Does being part of military make you 'right wing'?

[OldSolduer]

What's that sound, rushing water?  This one is circling the drain, gathering momentum.

And spiraling out of control.

Now I've said it before, but repetition is the key to retention.

It doesn't matter what political stripe your are...whether it be red, blue, orange, green or purple with pink polka dots...if you are a serving member of the Canadian Forces, you do what the Government of Canada tells you to do, via the Chain of Command, providing its legal. We have political views, but we keep our mouths shut....as it should be.
If you feel that strongly that the Government of Canada is doing something wrong, you have the right to take your release and protest/counter etc.
Being part of the military doesn't make you any more right wing than frying eggs makes you Julia Childs. ;D

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Being part of the military doesn't make you any more right wing than frying eggs makes you Julia Childs.

Oooohhh- I like that.  Can  I use it?

 

[OldSolduer]

Oooohhh- I like that.  Can  I use it?

Go for it. I have some time on my hands to think more up.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Since Journeyman appears to have taken his bike to Sturgis, I will take up the grammar cudgels:

Go for it. I have some time on my hands to think more up think up more.

>          >        >      >    >


But I do like the Julia Child quip.

 

[OldSolduer]

Since Journeyman appears to have taken his bike to Sturgis, I will take up the grammar cudgels:
>          >        >      >    >


But I do like the Julia Child quip.

Here's another one:

Using urinalysis kits faster than rednecks use ammo at a gopher shoot.

 

[mariomike]

Being part of the military doesn't make you any more right wing than frying eggs makes you Julia Childs. ;D

That's a pearl of wisdom you won't find in your fortune cookie!

 

[OldSolduer]

That's a pearl of wisdom you won't find in your fortune cookie!

Maybe I should copyright that one.

 

[1feral1]

Would you have enjoyed your deployment in Iraq? The Conservatives wanted that as well.

I did.

I find your attitude distasteful, with that I guarantee you've been no where.

OWDU

 

[helpup]

I think you'll eat those words, helpup:

Nah, I know what a Station is and have been to a few. My Comment was dealing with your Pedantic drivel on how progressive you are vice those not invited to the "gays" cerimony.  And the jab you took at those on this site.

 

[dustinm]

Nah, I know what a Station is and have been to a few. My Comment was dealing with your Pedantic drivel on how progressive you are vice those not invited to the "gays" cerimony.  And the jab you took at those on this site.

I apologize; I was having a bad day when I wrote that. However I do believe the remainder of your comment should be directed to the original writer of that post in question.

Again, sorry.

 

[helpup]

No Problem NEO, and I thought I was quoting the orriginal poster.  Just confirmed it was Nemo,  My station comment was directed orriginally at him and through not proffing who was replying wound up quoting you.  All around group hug.

 

[223ofDemocracy]

Since making the decision to join, I occasionally joked that I may end up ostracizing myself from a lot of the activist groups that I have been involved with over the years as most do not have the positive views of the military. Then now after reading some comments about the 'left wing' dim views of the military, made me wonder if it is some kind of social requirement to have some kind of 'right wing' view to be in the military?

I mean, a lot of my political views are left leaning. I am anti-war and helped organize and coordinate protests in the past on that basis, a long with against Bush when he came to Ottawa couple of times, against security certificates, pro-choice, etc. Guaranteed to have appeared in many of the photos and videos the police has taken in all the those protests too.

Yet, I turn around and later applied for the military...so what does that make me?

Of course, I always been known to destroy stereotypes while enforcing some others.....

Being part of the miltary makes you patriotic towards your country. Patriots can be found within all forms of political oriented society, both left and right wing. So no, being in the military does not make you right wing.

just my  :2c:

 

[gcclarke]

Being part of the miltary makes you patriotic towards your country. Patriots can be found within all forms of political oriented society, both left and right wing. So no, being in the military does not make you right wing.

just my  :2c:

Now personally I think that first sentence is backwards. Nothing about being in the military makes you patriotic. Being patriotic may make one more inclined to chose a career in the military, but at the same time you may also find the least patriotic individuals who signed up because it's a decent job with good pay and benefits.

Last half was bang on though.

 

[vonGarvin]

Since making the decision to join, I occasionally joked that I may end up ostracizing myself from a lot of the activist groups that I have been involved with over the years as most do not have the positive views of the military. Then now after reading some comments about the 'left wing' dim views of the military, made me wonder if it is some kind of social requirement to have some kind of 'right wing' view to be in the military?

I mean, a lot of my political views are left leaning. I am anti-war and helped organize and coordinate protests in the past on that basis, a long with against Bush when he came to Ottawa couple of times, against security certificates, pro-choice, etc. Guaranteed to have appeared in many of the photos and videos the police has taken in all the those protests too.

Yet, I turn around and later applied for the military...so what does that make me?

Of course, I always been known to destroy stereotypes while enforcing some others.....

Short answer: being part of the military does NOT make you 'right wing'.  It does mean you may have to do some things that you (by you I mean "mellian") may or may not find troubling.
From your statement, one may conclude that you have problem with authority, and you have no problem voicing your opposition.  In the military, that is highly "not encouraged".  You are told what to do, when to do it and (at least early in your career) how to do it.  By definition you subordinate yourself to the whims of the government and your chain of command, from the CDS all the way down to your immediate supervisor.  You will be ordered to do things unquestioningly (except when given an order that is unlawful, when you are then expected by law to oppose said direction).
The only part that perplexes me is when you say you are "anti-war".  Does this mean that you think war is never an option?  If so, the military is not for you.  If by this you mean "war is the last resort", to paraphrase Hill, it is "an ugly, horrible thing, but not as bad as the alternative" in some cases.  If that is the case, then you are a perfect fit.  Contrary to popular misconception, military members are not (by and large) "pro-war".
As for "political stripes", we get all kinds in the military.  "Centrists" who vote Liberal/Conservative, "Leftists" who vote NDP/Green, "Rightists" who vote Christian Heritage, or whatever.  There are pro-choicers and pro-lifers.  There are Catholics, Jews and Atheists.  There are social conservatives and there are social liberals.  There are some common denominators:
We are all Canadian Citizens
We all subordinate ourselves to the lawful direction of our superiors
We are all subject to unlimited liability.  This is the part that separates us from the rest of the Public Service.  We can be legally ordered to do stuff that will put is in harms' way, even "certain death", if the situation warrants.

