POTD: 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Reconquest of Narvik during WW2

@DropGun25 Uhh, maybe some people l ook younger than their age?

@DropGun25 Look at any army, the US. with their 18yo privates, or the Soviet with their 18yo draftees.

Armies like young people, the younger the better, because it's easier to motivate and form them.

@Ondřej Tůma "18-year-olds think they're invincible. That's why they always make the best soldiers."

@DropGun25 Plenty of extras at the age of 16 in this movie. Which was very much the reality of the situation in 1940.

I´m in this movie btw.

@Brett baker Yes. When armies conscript or "volunteer" 30yr olds, they became those cynical, skeptical, careful, pain-in-the-officer's-arse types who try not to get killed, see right through the "motivation speeches" of "courage and sacrifice", and are always balancing one foot from being court-martialed for "subversing fighting morale of the squad" (or whatever is the western equivalent.)

Off course this doesn't apply to 30yo military enthusiasts, as well as soldiers who were drafted young and matured to 30yo and beyond inside the military. These become the most valuable assets.

@ What was your motivation? Family tradition, patriotism, adventure, opportunities, free education/healthcare, ...?

@Balintix Clean living of Norwegians!

They are the goodiest of the two-shoes

@ Damnit! I can only up vote that comment once. That comment requires an epic fist bump!

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/H...

@Ondřej Tůma Between the ages of 18 and mid 20s, you are at your physical peak. Your body recovers from physical strain faster. Your muscles grow faster and are at their densest. Your eyes and ears are at their best. You are in general able to push yourself harder for longer periods of time, like staying up longer.

After 30 things begin to change.

@Uniform223 I hit my prime at 33-34; 6’, 200#’s, 6% body fat, stronk, vascular. I was a freaking cyborg. I think there’s something to the whole muscle memory for people who are training hard. Plus you train smarter and more efficiently whilst taking precautions and measures to avoid injury.

@Ondřej Tůma Lying about your age is also a thing. It was much more prominent in wars past. My great-grandfather lied about his age to enlist in the US Army in 1917, he then went on to see the Western Front (and came back in one piece!).

@Ondřej Tůma 18 year olds are easy because they don't know shit about life and they're enthusiastic, in a situation where life is overwhelming, to have a path. Of course there's are reason the majority of service members separate after their their first contract.

I joined later in life, and while it's been mixed to say the least, I knew what I was getting into and I don't regret it.

@Suppressed You also build up the mental strength to just keep going when you want to quit. I'm not as fast as I was when I left AIT, but instead of running three days a week I'm drinking heavily and two cigs in by the time the test starts.

@ Does it ever bother you that the varying Venn diagram charts concerning things you may support, countries you share cultural, ethnic, economic, or religious views with, etc make that a really complicated statement? Not trying to call you out, just saying communism, socialism, totalitarianism, fascism, etc have a lot of blurred lines in practice. Communist is one of the ultimate "No true Scotsman..." debacles.

That said last time I checked we kill Nazis, and the slavers lost the war. We all have our hard lines.

@ I guess my followup would be who are the communists?

Russia is a kleptocracy, China is mercantile fascism, Venezuela/Cuba is a populist dictatorship. Norway and Saudi Arabia also have nationalized state industries that they use to fund generous social programs, but they're not at all comparable.

The only people who actually think they're communists are millennials on Facebook, they're wrong, and you don't get to shoot them regardless.

@Brett baker Been there, done that.

@ Also a pretty broad term. Abraham Lincoln? Teddy Roosevelt? Bob La Follette? FDR? Eisenhower? George Marshall? Rosa Parks? Lyndon Johnson? Or just current people who think their are problems?

@ Well, all of those people were progressives in their time. Abolition, conservation, social security nets and public works programs, anti-militarism, foreign aid programs , and the civil rights movement?

Sorry if the world is a little more complex than vague single word responses.

@neoprofin Sorry, but he's right.

@ LOL! That's why I like you Val... At least we have that in common.

@neoprofin Aside from Rosa Parks, who shouldnt be included, the rest of those people have done just as much harm to America as good.