为什么美国有这么多退伍军人无家可归?（二）

Jay Dee
Why are there still homeless veterans out there?
I was in the US Marine Corps from 1984 to 1988. There were many people who didn’t serve long enough to get a pension. Perhaps 12–16 years. They were below average Marines and didn’t achieve the required rank to keep reenlisting. Many drank up their paychecks every weekend. They didn’t need to worry about budgeting money because they had a rent and utility free place to live. They didn’t have to budget for food or medicine because we had the chow hall and free medical care. They couldn't get fired for subpar performance because of their contract. They might be an E-4 with 8 years in or an E-5 with 12. But, they really never progressed through the ranks. They may have gone in at 18 and gotten out at 30. Never married. Never had to budget money because rent, utilities, and medical are taken care of. Their only bills are a cell phone payment and perhaps a car payment. Even then, most make their car payment and insurance via payroll deduction. They never have had to budget money. When they get out, it’s like an 18 year old being on his own for the first time. Only worse. Many have picked up a bad habit or 2. Namely alcohol. The military is extremely strict about far more benign drugs like marijuana. So with the military, the only choice is alcohol and cigarettes. In the Marines, pounding beer was like a badge of honor. When they get out, they can’t adjust. Almost like someone who went to prison. The ones who have the easiest time adjusting are the ones whose military job is transferrable to the civilian world such as air traffic controller. The combat jobs like infantry, artillery, or tanker serve no purpose in the civilian world. For those people, the best case scenario is getting on with the police or fire department. For everyone else, welcome to the world of minimum wage.

为什么仍然有退伍军人无家可归了？
1984年至1988年，我在美国海军陆战队服役。有很多人服役的时间不够长，无法领取养老金，也许12-16年，他们低于海军陆战队的平均层级——军衔没有达到重新入伍所需的层级。许多人每个周末都把工资花光。他们不需要担心预算问题，因为他们住的地方没有租金，也没有水电费。他们不需要为食物和药品预算，因为我们有食堂和免费医疗。因为合同的关系，他们不会因为表现不佳而被解雇。它们可能是E-4任务——服役8年或E-5任务——服役12年。但是，他们从来没有晋升过，可能在18岁参军去，30岁退役，从未结婚。从来不用做预算，因为房租、水电费和医药费都有免费提供。他们唯一的账单是手机话费，也许还有汽车费用。即便如此，大多数人还是通过工资扣除来支付汽车费用和保险费。他们从不需要为资金做预算。当他们退役时，就像一个18岁的孩子一般独自生活，而且情况只会更糟。许多人养成了一两个坏习惯——也就是酒精。军方对大麻等更为温和的毒品倒是极为严格。因此，对于军队来说，唯一的选择就是喝酒和抽烟。在海军陆战队，喝啤酒就像一种荣誉徽章。当他们退役时，是无法调整的，不然不喝酒就如同进了监狱一般。最容易调整的是那些军事工作可以转移到民用领域的人，比如空中交通管制员。步兵、火炮或加油机等作战工作在平民世界毫无用处。对于这些人来说，最好的情况是与警察或消防部门取得联系。对于其他人来说，则欢迎来到最低工资的世界。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Mark Hendershot
I’m 30, broke, unemployed, and homeless. Can I join the Marines for food and shelter?
Hi, a couple of things that I need to point out. If we are talking about the U.S. armed forces, as I'm going to assume that you are, then if you are already 30 years old and have no prior military service, then you are already too old to join the Marines. The cutoff enlistment age for the U.S. Marine Corps is 28 years old. In fact, at 30 you are too old for any other military branches except for three. Those would be the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force. The cutoff age of enlistment for the Army is 35 years old, and the Navy is 34 years old. The cutoff age for the Air Force is 39! Now keep it in mind that I was not prior service and I joined the Navy at age 34, and in fact the very day I graduated Navy boot camp in Great Lakes Illinois, I turned 35 years old! That was the best birthday present ever. I did quite well there and persevered during Navy boot camp despite a couple of setbacks and plenty of challenges, and I did quite well for myself after boot camp in the Navy fleet, so no not everyone needs to enlist earlier in life to be successful. If I can pull that off at 35 years old, then it’s entirely possible for a mere 30 year old to do it as well, providing they have the right attitude to succeed.

