Definite no, I'm afraid. There's really two issues at play here for me.
1. In terms of your mental health it will not help and will probably make matters worse. To begin with, you will be very physically and emotionally drained from your work. You will be deprived of many of the comforts that often help us to feel good. You will have little chance to "run away" (metaphorically) if the going gets tough. In addition, you may end up with PTSD if you ever saw action.
2. Then there's the political/moral side of things. Joining the US or British army these days is tantamount to actively supporting, and be willing to strive for, acts of imperialism and unjustified acts of aggression. I think the less people that join up for these things the better.
One more thing, Universal.
I probably seem outrageously cynical, but that's just my take on it.
1. In terms of your mental health it will not help and will probably make matters worse. To begin with, you will be very physically and emotionally drained from your work. You will be deprived of many of the comforts that often help us to feel good. You will have little chance to "run away" (metaphorically) if the going gets tough. In addition, you may end up with PTSD if you ever saw action.
2. Then there's the political/moral side of things. Joining the US or British army these days is tantamount to actively supporting, and be willing to strive for, acts of imperialism and unjustified acts of aggression. I think the less people that join up for these things the better.
That's true, but I think on balance the lessons you'll learn are bad ones. It teaches you to "do as you're told"; to be uncritical. It teaches you to obey authority, without any scepticism or doubt. I think that anything which serves to diminish scepticism, doubt, a proclivity to question authority and a willingness to challenge the accepted opinion is undesirable. But then I would, I suppose.
One more thing, Universal.
Be very careful with these kind of comments. The recruiter "would" say that, since the military is pretty desperate to get as many troops as it can right now. It doesn't mean that the anxiety will not be a problem in the military for you.
I probably seem outrageously cynical, but that's just my take on it.
