Why are you interested in the military?

What makes you interested in the military? I don't care the country. For me, I remember playing war games when I was young, and strategy games also fueled my interest. But it was really sinodefence.com that got me interested in recent military developements. I was just curious to know what the PLA has compared with other countries.

Ryz05: I think you've asked an interesting question which I hope will receive good participation from the rest of the forum members. Myself, having served 20 years in uniform and another 20 years as a military employee, I'm interested in this forum because it's a meeting point. I find the U.S. military is not all that different from the Chinese military - except for our opposing ideologies and mindsets. For me, personally, what would be an exercise in frustration might be the "Iran Defence Today Forum." Trying to have a rational discussion with someone to whom you are the representative of the "Great Satan" would seemingly be fruitless. But, as this forum has shown, there can be exchange of information and ideas on a human scale. I am interested in the military not for the power it has, but because it serves as a microcosm of the society it represents, and also reflects the better attributes of that society, such as dedication and sense of duty, honor and simply being the best one can be.

Actually what I was thinking was not represented by any of the options so I chose the last one, I was a big US military fan as a kid, wanting to fly F-14s for the Navy when I grew up, but gradually as time went on I guess I lost a lot of the idealism after the Iraq invasion...

So now I'm interested in the military primarily to see how it affects political discussions, feasibility and plausibility of threats and exercises.

I served in the military....well every man in here does but anyway...I was intressed (among many other things) of military as a kid, partially becouse in kindegarden it was (and I believe still is) forbiden to play with guns or anything related to war so it was kind forbidden fruit to all boys...
And somehow it got on... But it was for me also a sort of national pride thing, not that related to engineerings (as a person, Im all but engineer type, despite my current studies), but to politics and expecially to history.

But in the hectic years of transistion 15-17, I went trough lot with my ideas and obinions and made a huge leap from the rigth wing nationalistic to this pseudo-hippy communist type of wannabe intellectual and I begun to look things from completely different angle. (among it I discarded my religion and resinged from the church)
But the intres to military didnt wind up, I just changed germany to Soviet Union... And after my national service, It got all new aspect and all sort of fanboyism drop out of my mind, and mist of searching artillery related stuff or possible artillery served comarads, I spotted the Ezboard's old sinodefence forum....and rest you know.

I started becoming instrested in the military by watching WWII movies on Tv and at the cinema when I was about 12-13 years old. I started reading abouts ships and planes etc. One of the things that got me really instrested was the US manned space missions in the 60's. The astronauts were always recovered by helos from a USN CV. That fasinated me. Then when I was in the 10th grade this kid that was a senior dropped out of school to join the USN. He wound up on a CVA. CVA-64 I think. He returned to school to vist and had on his "cruise jacket". (see below..not mine!) well to a 16 year old that was so cool and to listen to his sea stories was very intresting. So I decided to join either the USN or USAF. So when I graduated from high school I went down to see the USAF recruiter and and he was never there. I had seen an article in "Time" magazine about how ADM Zumwault had changed the USN. So because I could not get a hold of that USAF recruiter I joined the USN. The rest is history.

I served 20 years in the USN from 1971 until 1991. I served on 5 CV's and several shore stations.

I had two uncles that had 26 year careers in the USAF and US Army. My son has been in the USN for almost 9 years.

My intrest about all things military has never wained. And never will.

Need more options. I can't say why I'm interested per ce - I just am.

One of the first things I remember seeing on TV was the coverage of the Falklands War in 1982. I was mesmerised by looking at the pictures of the RN's Sea Harriers taking off the ski jumps of their carriers and landing back like helicopters, I'm from Northern Ireland and I've seen a lot of choppers over the years, the Harriers just looked the coolest things ever. For years it was my dream to be an FAA Harrier pilot, that never happened for various reasons, my eyesight is terrible for a start! But I'm just still interested in all things military.

I was pretty much interested in military affairs since grade school, but I really didn't have any knowledge about it. You see, all my other male friends have a huge interest in either sports or cars-or both. I have that much interest in the military. I guess it's because some of my family members (far off family members) held high positions in Pakistan's military back during '65 and '71. I only got interested after I stumbled across two sites: PDF and this one, Sinodefence. I became of of the first members on sinodefence and another one of the countless members of PDF. This was about two years ago when I was a senior in high school. Since then I've met quite people in real life that go on PDF (including the Webmaster himself) and maybe one day I'll end up meeting some of you.:china:

Since I joined, I realized that I had enough knowledge about military affairs to know nothing at all LOL. I mean, I probably know a whole lot more than the average Joe out there, but when in comparison to some of the members on this forum and others, I have very little knowledge. But that just motivates me even more to learn.

I have several reasons why, I chose "interested in the engeneering" because I think this is the beginning of it all.
When I still was a kid, I was fascinated by airplanes. I went to airports several times with my father to see those birds taking off and landing. And it was impressiv, I mean those things are huge and really heavy, but still they fly like birds. So relatively early I became interested in technologies. (A bit strange is the fact that I always had problems with math but was quiet good in physics.)
This interest extended first to military planes. Over that I came across the Bundeswehr somehow. That was the time when I also became interested in politics on a rudimentary level. I started thinking about the role a military plays in a modern world and what it stands for and got caught by the ideas.
This in turn led to a wider interest in military technologies in special, and to a wider interest in those in general.
Politics and history are things that also come into play here.
Well, so I ended up where I'm now.

After school I joined the military a draftee. During that time a made the final decission to become a volunteer and apllied (?) for the duty.
I chose the job of a GAF pilot. I went through the test phases last summer. So I thought I could start in october-06 or I'm not suited for it. The dumb thing now is, the last test results weren't ready early enough. So I got out of duty last nov but can pretty sure start next august.
After all the benefits I got during my education and upgrowing (?) (I just had the luck to be born in one of the richest, savest and IMO just best country in the world and I decided it's worth fighting for what it stands and paying back something for what I recieved; oh how pathetic).
Somehow many people around me don't understand me really in that regard.

And while surfing through the net I stumbeld across SDF. I'ver looked at several defence-forums and never liked them because it so often is an unfriendly atmosphere. This is however different here. It's very constructive and you learns something here. But perhaps even more importan is the fact that you can talk to so many people with similar interests in a civilized manner.

edit: holy crap is that long ...

And while surfing through the net I stumbeld across SDF. I'ver looked at several defence-forums and never liked them because it so often is an unfriendly atmosphere. This is however different here. It's very constructive and you learns something here. But perhaps even more importan is the fact that you can talk to so many people with similar interests in a civilized manner.

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Thanks for the complement to our forum. We try hard to keep the discussion friendly and civil.

I found the old forum because I was thirsting for knowledge about a PLAN CV. It's been almost two years now...Wow!