我30岁了，身无分文，失业，无家可归。我可以加入海军陆战队以获得食物和住所吗？
嗨，有几件事我需要指出。如果我们谈论的是美国武装部队，就像我假设的那样，那么如果你已经30岁了，以前没有服过兵役，那你就太老了，不能加入海军陆战队。美国海军陆战队的截止入伍年龄是28岁。事实上，30岁的你就太老了，除了三个军种，不适合任何其他军事部门，这将是美国陆军、美国海军和美国空军。陆军的入伍截止年龄为35岁，海军为34岁。空军的截止入伍年龄是39岁！现在请记住，我没有服役经验，我在34岁时加入了海军，事实上，就在我从伊利诺伊州大湖区海军新兵训练营毕业的那一天，我就满35岁了！这是我收到的最好的生日礼物。我在那里表现得很好，在海军新兵训练营期间，尽管遇到了一些挫折和挑战，我还是坚持了下来。在海军舰队的新兵训练营结束后，我的表现就很好，所以不是每个人都需要提前入伍才能成功。如果我能在35岁的时候做到这一点，那么一个仅仅30岁的人也完全有可能做到这一点，只要他们有正确的态度，定能成功的。

So now that we have this matter out of the way, let's talk about why you are interested in joining. You say so that you can have food and shelter? I can understand your concerns of course, but as compelling as those reasons are you need to know that the military is going to expect a lot out of you, and you need to have the right kind of attitude to make this a success. You need more reasons inside you to join the military other than a need for shelter and food. You will be expected to pass a battery of tests both physical and mental, as well as place reasonably well academically, in order to get in to begin with. As compelling as the need for food and shelter is, there should be more in you than just those reasons to undertake such a drastic step. While joining the military to meet your needs for food and shelter can certainty qualify as valid enough reasons to a lot of people, you must remember that you also need to find reasons to stay in once you have met your needs for food and shelter. You need something within you that compels you to keep pushing forward, and rise to the occasion that the military will undoubtedly demand from you. The military is a whole life changer that you must completely devote yourself to 110 percent, not just a temporary lifestyle change that you take only to find temporary escape from a bad economic situation.

既然我们已经解决了这个问题，让我们谈谈你为什么有兴趣入伍吧。你说这样你就能有吃有住了?当然，我能理解你的担忧，但与这些理由一样令人信服的是，但你需要知道，军方会对你寄予厚望，你需要有正确的态度才能取得成功。你需要更多的理由去参军，而不仅仅是需要住所和食物。你将被要求通过一系列的身体和心理测试，而且在学术上也有相当不错的成绩，这样才能入伍。尽管对食物和住所的需求很有说服力，但你应该有更多的理由做出如此激进的抉择。虽然参军是为了满足你对食物和住所的需求，而且对很多人来说，这肯定是一个足够有效的理由，但你必须记住，一旦你满足了食物和住所需求，你也需要找到留在军队的理由。你需要内在的某种力量驱使你不断前进，并迎接军队对你的要求。参军是一种改变整个生活的方式，你必须完全投入110%的精力，而不仅仅是为了暂时摆脱糟糕的经济状况而改变生活方式。

If your primary goal is to join the military to fix such a bad situation and no more, then that reason alone isn't worth considering for you as there conceivably are easier solutions to your immediate problems than taking such a drastic step. Nobody joins the military successfully by doing it for less than a total commitment on their part and a complete willingness to sacrifice everything they have and are inside to be a successful member of the military. You have to surrender any desire to be a individual and must be willing to think and perform as a team player. There is no “me" in the military, but “we". You have to be willing to go the full distance, to fight your way through challenges , and just reasoning that the military will provide you with housing and meals just isn't enough good reason all by itself.

