I come from a military family. My family has friends who are prior and current military. My mom was in JROTC. I live by a military base. I live in a city/state that is on the supposed "nuclear strike targets" list that you've probably seen going around if you've been on tiktok in the last month.
Like the original poster said, you are just a body. You are really, truly, entirely, just a body. Please don't go to them. Please don't feed their need for the war. They will promise tuition coverage, they will promise money for your family, they will promise money for you, they'll promise to get your aunt out of jail, they'll promise you that you'll never step foot on the field and you'll just sit in an office all day, they'll promise this, they'll promise that, they'll say "we're the government, we can do all this and more for you"
Remember that first statement. "we're the government". They. Are. The. Government. They do not care about you. They do not care about me. They do not care about your aunt, your mom, your father, your veteran grandfather. They care about money in their pockets and more acres on their territory list.
I talk to my mom about her experience in the military often. She describes it the same every time. 3 weeks into basic training she watched a girl die. Not a woman, a girl. She was 19, according to my mom's story. A 19 year old died in the military, before she ever even stepped foot into a warzone.
She says the same thing every time I ask about basic training. "They break you mentally, emotionally, and physically, and then rebuild you as a soldier. And then when they're done with you, they say 'go be a civilian now until we need you!' And that's it." They offer you no help if you become a veteran, they offer you no help while you're a soldier, they don't care who you are now or who you were before you came to them. You will be made into what they want. Not what your hopes and dreams are. And then they won't make due on those promises that got you to sign that stupid, smug little dotted line.
My mom's main current military friend goes on deployments often. Deployment isn't just when you move to another country to live there for a while and do your job. Deployment is going into an active warzone.
Yeah, did you know that the United States of America has been in active war 24/7, 365 since the 1980's? We didn't stop. We didn't withdraw. Our troops have been out there, dying, all the time, since the 1980's and that's exactly where you're going too. And yeah, you're right in what you're thinking, it's being hidden from us.
Maybe you'll find info on it if you go on an internet deep dive, but we don't see news about it anymore. Only if it's good propaganda.
Anyway, back to that friend. Recently, my mother went a year without hearing from him. Yep, a year. Because sometimes -- often, in fact -- when you're on deployment you can't even get those little romanticized pieces of paper from family and loved ones that tell you you're still loved and wanted when you go back home. Sometimes, that's not allowed. Sometimes, the post is intercepted. Sometimes, your papers are burnt and buried and rifled through and read before you ever even know they're on their way.
My great grandfather was a weatherman for the Navy. He was deployed during the Vietnam war. He was never supposed to be on the field. His job was to sit on a ship out off the coast and keep track of the weather for the troops while they did the dirty work. He still had to kill someone.
So yeah, they'll promise you "all you do is sit in an office!" and give you the most inconspicuous job ever, and you will still have to pick up a gun and pull that trigger.
Do not listen to recruiters. Do not believe their lies. Do not sign that line as a trade off for getting your small business off the ground or finishing your education or helping your family. That's not what they're going to give you and that's not what you're worth to them.