It's not an easy choice to join the military, and yes, I agree that some stereotypes are there because they are true, but in the case of the military, there are so many that could not be further from the truth.

I hope this helps, and I certainly hope I didn't cover anything that was previously covered in the 17 (!) previous pages.

 

[Jungle]

From your statement, one may conclude that you have problem with authority, and you have no problem voicing your opposition.  In the military, that is highly "not encouraged".  You are told what to do, when to do it and (at least early in your career) how to do it.  By definition you subordinate yourself to the whims of the government and your chain of command, from the CDS all the way down to your immediate supervisor.  You will be ordered to do things unquestioningly.
The only part that perplexes me is when you say you are "anti-war".  Does this mean that you think war is never an option?  If so, the military is not for you.

Yeah... tried to explain something similar here: http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/88355/post-866184.html#msg866184 but I guess I just don't "get it"...  :

 

[a_majoor]

I would suggest that military members have common values like duty, honour and the desire to accomplish something worthwhile with their lives, as well as desires for action, adventure and travel, which broadly speaking are not the "norm" in modern Canadian society.

The last time these values were the norm of the overwhelming majority of Canadians was the end of the 19th century and early in the 20th, when the Government of the day was pretty much overwhelmed by the flood of volunteers for the Boer War and the early pahses of WWI. Not only were there lots of people lining up to be foot soldiers, but even the then elites contirbuted by volunteering as officers and even providing the funds to create two new units which serve in our order of battle today (the LdSH(RC) and PPCLI)

If those sorts of attitudes held today, there would be fully manned expeditionary forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and Darfur and wealthy Canadians would be funding the units to take part (rather than, say, trying to buy a NHL hockey team).

Of course values change over time, by the early 1930's only "Progressives" could be induced to volunteer for military action (against government policy of that day, we are talking about the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War), and the military establishment was virtually non existent. You can try to picture Jack Layton or Elizabeth May leading armies of progressives into Darfur today...

The military is its own culture and has its own values out of a 5000 year old history of what works and what is needed to successfully accomplish the mission, so if soldiers and servicemembers in general don't seem to be in step with society it may be because what society values isn't fully in accord with what servicemembers value. So long as this is a source of creative tension, then there is nothing to fear.

 

[pbi]

What I enjoy about serving in the Canadian Army (and I suppose, by extension, the greater CF) is that I have never felt pressured to support any particular political party, social view, or religious faction. To tell the truth, I've generally found that none of these things matter much to most of us in uniform: we generally have the decency and professionalism to see them for what they are: personal matters. As long as we all serve  our country well, as loyally and capably as we can, I can't really see how much  difference these things make. Fortunately we don't serve in a country where there is pressure for soldiers to have fixed political or religious beliefs. Soldiers aligning themselves with a particular political party leads us to things like Nazi Germany. Soldiers, above all, should be political pragmatists.

Cheers

 

[Nauticus]

What I enjoy about serving in the Canadian Army (and I suppose, by extension, the greater CF) is that I have never felt pressured to support any particular political party, social view, or religious faction. To tell the truth, I've generally found that none of these things matter much to most of us in uniform: we generally have the decency and professionalism to see them for what they are: personal matters. As long as we all serve  our country well, as loyally and capably as we can, I can't really see how much  difference these things make. Fortunately we don't serve in a country where there is pressure for soldiers to have fixed political or religious beliefs. Soldiers aligning themselves with a particular political party leads us to things like Nazi Germany. Soldiers, above all, should be political pragmatists.

Cheers

On the other hand, I believe that everyone is "allowed" to have their own beliefs. I'm left-wing myself, but I have no issue with supporting the government in power.

 

[pbi]

On the other hand, I believe that everyone is "allowed" to have their own beliefs. I'm left-wing myself, but I have no issue with supporting the government in power.

My point exactly. Recently I was in the US at a large Army base and a full Col mentioned in passing that "no US Army Officer would be caught dead admitting he listens to NPR (national public radio)". He is not the only US Army officer I have heard making similar comments. I found this a bit odd because I just can't recall any situation in which Canadian soldiers might judge each other by what radio or TV networks they patronize. To me, all politicians and all political views need to be regarded with healthy skepticism by soldiers (not to say disloyalty or subversion). In my view, giving yourself over wholly and without questionto any poltical party in this country is bound to lead to disappointment for a soldier.

Cheers

 

[Roy Harding]

... In my view, giving yourself over wholly and without questionto any poltical party in this country is bound to lead to disappointment for a soldier.

Cheers

It's a disappointment for civilians, too.

On the NPR thing - I've been an inveterate listener to CBC since I was a kid, I even purchased a Short Wave radio receiver so that I could listen to "As It Happens" while deployed (long time ago - before the internet, or the "in camp" radio feeds that are currently available).  Although I don't think I was ever "judged" for my listening preference, I have been looked askance for my choice.  Even here on Army.ca I sometimes feel the need to justify my choice of radio stations.

So, while the attitude you describe is certainly more SEVERE than attitudes here - I don't think it's a completely unknown phenomenon.