/lit/ - Literature

>>2303209

>so a 25 year old muslim who saw american war planes fly over and blow up his home which is a known terrorist bunker and blast his wife who he beats and daughter who is circumsized and who believes the jews are literally demons into a million pieces and then went up against helicopter gunships with nothing but an ak-47 and a rocket propelled grenade and prayed to god that all of america would burn in hell forever because we don't execute gays after seeing his fellow terrorist get cut in half by a hail of anti-personal fire rained from above is just an "enemy combatant" to you? you, sir, are correct

fix'd

>>2163141

[1/2]

I am a US army soldier, I live in the barracks and pay no rent or utilities, and my meals are taken out of the check before I even see it, so let's see what I have left

>private first class
>make roughly $1400 per month, well above minimum wage in all states
>car payment: $250
>insurance: $140
>phone and internet: $115 (and don't give me some bullshit about how the internet is a luxury, the internet is an absolutely necessity for most jobs, there are many tasks that would make my job impossible without the internet because many army resources and required training programs are online)
>gas: $80
>personal hygiene etc.: $20
>total cost: $605

that would leave me roughly $800 left, which is usually what I have (but that goes to braces, investments, etc. which not everybody has so I didn't include it)

(cont.)

>be in the army
>perform bullshit toil for the government to get paid
>daydream about how I could be making a living by actually contributing to society under my own terms as an artist instead of fucking off across the desert in a humvee for no good reason
>regularly scoff at the world events that are thrust down my throat every day, feel really strongly about them
>lose all hope for humanity, make plans to kill myself later in the week because working a job I hate is my whole life, plus I'm way too tired to even focus on writing once I get back to the barracks
>become jaded and stop reading for days
>get drunk and decide suicide can wait
>I've procrastinated on death too long and killing myself during the work week feels... meh, I prefer the weekend
>welp, since I'm still alive I guess I'll go ahead and write something even though I'll be up too late and it means 2 hours of sleep before a 12+ hour workday
>it turns out brilliantly and captures a lot of the emotion and concern I have for the environment around me
>stay motivated for the next few days, my novel is coming along slowly but surely
>rinse and repeat


I have an odd relationship with my ambitions. If I didn't honestly believe I had a small chance at one day becoming a commercially successful writer so that I could make a living doing what I most enjoy while entertaining/influencing millions of people, I'd drive out in the middle of nowhere, get drunk, and light up a bag of charcoal in my car with the windows up while listening to youtube meditation videos

so how I keep writing is by staying an emotional wreck at all times and routinely getting pissed about the constant bullshit that happens around me, i.e. the military hemorrhaging money, religious fundamentalists, international plutocracy, etc., I don't do this on purpose

I need literature and writing like I need air, it keeps me alive

>>1954451
>2004 OIF
>kandahar province
>mounted patrol, receiving small arms fire
>IED flips humvee
>grab M4, take cover behind traffic barrier
>fucking wild dogs out of nowhere, snarling and running at us
>shoot one in the throat, screaming and blood bubbles
>the others run away
>hear another explosion, WTF
>lay down suppressive fire
>AAAAAHHHGGGGFFFFFTTTLLL MEDIC!!!!! MEDIC!!!!
>high crawl over to battle buddy, stuff his collar bone full of combat gauze
>drag him behind barrier
>start to return fire
>but then...
>"wait, wait. hold on you guys! I wonder what deep and edgy thinks of all this? I mean, we're pretty much just fighting these innocent, morally upstanding brown people who would never hurt a fly so that old rich white dudes can continue being fat and rich. it's pathetic, we should be in college learning about bloom's canon and making a difference in the world, you know? you're all hicks and I hate you anyway. hey you! yeah, you! terrorist! you're fucking dumb bro, I bet you've never even heard of infinite jest!"
>get shot in the face
>die

>>1941863
>thinking about enlisting
>officer doesn't appeal to me

so you'd rather have shit pay, get yelled at, and eventually rise to coveted position of sergeant (aka babysitter)? I'll tell you the same thing I tell everybody who says this: you are retarded. if you can go officer, do it. the enlisted side of the military will do nothing better for you.

