Army Packing List For Annual Training: Fill & Download for Free

YES.I will explain why. By the way, this is coming from a soldier of the United States Army.American SoldiersRussian SoldiersLet’s talk about the US Army. Civilians probably think it’s like this:LOL. We wish. Sure, sometimes we go to the field to actually train in our jobs. But the stuff you see in the Go Army commercials? Blatant propaganda. It’s mostly clips from Special Forces.The army is like this:PT Belts. Sometimes they’re not required during PT. It depends where you’re stationed. BUT PT belts are single-handedly the dumbest things ever. SGM says “Safety first!” Whoa, really? If I don’t wear this PT belt, will someone not see me? If I fall on top of my head wearing this PT belt, will I not get hurt? If you want to talk about safety, equip your soldiers with better winter gear. That shit barely works.The Bradley. Ok, you might be wondering how this makes the army dumb and stuff. Just hear me out. This is the M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, or Bradley if you will. I no longer TC one, thank god. But there’s no room in there. No AC. It breaks down easily. If you put this vehicle up against a 1944 Panzer II, the Panzer would win. Every Monday, soldiers have to PMCS this trash of metal. We spend over $700 billion annually. It’s about time we get rid of these…Layouts. One of the biggest reasons I am getting out of the army and NEVER coming back. Layouts. Imagine laying this 1940’s equipment out in the sun, and sitting there almost all day for the commander to show up and see it. It has to be dress right dress. Even if you have to hold it up instead of the commander looking at it. These take hours and hours and days, weeks… US Military, the strongest military in the world. Still takes accountability of tools that we’re used by our ancestors in the f*cking civil war… This stuff is dusty, rusted, useless, and waste of space. Why do we still have these? And vehicle BII is no better. Not to mention, why does it take the commander 8 hours to leave his office just to see this and call it a day? If I were the commander, I’d get this out of the way by checking it, then going on with the rest of my day. That way my soldiers don’t sit out in the sun all day.Rules of engagement. I blame this for some deaths during war. On case you didn’t know how stupid the US military is, check this out:Can’t use a shotgun against a combatant. That’s a war crime. If you break a door with a shotgun, and someone was behind that door, you’re going to prison.Can’t kill a combatant, unless you’re accompanied by 2 other soldiers. The 3:1 ratio thing in the army is stupid.Can’t kill on sight. During WWII, Americans were given orders to kill the SS on sight. Now, if someone tries to kill me but then surrenders, I can’t kill him? I have to treat him with respect? FUCK THAT.If you’re a gunner on top of a vehicle and one person is shooting at you, you’ll have to grab your M4 from inside and use that. Shooting a .50 cal at 1 guy is a war crime.No flamethrowers, or weapons that cause unnecessary suffering. I kinda understand that…You can’t double tap. If you walk past a guy that is playing dead, then grabs his weapon and shoots you in the back, count your blessings.You can’t shoot at churches, even if they shoot at you from churches. Fine then, what do you want me to do?I guess I blame the Geneva Conventions for these. But that is so dumb… so dumb.Talking to a higher-up. Ok, so I guess this is in every army in the world but I HAVE to mention this. I’m a simple Sergeant in the army. I still get nervous when I walk to a Sergeant Major. You stand there at parade rest, thinking: One wrong word, and your life is in his hands. You stand there, scared, thinking how many people did this guy murder? How many people did he smoke? Oh my god. :oNo discipline. Please, PLEASE make army basic training tough again. There is virtually no discipline in these ranks. Some of the people around me act like 5 year old kids. You’re working. If you want to act like a child, do it on your own time. And if I yelled at them, they would cry. Bro… I am not staying in the army. I can’t trust some of these people during combat. Those Russians would totally kick out asses.The army is just… stupid… Yesterday was Friday. At first, they said final formation is at 1300. Then it changed to 1430. Then to 1500. We’ll guess what. We were still sweeping the Motorpool at 1647. Are you kidding me? We were sitting around all day. We couldn’t take care of this earlier? I love coming into work, and sitting there for 12 hours… If there is nothing going on, send the soldiers to their rooms or something. Why do you bring us to work, only to sit on our phones all day? OH, and let’s not forget!When I deployed to Korea, the battalion’s commander set up an EDRE packing list. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a scenario we would do and stuff if North Korea attack. On that packing list, there were 5 bags… Full of PT’s and useless shit. If Korea attacked us, the last thing I would care for is getting some PT in. Are you kidding me? Now get this:We were forced to BUY all the stuff for the packing list. Because they were non issue items. We needed to have like 7 personal hygiene kits. Who weapons cleaning kits. Extra shoe laces. Sewing kits. Etc, etc. The Battalion Commander told us if we don’t have that stuff, there will be repercussions. EXCUSE ME???In the army, you CANNOT force someone to buy things they were not issued. You CANNOT. Simple as that. Yet, he made the whole battalion do it. You’re a lieutenant colonel, do you know how much less privates make monthly? A LOT. There were so many suicides in Korea, and I blame some of them on this stupid shit. This is why privates were killing themselves. You making them do all of this stupid stuff for however long their contracts were.I am getting out in a few months and I CAN’T wait. The army is so stupid, it’s unreal.So to answer your question…The Russian military would destroy the American military.EDIT: I’ll be blocking the comments until some of you learn to be nice. I will gladly refer you to Quora’s Policy in being nice, if you want. There is no need to insult me, or even send me harassing messages. When I joined Quora, I thought everyone was an adult on here. Apparently, that’s not the case with some people. Look, I love the army. This is the greatest job I ever had. But just because I don’t like the stupidity, doesn’t mean I’m some terrorist or something (someone called me that). Yes, I am getting out of the army. Being in the army is super easy, but it comes with a price. Yes, call me an unhappy private (I’m an E-5 by the way), or call me whatever. But it still won’t change the fact that the US Army is just… stupid sometimes. I hate to say it, considering how much I love this country and the veterans that actually went to combat for the preservation of liberty. I guess all I’m saying is, if you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say it. Save your time. It’s not worth it. Thanks for the upvotes, really. :)

Original question: Why doesn’t the United States government enact gun control legislation that exactly matches the literal 1791 wording of the 2nd amendment: To own a gun, you must belong to the states “well regulated militia” including any required annual training?Why don’t we take a look at what the Founders actually thought of the 2nd Amendment, that would probably give us a pretty good idea of where we should stand on it, don’t you think?For starters, we should take a look at the sentence structure, since that is what is at the heart of the original question.A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.Above is the 2nd Amendment, and it could also be written as follows.A well regulated militia shall not be infringed, because it is necessary to the security of a free state. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.Those two versions of the 2nd Amendment both represent the same exact thing. The former, which is the formal wording of the 2nd is nothing more than a comma separated list of thoughts. The first thought being the right of a well regulated (we’ll get into the definition of this later) militia, and the second being the right of the people to keep and bear arms. In between these two thoughts is an expounding thought with regards to the first thought, explaining that it is necessary to the security of a free State.Now, what did they mean by a militia? This is where we need to take a look at their words, not what we think the Amendment should mean, but rather what the Founders literally said and wrote about them.Tenche Coxe: “Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American… The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.” – Tenche Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.Tenche clearly states that we are all the militia (the civilian population). He also goes on to state that the very birthright of all Americans is “every other terrible implement of the soldier” (not something that the progressives want to hear).So, if the militia is the whole of the civilian population then it is not a part of the state nor the federal jurisdiction, thus a standing reminder that they are there to limit the potential of the uprising of a tyrannical government. This is exactly what Rep Gerry from Massachusetts points out in the following, when he states that a government that means to take away the liberties of the people attempts to destroy the militia, because a potential tyrannical government knows that it is the militia that stands against it.Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: “Whenever governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.” (spoken during floor debate over the Second Amendment, I Annals of Congress at 750, August 17, 1789.)One way to destroy the militia is to disarm it, and since the militia is the whole of the citizenry, that means disarming the citizens. Unfortunately we have too many historical references of this exact situation happening (e.g. Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler to name a few).So, now that we understand that a well regulated militia and the right of the people to keep and bear arms are two separate and distinct thoughts, let’s address the well regulated part.A well regulated militia is not the same as the well regulated militia. From the noted link “It is also important to note that the Framers' chose to use the indefinite article "a" to refer to the militia, rather than the definite article "the." This choice suggests that the Framers were not referring to any particular well regulated militia but, instead, only to the concept that well regulated militias, made up of citizens bearing arms, were necessary to secure a free State. Thus, the Framers chose not to explicitly define who, or what, would regulate the militias, nor what such regulation would consist of, nor how the regulation was to be accomplished.”[1]Also, “First, the Framers understood all of the people to be part of the unorganized militia. The unorganized militia members, "the people," had the right to keep and bear arms. They could, individually, or in concert, "well regulate" themselves; that is, they could train to shoot accurately and to learn the basics of military tactics.”[2]It is not to be regulated by the state or federal government, because if you put the power of regulation underneath the very body that the militia is there to keep from being tyrannical, then you remove the teeth of said militia to be able to hold the government accountable, due to the government controlling it. Thus the regulation must come from that same body of citizens that the militia is created from.We can then move on to the second thought of the 2nd Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Can this be any more plainly stated? The right, not the privilege, to keep (i.e. have, carry, possess, own), and bear (i.e. carry, convey, move, pack, transport), arms (i.e. armaments, firearms, guns, munitions, weapons). And then the most important part, that holds for both distinct thoughts, shall not be infringed! It is the birthright of all Americans, and really any and all human beings, to keep and bear arms. The 2nd Amendment wasn’t written to express a government granted privilege, but rather to recognize a fundamental right to self preservation.So, if you truly want to enact legislation that holds to the original wording of the 2nd Amendment, it is high time that we do away with National Firearms Act of 1934, and the Gun Control Act of 1968. It is also important to recognize that a Senate Subcommittee in 1982 concluded the following, “The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner.”[3]If you are also interested, here is another answer I have provided in the past that has a number of quotes from a number of our Founders and how they felt about the 2nd Amendment. Christopher Morris' answer to Does the gun ownership culture in the US have anything to do with fear of a black uprising?Footnotes[1] http://[2] The Framers' Intentions[3] Firearm Owners Protection Act - Wikipedia

Life in the Infantry is vastly different than what the media portrays. In popular media, you see Infantrymen as warriors. The type of guys who train all the time and then go into combat.Although this is true to a certain extent, it is dangerous to see only the glory of infantry life and get jaded by reality. It is better to know what you are getting yourself into. The vast majority of Infantry life will be as follows:Waiting until your supervisor to come back from a meeting to put out tasks and orders. This means sitting around for ridiculous amounts of time doing absolutely nothing until orders come down for you to go do something you don’t understand why is necessaryPulling guard shifts or manual labor tasks that are really tedious and boring such as: frequent maintenance of vehicles, picking up trash, inventory count of equipment, reorganizing inventory to make space for containers, picking up new materials such, turning in used materials etcre-certifying for certain annual training and attending mandatory training (which is usually really boring and useless) and health checkupsGetting equipment ready for a training exercisePreparing for inspection and getting inspecteddoing administrative paperworketc etcNot all units allow you to work out during duty hours. Some units are so busy that you only have time to work out during the morning while conducting unit PT and you get off at 5–6pm.Now for actual infantry tasks (the glory):SOME training related to infantry tactics and weapons familiarizationSOME unit wide training for infantry missions (usually in increments of 1 week, 2 weeks, or months)SOME unit wide infantry proficiency certificationsMAYBE a deploymentetcLet’s take for example, the task of going to the range to shoot your weapon simply to qualify for marksmanship:Go to the armorer to draw your weapon. This means waiting in long lines until your armorer hands you your assigned weapon. Afterwards, you will have to sign a hand receipt which is proof that you took that weapon and it lists the serial number of your weapon, scope, laser sight etcStand around until everyone is done and wait for buses to come pick everyone upLoad bus, drive out to the range, unload, receive safety