如果你参军的主要目的是为了解决这种糟糕的情况，那么这个理由本身就不值得你考虑，因为可以想象，有比采取这种激进措施更容易解决你眼前问题的办法。若在参军时没有完全献身于军旅生涯，也不是完全愿意牺牲自己所拥有的一切，没有人在如此情况下还能做一名成功的军人的。你必须放弃任何作为个体的欲望，必须愿意作为一个团队成员来思考和表现。军队里没有“我”，只有“我们”。你必须愿意坚持到底，在挑战中奋力拼搏，不然仅仅凭军队会为你提供食宿的理由本身是不够的。

If you are willing to change and sacrifice, engage in a metamorphosis if you will, to be part of something bigger than yourself, then joining the military might be something you should explore while there's still time to enlist in either the Army or Navy or Air Force. When I enlisted at age 34, I was hungry to change my life for the better, as I felt that my life was slowly passing me by in my position as a USPS postal carrier. I had flirted with joining in the past, but put it off almost too long. I had a urgency inside me to beat the clock, and do whatever I had to do to become a Sailor. Within the span of one year’s time, I engaged in a complete metamorphosis and went from being a postal employee to becoming a member of the U.S. military. As I have mentioned earlier, if I can go the distance and put forth all the effort it took for me to become a different and better person in a year’s time at age 35, you can certainly do this as well at age 30! If you are unwilling to give of yourself and go the distance, then look towards other life solutions to solve your problems concerning shelter and food instead of wasting the time of not only yourself, but of the military as well. It's simply not worth it for either yourself or the military to engage in something like this.

如果你愿意改变和牺牲，如果愿意的话，参与一场蜕变，成为比只关注自己还要更伟大的事业的一部分，那么在你还有时间加入陆军、海军或空军的时候，参军可能是你应该探索的事情。当我34岁参军时，我渴望改变我的生活，因为我觉得我的生活在美国邮政管理局（USPS）邮递员的位置上慢慢地从我身边流逝。我过去曾想过要参军，但是拖得太久了。我内心有一种紧迫感，那就是争分夺秒，做任何我必须做的事，成为一名船员。在一年的时间里，我经历了一次彻底的蜕变，从一名邮政员工变成了美国军队的一员。正如我之前提到的，如果我能在35岁的时候坚持下去，付出所有的努力，在一年的时间里成为一个不同的、更好的人，那么你在30岁的时候肯定也能做到这一点！如果你不愿意奉献自我并坚持到底，那么就寻找生活中的其它解决方案来解决你在住所和食物方面的问题，而不要浪费你自己的时间，这也是再浪费军队的时间。对你自己或军队来说，你来参军根本不值得。

EDIT Oct 19th, 2019: Please read if you do not mind. I realize it is a long post scxt, but I have tried to keep this as relevant as possible…
“I really appreciate all the positive reactions to my posting so far! Thank you very much, I am humbled by all the nice things a lot of you have posted in the various wonderful comments posted below regarding my advice concerning the military to this homeless man, and about myself in some cases. Some also raised obxtions to my advice as well, so let me try to further clarify in my comments below…”
“Firstly, I am not against this man attempting to try for a career in the military. I perfectly understand that the military is made up of all types of people who enlist for all kinds of reasons. Obviously among all the endless amounts of reasons, is the idea that more than a few people join the military because their life is at a dead end, and in some cases, these people need the structure that the military environment provides so that they can have shelter and food more or less guaranteed as a result of their being present, doing their assigned duties, and following the rules and respecting the structure that exist in the military for the morale and well being of all involved.”

编辑：2019年10月19日：如果你不介意，请阅读。我意识到这是一个很长的帖子，但我尽量保持相关性。
“到目前为止，我真的很感谢大家对我的帖子的积极回应！非常感谢，看到你们中的许多人在下面发表了各种精彩的评论，关于我对这个无家可归的人的军事建议，以及在某些情况下关于我自己的建议，我感觉自己很渺小。一些人也对我的建议提出了反对意见，所以让我在下面的评论中进一步澄清……
“首先，我并不反对这个人去尝试参军。我完全理解，军队是由各种各样的人组成的，他们出于各种原因应征入伍。显然，在无数的原因中，有一种观点认为，很多人参军是因为他们的生活陷入了死胡同，在某些情况下，这些人需要军事环境使他们能够或多或少地得到住所和食物方面的保障，因此他们入伍，履行分配的职责，为了所有相关人员的士气和福祉，遵守军队中的规则并尊重现有的结构。”

