Hi! first time post here (hope this is in the right category).
So, a couple months ago I had revealed to my mother and step dad that I had plans to work in the army, more specifically the infantry(I'm 17 now). This is something I had always seen myself doing, ever since I was little.
Their response was not at all what I expected. They weren't proud, concerned for my safety, or even interested as to why I had made this decision. The first thing that came out of my mother's mouth was "People who join the military generally aren't very smart. What followed soon after were rants on how I should go to culinary school (I don't cook, I work in a restaurant and it sucks!), how soldiers are enforcers of American foreign policy, how I could be doing better things with my life and how the military will brainwash me (I found this kind of ironic).
I didn't expect their responses to be overwhelmingly positive, but I was surprised by this. I guess they want me to lead a 'normal' life. It got me wondering though, what is with the negative stigma attached to the Canadian Military? Everyone thinks I will be killed immediately, be brainwashed, or that I'm wasting time that could be spent in college. And can someone shed light on how many 'dumb' people are actually in the infantry?
Interesting topic on the viewpoint of Canadians in general. My own mom asked me WHY when I said I wanted to join, but never went as far as saying it's where 'stupid' people are employed, she's just concerned that I'm not going to come back home in one piece. Now, having said that I think your mom may actually be calling army personell 'unintelligent due to the fact that many outside the realm of the Canadian Armed Forces believe that war is a waste of time and most would just assume not send anyone to afghanistan. Since many Canadians think war is stupid, they might just be inferring that the only people who would volunteer for such a 'stupid' cause would be unintelligent people. It may not be that your mom thinks all soldiers are stupid. She may just be thinking war is stupid and drawing a correlation between the two. Kinda similar to how people stereotype athletes as all having the jock like mentality and not very book smart.
My best advice is to draw the correlation between yourself being a smart future soldier and ask her if you're intelligent and joining up, then there must be more. Pretty sure mommy is going to change her tone the second you imply that she's calling you anouther stupid soldier. You'll also soon realize that your choices are your choices and I can guarantee this won't be the last time your parents disagree with something you do! They'll eventually, if they're good parents realize that you're your own person and quite honestly there is no greater honour than serving your country.
My mom asked me if I knew that I might die, almost as if the though the thought hadn't crossed my mind. I said you don't join the army because you're worried about dieing. Today she helped me contact a family friend to finalize my references :p
To sum it up, sometimes you just need to be straight with your parents and tell them the real reason you're joining. Hopefully it's not just to blow stuff up and to get your first confirmed kill.
Something you could mention and show to your mom is some of the high tech equipment that these unintelligent soldiers use. Some of it worth more than a lifetime's salary.
