Guest Contributor – ArthurinCali – 17NOV2023 – The Old Days

I need to write up my memories of those times pre-insanity. Joined in 1998 and it was a whole different world in the military. I have a few sea stories on Substack but it’s hard to describe how different it was then. Think of Stranger Things ‘upside down’ world compared to ours. People were real, you didn’t hold back on opinion’s amongst one another. Conflict resolution included fan room conferences. ie two guys who have a problem are ordered to go in and either fuck or fight, but settle the differences and move forward. Diversity measures were in place, yet it was more subtle and not repeated like a cult mantra how it is today. One felt they were serving a country and not a faceless GAE blob. I could write all day on the differences. Men were men and acted accordingly for the most part. Masculinity was not a dirty word, nor being superior. One had pride and felt honor for serving. At least I did. It wasn’t as much of a babysitting/jobs program with social engineering being shoved down the throat daily as it is now.