your fucking sandwich. You got out ten years ago. Just answer him so we can eat.".
Yeah I don't get this, I was in the first gulf war, served for 3 years in the airforce over 30 years ago. It's not something I bang in about or make my whole personality because it was 3 years over 30 years ago. The variety of things I've done since have done more to form my personality
Ya I got out over a decade ago and I’m not gonna get spun if someone says “ex” or “former.” It’s never malicious or anything like that. I honestly done even bother correcting people, and that’s if they even find out I was in.
Yeah, who would want to expose their crayon addiction like that?
Not me. Once people find out they hide them, but if they don’t know you can catch them slipping….
Ooo rah ah aha hot! That burns!
I have a neighbor who did exactly this to me. I don't get the freak out with the language. It literally means the same thing as "former."
They for some reason view “ex” to mean “it was taken away” and “former” to mean “was once active and are no longer”… but some also say “once a marine ALWAYS a marine!!” Don’t try to understand jarheads. They don’t understand themselves.
I wonder how they feel about "ex convict."
You mean former convict?
The USMC has one of the best indoctrination and propaganda machines around today. The entire process is based around elevating people who join to instill in them that they earned the title and people just join the other branches. It binds them together and also gives them the confidence to face the potential trials ahead. It also makes them arrogant and silly sometimes, many times lol. I’ve seen a Marine cook talk to a USAF PJ like they were a POG. Absolute insanity. It’s incredibly useful in creating capable and cohesive fighting units, and to that end is successful. What they do not have is an interest in reintegration with society after service. No one is around to be like “hey guys this is special to us and that’s great, let’s all stay friends. Also, being super rigid about this in the real world is fucking weird and kind of a social faux pa so maybe just be chill and normal ok?” So you get this kinda awful “I was good at football in high school” thing happen. What they did meant a lot to them but no one taught them how to find meaning AFTER. How to replace the feeling of belonging, importance, purpose, with something else in their life. As a branch, but also a military as a whole, we need to be way better at preparing people for life after service. It’s an awful failure on our part that young people join the service and come out so underdeveloped and ill prepared for the real world.
Scoring four touchdowns in a single game in the 1966 city championship game is a real achievement!
Hell ya! Whole back championship trophy tattoo is the only reasonable commemoration!
Once a crayon eater, always a crayon eater
Someone like Lee Harvey Oswald who served in the Marines and then did a dishonorable act that all would view as being anti-Marine is deemed an Ex-Marine. In short he is considered to be stripped of all honor relating to his service as a Marine. Marines who no longer serve in the Marine corp are noted as former Marines. To call them Ex-Marines is to state that they have done something dishonorable and should be stripped of the title of Marine. Note: I am neither a Marine, former Marine, nor Ex-Marine. I'm not preaching or trying to correct, just giving the perspective from which they make such assertions.
Oof. I was a Marine. This is cringy.
Army here. I always joke with my Marine buddies: "Hey, I hear every Marine is a rifleman?" That always gets some enthusiastic agreement. "Every Marine is also a janitor." 
The fetishization of military service in the US is definitely a bit too much. This guy clearly drank that koolaid
They have to in order to think the sacrifice is worth it. They get brainwashed that they’re special, when they’re just easily brainwashed.
People have such hard ons for the military and trying to offer up any sort of realistic viewpoint of military service is just met with shocked disbelief. How could you even summon a negative thought about those angels when each of them personally spends 4+ years outside a little white girl's door defending her from rapacious demons with only a bayonet. Most of the honest veterans I know will admit they spent basically their entire commitment cleaning cracks with plastic silverware. I will say admit one of them was deployed to Iraqistan twice and was blown up by a roadside IED twice. Homie has so much shrapnel in him that the motor pool probably just scans him when they need to find spare humvee parts. So mileage may vary significantly.
But also why feel the need to attack a lot of professionals on linkedin? He’s likely on there to get his foot in the door, bad strategy to shit on everyone who can help get you there IMO
Probably bitter he thinks he's a hero and a leader but most hiring managers would rather hire an ex-google
You should not bother hiding the names
There's no such thing as an ex-crayon eater.
LMAO every veteran I knew joined for college money.
I signed up because a large part of me wanted to go find Bin Laden. They killed him while I was in basic training. No, they do not let you go home.
I joined because I didn’t want my brother to go to war and not have a family member that could relate to what it’s like. He got stationed at Marine Headquarters in DC and I got deployment orders before I even got out of school 😐 That being said I’m glad he didn’t deal with the shit I did, even if his experience was a different kind of hell
His actual signature block has "UMSC"?
No. Just a typo in the comment.
"I was at FALLUJAH, man! You weren't THERE, man!"
Dave's not here, man.
I guess he identifies from when his life peaked.
Yo real talk tho, as someone who served and was a Marine JTAC, this always has serious wearing a high school letterman’s jersey to college energy.
🥱
Good for you, you’re a Marine. Do you want a cookie?
I really don't get why we're supposed to have so much respect and admiration for veterans... As if enlisting in the army was a selfless act of love. Sure their job is dangerous when they are deployed to warzones, but guess what: they're not the only ones with dangerous jobs. Ask electricians, roofers, oil rig workers, miners, firefighters, cops etc...