I don't know/give much of a shit about the navy, but they are known to have some of the better intelligence, linguistics, etc. jobs. you sound like you want to apply critical thinking skills to your job. again, go officer. if you actually want to be creative and use your brains instead of just doing what somebody tells you to do, specifically how they tell you to do it, you will HAVE to go officer.

as for the army, we are the largest and most diverse fighting force in the world. there's pretty much something for everybody, but you will learn more from talking to a recruiter in 30 minutes than you would researching the internet for a month. while they may try to sway you toward a certain job to fill their quota, tell you don't fucking want that job and make your goals/conditions of joining clear.

so yeah, just go to a recruiter and ask about intel jobs or just describe what you're interested in and see what they come up with. good luck getting in though, because all the forces are sizing down and the army plans to get rid of 50k soldiers by fiscal 2013

because I'm a soldier and it's fucking disgusting that you would even suggest such a thing

we do actually have standards, faggot. if this shit actually happened, enjoy your 500% increase in "friendly fire"

inb4 liberal college kids trolling, I aint even listnen

>>1720994
except for the part where I'm not allowed to tell you because it's classified information. I realize that anybody could use that excuse and you'd never know if there was a real threat or not, but my point is that *it's entirely possible* that the biggest threats to american citizens don't make it in the news or whatever faggoty blogs you read

you are not in the military, you have no knowledge of what happens in the war zone on a day to day basis and you are not qualified to speak on such matters because the news is full of shit and your leaders are lying to you. or are they? you don't know, so you can't say

I am a US Army Soldier. Many of you are liberal college kid faggots. So let's have a discussion.

The argument I hear most about why I should quit my job is that the United States is an evil imperialist system of oilmongers who only use me to take money from poor third-worlders, but consider the following:

1) How is your job within the same capitalist system any different than mine? We both earn money for other people because for whatever reason, we lack the drive or ability to be financial alpha dogs. So you say I'm just a pawn in the scheme of a bunch of old rich white guys? How are you employed civilians any different? Even if this is true, consider the invasion of Kuwait. Would you rather have GW and co. controlling the world economy or crazy arab dictator #1,453,453,242,342 who may or may not use the funds to try and nuke your ass?

2) Contrary to popular belief, the military is still integral to protecting this nation from foreign threats. There are soldiers trained to deal with secret security clearance situations that don't make it into the media. So how can you say LOL THE MILITARY DON'T PROTECT ME FROM SHIT when you aren't even allowed to what the threats are?

(cont.)

I am a US Army Soldier. Many of you are liberal college kid faggots. So let's have a discussion.

The argument I hear most about why I should quit my job is that the United States is an evil imperialist system of oilmongers who only use me to take money from poor third-worlders, but consider the following:

1) How is your job within the same capitalist system any different than mine? We both earn money for other people because for whatever reason, we lack the drive or ability to be financial alpha dogs. So you say I'm just a pawn in the scheme of a bunch of old rich white guys? How are you employed civilians any different? Even if this is true, consider the invasion of Kuwait. Would you rather have GW and co. controlling the world economy or crazy arab dictator #1,453,453,242,342 who may or may not use the funds to try and nuke your ass?

2) Contrary to popular belief, the military is still integral to protecting this nation from foreign threats. There are soldiers trained to deal with secret security clearance situations that don't make it into the media. So how can you say LOL THE MILITARY DON'T PROTECT ME FROM SHIT when you aren't even allowed to what the threats are?

(cont.)

ñ

>mon squad's collective visage when we all LOL after shooting a kid with a belt full of grenades because he is a threat to american lives

I am not impressed by this story

because I'm not a pussy and really, who the fuck cares about killing kids versus adults these days? that's so naive idealist and old fashion these days, get with the times these days you hipster writer cunts

why do novelists commit suicide? most people who are capable of being published these days are at least middle class privilege babies who went to college. sure, there are the impoverished "bawww I grew up in the poverties and it was hard times" types but they've still turned out pretty well by the time they get published. you have to have a computer. that's pretty big considering there are niggers in africa starving to death who would rather continue to search for food and rape than off themselves

I really can't fathom what the fuck is so damn depressing about the world as long as you have food on the table, reasonable health, and a future that doesn't involve horrible death or imprisonment

death of loved ones or botched relationships seem to be other reasons, or "oh no my life is a lie I just had an epiphany my writing is horrible"

which is weird to me, because writing fiction requires a sort of haughty confidence, "my thoughts are interesting enough that many people should read what I write" type thinking.

why do we allow these beta class drama queens to dictate the intellectual side of our entertainment, something with such a huge impact on our culture?

I'm pretty sure I could beat up any pulitzer winner ever

tl;dr I like reading but writers are lame ass people for the most part, except maybe those with voluntary military service