The Young Canadian Sailor
The journal of a young Canadian and his career in the Armed Forces. Check out the archives!Saturday, October 16, 2004
It wasn't like I was pressed, after all... [CAUTION - RANT]
I realized that, in the blog, I seemed to be focusing more on my fears for the future, rather than my hopes, so I wanted to correct that.
After all, I did decide to do this myself. Nothing forced this decision on me, so here's why I want this:
1) Training.
This is the biggie, I guess. I've talked about this one before, but it is the single most important reason for joining up at all. In the States, quite a large number of people find that the only way for them to go to university is to join the military. Thus, they end up as riflemen, or truck drivers, or cooks, all so that they can finally get a degree in management, or psychology, or English. What they really want to do would begin after their military career ends. The U.S. government is quite happy with the arrangement, since it gives them a large pool of ex-soldiers to draw from in wartime.
But that's not what I'm referring to by "training." I don't really want to go back to university. I was there. I took psychology, and never finished the degree. Why? Because I couldn't make myself care. What they were teaching was, for the most part, pointless. Psychology is a particularly truculent defender of the old ways. See, most psychologist don't want to admit that 90% of what people "knew" about the human brain and mind before the 80's was simply made-up out of whole cloth. Id-ego-superego, subconscious repression, psychotherapy, all this was half advice column-level platitudes, and half mumbo-jumbo. But, because the people saying it were DOCTORS, well, it had to be true, right? What did it matter that the efficacy rates for physiotherapy were a little LOWER than for no treatment at all?
No. Modern psychology is all about cognitive therapy (essentially, mental discipline), and drugs for the more serious stuff. Scared of heights? Twenty minutes with a qualified therapist. Depressed? Therapy and drugs. Schizophrenic? Drugs. Think this is too pharmaceutically biased? What does a medical doctor do? Well, she treats illness with drugs, and gives people advice on how to stay healthy. The same thing with MODERN psychology. Psychiatry is complete bunk.
...
Where was I?
Oh. Right. Ahem...
Anyway, I don't want to get a university degree, only to end up in middle-management in some completely unrelated field, nor do I feel particularly attracted to any of the "professional" fields, like doctors or lawyers or architects. What I want to learn is a real skill. Something that I can do, but someone off the street can't. At all. And this, really, seems to be the best way of acquiring that training.
2) Travel.
This seems cliche, I know, but I really want to see the world. I was born in Toronto. I was raised in Toronto. I don't want to spend my entire life in Toronto like a medieval peasant, never traveling more than a day's journey in any direction.
I've seen New York, Disneyland, and Washington D.C. That's it. I've never even been to a province other that Ontario.
Hopefully, I'll get to see many new places. I'm certainly going to Quebec, and either Nova Scotia or B.C. I'll probably see both, and almost certainly my ship (whichever one it turns out to be), will be up in the Arctic at some point. But, probably, I'll see a lot more than that. I only wish Ellen could see it with me, but that takes me to my next point.
3) Money.
How else am I going to make money? Entry-level jobs STAY at entry-level. Working poor isn't just a figure of speech, it's a trap. I want to take vacations. Real, go someplace vacations. I want to not have to choose between rent or food. And to be able to buy stuff. That would be great. This job doesn't pay too much, but it is comfortably middle-class. And, so would be the civilian equivalent, if I decide to leave.
4) The Sea.
I've always loved the sea in literature. I took a few sailing lessons when I was 12 or so, and loved every minute. But I've never seen salt-water. Oh, I've flown over it, and I've seen the Hudson river (if you can call that water), but I've never been around an ocean or sea. Silly, I know, but I'm really looking forward to just being near and on the water.
5) Adventure.
'Nuff said, right? I blame the Hornblower and Ramage novels, myself.
Really, what kind of an idiot would choose the Navy life, anyway?
After all, I did decide to do this myself. Nothing forced this decision on me, so here's why I want this:
1) Training.
This is the biggie, I guess. I've talked about this one before, but it is the single most important reason for joining up at all. In the States, quite a large number of people find that the only way for them to go to university is to join the military. Thus, they end up as riflemen, or truck drivers, or cooks, all so that they can finally get a degree in management, or psychology, or English. What they really want to do would begin after their military career ends. The U.S. government is quite happy with the arrangement, since it gives them a large pool of ex-soldiers to draw from in wartime.
But that's not what I'm referring to by "training." I don't really want to go back to university. I was there. I took psychology, and never finished the degree. Why? Because I couldn't make myself care. What they were teaching was, for the most part, pointless. Psychology is a particularly truculent defender of the old ways. See, most psychologist don't want to admit that 90% of what people "knew" about the human brain and mind before the 80's was simply made-up out of whole cloth. Id-ego-superego, subconscious repression, psychotherapy, all this was half advice column-level platitudes, and half mumbo-jumbo. But, because the people saying it were DOCTORS, well, it had to be true, right? What did it matter that the efficacy rates for physiotherapy were a little LOWER than for no treatment at all?
No. Modern psychology is all about cognitive therapy (essentially, mental discipline), and drugs for the more serious stuff. Scared of heights? Twenty minutes with a qualified therapist. Depressed? Therapy and drugs. Schizophrenic? Drugs. Think this is too pharmaceutically biased? What does a medical doctor do? Well, she treats illness with drugs, and gives people advice on how to stay healthy. The same thing with MODERN psychology. Psychiatry is complete bunk.
...
Where was I?
Oh. Right. Ahem...
Anyway, I don't want to get a university degree, only to end up in middle-management in some completely unrelated field, nor do I feel particularly attracted to any of the "professional" fields, like doctors or lawyers or architects. What I want to learn is a real skill. Something that I can do, but someone off the street can't. At all. And this, really, seems to be the best way of acquiring that training.
2) Travel.
This seems cliche, I know, but I really want to see the world. I was born in Toronto. I was raised in Toronto. I don't want to spend my entire life in Toronto like a medieval peasant, never traveling more than a day's journey in any direction.
I've seen New York, Disneyland, and Washington D.C. That's it. I've never even been to a province other that Ontario.
Hopefully, I'll get to see many new places. I'm certainly going to Quebec, and either Nova Scotia or B.C. I'll probably see both, and almost certainly my ship (whichever one it turns out to be), will be up in the Arctic at some point. But, probably, I'll see a lot more than that. I only wish Ellen could see it with me, but that takes me to my next point.
3) Money.
How else am I going to make money? Entry-level jobs STAY at entry-level. Working poor isn't just a figure of speech, it's a trap. I want to take vacations. Real, go someplace vacations. I want to not have to choose between rent or food. And to be able to buy stuff. That would be great. This job doesn't pay too much, but it is comfortably middle-class. And, so would be the civilian equivalent, if I decide to leave.
4) The Sea.
I've always loved the sea in literature. I took a few sailing lessons when I was 12 or so, and loved every minute. But I've never seen salt-water. Oh, I've flown over it, and I've seen the Hudson river (if you can call that water), but I've never been around an ocean or sea. Silly, I know, but I'm really looking forward to just being near and on the water.
5) Adventure.
'Nuff said, right? I blame the Hornblower and Ramage novels, myself.
Really, what kind of an idiot would choose the Navy life, anyway?
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