briefing and instructions, receive ammo from ammo handler, wait in lineZero weapon. Confirm grouping and adjust weapons as necessary. Reshoot for zero. Repeat until completeShoot weapon to qualify for marksmanship, get graded, turn in empty magazines and unused bulletsWait until everyone is donePick up bullet casingsWait until bus arrives and return to unitClean weapon (30+ minutes), turn in weapon, and destroy hand receiptYou may have to qualify for night marksmanship in which case you need to wait around moreWhat about jumping out of an airplane?Wake up early in the morning to receive briefing and training (usually over an hour)Take bus to go to airfield (depends on waiting time and how far airfield is)Draw main parachute and reserve parachute (anywhere from immediate to waiting around for hours depending on when you will be jumping)Rig up parachute and get inspected (around 30 minutes to an hour)Wait (at least an hour minimum. Usually ends up being 2–3 hours)Load plane and fly out to parachute zone (usually 30 minutes)Jump out of airplane and land (1 minute at most from the moment you jump out of airplane)Pack up used parachute into bag (5+ minutes)Carry parachute and equipment back to assembly zone (usually 15 minutes)Wait until everyone lands and assembles (30+ minutes)Load bus and return to unit (1+ hour)Take parachute bag to parachute riggers and clean parachute to make it easier to repack (10+ minutes).Wait until everyone is done (1+ hour)Reload bus and return to unitMost infantry tasks are like this. Really boring and really tedious with a very short amount of actual ‘action’. The glory part is small, but I would say it is worth it if you are into doing physical manual labor which I believe most men get a satisfaction out of. Studies have shown increase in happiness for physical exertion.The best parts are long stretches of unit wide training and deployments where you are sucking in the field, being cold, being wet, being hot, being tired, having to be alert all the time. But building camaraderie with your team members while living with the thrill of danger and sense of accomplishment, pushing yourself to limits that you didn’t know was possible are all good benefits for men who like testing themselves.But make no mistake. It is not a ‘simple’ grunt job as the media portrays and you need not only the physical and mental durability, but you need to be able to find humor in the suck that you are experiencing and have the social skills to withstand frequent tensions among each other.So if you are not a people person, don’t do it.Also, if you are too smart (Mensa smart), you will often have difficulty taking orders from superiors who you think are giving you stupid orders so if you have trouble withstanding stupidity, don’t do it. Instead, go into the Science/Technology/Engineering/Math field where you will find more satisfaction.Also, make no mistake. Even if you go to an actual combat zone, the vast majority of infantry units in unconventional warfare merely conduct patrols and check ups kind of like police officers. You might have to patrol on foot while carrying 80+ pounds of equipment on your back. You might get shot at and get into combat but the vast majority will be short ambushes or remote attacks (rockets, mortar rounds, explosives, sniping or pop shots etc). Or worse, you might be required to assault a town where known enemies have established hold and preparing to attack and you have to go into every house to check if there are enemies.If you want to see combat as much as possible, you have to go into a Special Operations Infantry unit such as Marine Force Recon, the U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment, Navy SEALs, or become a JTAC in the USAF 17th Special Tactics Squadron where you will be attached to one of the aforementioned units. All of which have high standards and an overflow of volunteers. Most of these units are on the offense which means they conduct frequent raids. Also, Special Forces these days have teams dedicated to raiding as well but they are more dedicated to building strongholds in remote villages. I would say the 75th Ranger Regiment might be the easiest to get into among the bunch.None of these jobs are easy. In Iraq, many of these units had to withstand the unbearable summer heat while being crammed into a small metal vehicle with no ventilation. In Afghanistan, many of these units climb mountains by foot which are over 7500 feet at night and cross dangerous passes where if you make one small misstep you will fall to your demise, all while carrying relatively heavy equipment.Last but not least, you vastly accelerate the damage to your body doing infantry work but the military doesn’t want you to know that because they need people to be in the infantry. It’s like Olympians or professional sports players having frequent cartilage issues, joint issues, and injuries.So there you go. That is the price you pay for being an infantryman. Knowing the risks and downsides, do I think it’s worth it? Absolutely. But only a few are physically and mentally cut out to take 20 years of this kind of beating.