Why I Would Never Join The Military

Over this past winter, my brother enlisted in the Navy Reserves.  While not active duty, they are training you the same way as they would train an active duty recruit, just not as intense.  Reservists are the backup, should they be needed, and with the way the world is today, they could be needed at any time.  But that's neither here nor there.  While I personally don't understand the decision, I support my brother.   When he made the decision to into the Reserves, it afforded me a brief moment of introspection as to my feelings on joining any branch of the military.  Never in my life have I felt drawn to serving in the military.  There might have been a faint glimmer of desire periodically through my teenage years, but it never lasted more than a brief moment.   In looking back at why I never joined or felt the need to join and progressing to my current state and why I still would never join, I find my reasoning has changed drastically from my teenage years to my current age of 32.  Way back when, I used to hate the idea of being "owned" by some large entity.  I despised authority to begin with and could never see myself falling into line with what the military wants.  They demand a surrender of self, the allowance to be broken down in order to be built back up the way the want, and having to follow orders blindly regardless of their intent or intended result.  That is not me.  It never was and never will be.  I was never one to conform to what other's wanted.  I hated the idea and always forged my own path.  If someone said turn right, I would find a reason to make turning left more appealing to me.  So I held steadfast against joining the military.  Even when the would call me at my house when I was about to turn 18, I would tell them to stop wasting their time and not to call me.  

That initial reason of being non-conformist, not following orders, and despising authority was the driving reason for me not joining the military for a long time and to this day, still resides as within me as a driving force behind never wanting anything to do with the military.  (Before people start despising me for viewpoint, let me be clear that I not look down on anyone who joins the military, I am just voicing my opinion as to why I would never be a part of it.)  A reason that slowly worked its way into my psyche was the fact that being in the military, one of your jobs could be to go kill other people who our government views as a threat in some way, shape, or form.  I could never get myself to the point where killing someone else would ever be OK.   As someone who is even opposed to the death penalty, I never wanted to be put in a position where my job was to pull the trigger of a gun and take someone else's life.  Some people may be able to distance themselves from the killing of someone else.  I, however, don't think I could ever do that.  I suppose if there was a distinct threat on American soil and my family was being attacked I would feel differently, but being shipped to another country and told to kill others is not enticing at all.  So within my, and still to this day, my desire to never kill someone else and my distinct inability to surrender myself to authority have dissuaded me from any type of military service.  I understand that people enlist to get an education and to help others, but there is a lot that goes on before that even takes place that I don't agree with.  And when looking at the overall scope of what is entailed or what could be entailed, I is definitely not for me.  

As I have grown older and left adolescence in the dust of my twenties, perhaps my best reason has come forth for not joining the military.  I feel that it always there, it just became more tangible the older and more aware I grew.  That ultimate reason stands on ethical grounds, meaning I don't agree with the reasons behind most of what our military does and the "campaigns" they are involved in.  I don't want to be a pawn that gets sent to do the bidding of a few people in power.  For much of the past 10 years, any actions our military has taken I have disagreed with.  So on ethical grounds, I find myself keeping a healthy distance between myself and the military.  Around Thanksgiving time, our family was seated around the table eating when I made my feelings known about not joining and even if they were to bring back the draft, I would not go.  It was brought to my attention that I would be thrown in jail if I didn't respond to a call to the draft.  My feeling was and still is, I would rather be in jail than fighting in a foreign country.  "You would sit in jail with your kids here, how would that affect them?"  was a question I got.  Jail or military, in both cases I would not be seeing my children and at least in jail they could come visit and my chances of being killed are less than if I went to Iraq to fight.  So, yes, I am the complete opposite of my brother, but I'm OK with that.  He knows my feelings on the military, and I am OK with that as well.  Just because I don't agree with or understand his decision doesn't mean I don't support him as my brother.  If that's what he wants to do, then all the power to him.  And the same goes for anyone who does join the military.  I just have my firmly held reasons and beliefs for not joining and I am pretty sure by my ripe old age of 32, they probably wouldn't want me anyway.  So in the end, there are multiple reasons why I would never join the military.  The strongest reason right now, for me, is ethically based in my disagreement with the way they military does business.