I was still a dumb lib back then. But my radicalization has really peeled opened my eyes to my part in continuing colonialism in Africa and imperialism in the Middle East.
But if I had never served, a lot of the understanding I have would not exist. Or how the military functions and how fucked up and clueless everyone is. Or how so many are working class being recruited for the basic conditions we as leftists want for everyone. Housing, job, sense of purpose, food, etc.
Just hard tackling all of this stuff and thoughts sometimes.
I'm bout the same as you. A lot of the people in my shithole military (Australia) were honestly very breadpilled, because people like Bob Hawke enshrined such strong socialist institutions that people still have a vaguely positive perception of them decades later. Having chats with moto guys in my coy who totally understood that the only reason they weren't sitting there with an AK in the sand was because of where they were born was very endearing, in a weird way. These guys were obviously racist as shit though because they're Australians, but that's the duality of man.
Also man, I got SO many death threats on reddit for posting about being ex-mil. People would go through my post history and try to find out where I lived/what my regiment was and shit. I'm sure some of them were weird rightoids but when you have someone with the name FemboySpaceCommunism69 or something calling you an imperialist pigdog you probably know they're being serious. Will this leftist infighting never end smh.
Before the sub got nukes I posted how being anti troop to a certain extent detracts from the goal of revolution and communism in general because we can’t discredit an entire group of people like that, especially the military, and especially the US military. Even a small percent of soldiers sympathetic to working class movements once the veil has been lifted will be necessary to fight. Or sabotage from within. People screamed and yelled at me and all this other shit. Like, how do you expect to win unless some are on our side?
I mean, look at that in the context of the old sub. Nobody wants to turn away vets who actually understand, but there were so many struggle sessions on that sub where people earnestly argued that all vets were absolved because of the predatory nature of recruitment, which is absolute dogshit.
I agree with you 100%. You're not looking for an excuse for your military service, it doesn't seem. But it's absolutely ridiculous, especially among the left for you not to be given a 2nd chance after you realize what's really going on. I hate to admit this, but I'm not perfect either. I've been a sack of shit before. I don't want forgiveness, but a chance at redemption beside my comrades would be nice.