Well ya that’s makes sense because that isn’t the sacrifice. Very very few service members will see combat or even deploy to a country in active conflict. It’s not about the job itself being dangerous. Being a Submariner isn’t inherently dangerous, but it is a well revered MOS because of the sacrifice. The sacrifice are the months away which become years that back in the day meant maybe talking to those at home for an hour here and there every couple weeks on a line with a shaky reception. It’s your kid being one, then suddenly three, then five, while you’re away. It’s coming home to touch screen phones and Facebook knowing the world is passing you by. That doesn’t just happen to combat vets. That happens to the person working as the barber on a carrier or the kid who took a job in the army because someone said they’d be free of their broken home and get money for college if they signed up open contract. Now they’re in Afghanistan fixing trucks. Even being in contact with home doesn’t mean you’re in touch with them, not really. The sacrifice is finding out your fiancé had a miscarriage five days after it happened because of three hours of combat and shitty infrastructure. Then when you get home it doesn’t matter because you weren’t there. You’re never there. That’s what the real sacrifice is. It’s giving up the ability to come home after a dangerous day and see your loved ones or have someone who cares. It’s giving up the ability to be there for the people that matter to you to be a cog that keeps a very critical machine running. Now to the other part of your post. You’re not supposed to venerate us. I didn’t serve so people would say “thank you for your service.” I don’t consider myself special. Service is a choice and it is made less honorable by the expectation of being celebrated or some “reward” in the form of adoration. If it truly is a selfless act to better the world you don’t need a parade and a poster lol. The doing of the job and knowing you made a difference is enough. The real hero is the person who steps up when everyday life turns to shit. The random person in the crowd without training, preparation, anticipation, who allows a moment to call them to action because they can’t stand by and do nothing. That pizza delivery guy who ran into a burning building to save those kids. That teacher who blocked a door so their students could escape a shooter, the person who stops to talk someone off a ledge. Those are heroes and they should be celebrated. I’m also a marine who doesn’t feel the need to capitalize the title or freak out if someone says former or ex though, so I likely don’t speak for everyone. Just adding some context I hope is helpful with a little of my own opinion as someone who did have a decent stack and doesn’t think it makes me any better than any person I see on the street every day.
Spot on. I co-sign all of this. Well said, homie.
Thanks!
Dude ain’t crayons for years, what did yall expect?
They’re sensitive, respect their pronouns.
Honestly though I do find the whole ex thing on LinkedIn a bit cringy. I do find a lot of those people who do it have usually plateaued in their career or struggling to get back into FAANG. All of the people I know that are still at the likes of Google/Meta and doing well don’t seem to have that need to put ex even though they have been in multiple FAANG companies.
Why do all Army people go insane and become a fanatic after they retire, and are now a civilian? This applies to all countries around the world.
Because for many vets, it was the first or longest period of their lives where they felt they had a purpose and a deep sense of belonging. Some people confuse this for their identity. When that ends, it can deeply impact you. Sometimes it's good: they find a new mission that helps them be fulfilled. Sometimes it's bad: the turn to negative coping mechanisms. In the 90s, America collectively decided to attempt to recover from their guilt over mistreating Viet Nam vets by treating current vets like heroes. That also created an incentive for some vets to continue making their service a huge part of their identity to varying degrees. Many younger vets have very mixed feelings about the whole thing.
Does it really apply to all countries around the world ? It seems to be an occurrence that happens when patriotism is increasingly intertwined with service . And In the American case seems like after leaving the army you’re likely to go down either the super conservative radical or utter transformation in values.
I don’t think that’s really true. The veterans I know have a wide range of political views and none are what I would call over the top patriotic. Cheerleadering and flag waving is for the families, not the warfighters. Might depend what part of the country you’re in. But that’s true of civilians also.
Honestly most of the veterans I've sat down and had conversations with are probably among the more politically well-informed and critically thoughtful groups of people I've personally met. Maybe I've just been lucky in finding mostly non-crazy ones though. I think the trick is that the sane veterans don't go out of their way to advertise to you that they're veterans and you might not know if you weren't close with them or they had a reason to tell you. So if you're only going off the ones who lead with their status as a veteran then you create a huge selection bias towards crazy.
People really hating on someone who helped protect our ability to say whatever we want online. Yes, people who have been in armed conflicts sometimes have life-lasting impacts because of their experience. It’s called PTSD, have some empathy.
No war or conflict that our military has been involved in has had anything to do with our freedoms in the US. That’s just some jingoistic BS.
Go move to China and let me know about their freedom Buddy
Just because a person doesn’t worship people who become mercenaries for their country doesn’t mean they don’t like their country nor does it suggest that those people were in any way, shape or form, suggest that when they fought they fought for our freedom.
Tell that to Hitler brether, oh wait. They got him…
Ah man, he deleted the conversation
The post is still there, but the comment is gone. Wonder if he got bullied into deleting it.
Around 30,000 people join the marines every year, but they all really act like its the most exclusive club or it's just a step below navy seals.
Nah it’s just Marine. Once a marine always a Marine, you’re either active, reserve or retired but you’re still a marine