“However, one point that I strongly stated in my post above is this: This man needs to find within himself something more than the basic human instinct to obtain shelter and food as a driving reason to join the military, or he will inevitably fail at his ultimate mission in the long run. If this man joins the military without any other motivations than to seek food and shelter, he is in danger of not only running his military career aground, he is also fairly likely to end up repeating a lot of the same life mistakes that influenced his state of homelessness and hunger to begin with.”
“I have learned through living and by observation for over fifty years in this society a few things concerning what I stated above: A lot of times people will soon forget the hard life lessons poverty can teach them whenever they finally get in a situation away from their former state of poverty, when they have obtained the basic life necessities that the rest of us who are not in this man’s position take for granted.”
“If this man wants to be a part of the U.S. military, he needs to find a way to find within himself a drive and ambition to succeed, to push like holy hell no matter what. He needs to find or create a sense of wanting to better himself, and if he makes it into the military and gets through his boot camp training, he needs to become and stay vital within the military structure and in how he manages and shapes his life, and he needs to work very hard towards obtaining marketable skills that other will want whenever his military career is over.”

“然而，我在上面的帖子中特别强调的一点是:这个人需要在自己内心找到一些东西，而不仅仅是人类获得住所和食物的基本本能，以此作为参军的动力，否则，从长远来看，他的最终使命将不可避免地失败。如果这个人参军时除了寻求食物和住所之外没有任何其他动机，他就处于危险之中。”那么他不仅有可能使他的军事生涯搁浅，而且他也很可能最终会重复许多同样的人生错误，这些错误导致了他一开始就面临无家可归和饥饿状态。”
“我在这个社会生活了五十多年，通过对这些事情的观察，我学到了一些与我上面所说的有关的东西:很多时候，当人们最终摆脱了以前的贫困状态，当他们获得了我们这些没有处于这种境地的人认为理所当然的基本生活必需品时，他们很快就会忘记贫穷给他们带来的艰难的人生教训。”
“如果这个人想成为美国军队的一员，他需要找到一种方法，在自己内心找到成功的动力和雄心，然后无论如何都要全力以赴。他需要找到或创造一种想要改善自己的感觉，如果他进入军队并通过新兵训练营的训练，他需要在军事结构中，在如何管理和塑造自己的生活方面，成为并保持重要的角色，他需要非常努力地学习，以获得在他的军事生涯结束时其它方面的工作需要的市场技能。”

“If he chooses to remain in the military and do a full twenty plus year career and retire with the military, or even if he is one of the many people who only enlist in the military for one enlistment and then go back to being a civilian, I believe he needs to regard his military career as more than a mere “job”. He needs to learn about and gain knowledge and respect about the U.S. military and the branch he serves in. He needs to learn its history and traditions, and use this knowledge to grow and develop as a person. He needs to actively seek out senior mentors where he serves that will influence him, and make him expand his boundaries and develop as a human being. This influence will, if he retains it, can guide him in how he is a a person, positively influence his self esteem and bearing, and how he manages his life from that point forward not only in the military, but in his civilian life after the military as well.”

如果他选择留在军队，完成整整20多年的军旅生涯，然后在军队退休，或者即使他是应征入伍一次的众人之一，然后就回归平民生活，我认为他需要重新审视自己的军旅生涯，而不仅仅视其为一份“工作”。他需要学习并获得对美国军队和他所服务的分支的知识和尊重。他需要学习其历史和传统，并利用这些知识让自己得到成长和发展。他需要在他服役的地方积极寻找能够影响他的资深导师，使他拓展自己的界限，让自己得到成长。如果他能保持这种影响，就能指导他如何做人，积极地影响他的自尊和举止，以及他从那时起如何管理自己的生活，不仅在军队中，而且在退伍后的平民生活中也是如此。

“Finally, since several people in the comments attempted to belittle my approach and ideas about the military and the approach that I took in my career, let me state this: I deeply believe in what I have written and the positive values that I learned while I was in the Navy. I cared about my duties, I cared about my fellow Sailors and the Marines I worked alongside. I was very proud to serve alongside some very fine Sailors and Marines who I admired very much and felt lucky to be around and that I tried to learn from. I gave a damn about my service, and others around me, and my country. The things I have learned during my military service, due to the fact that I was very lucky enough to have fine senior mentors, have greatly influenced me, not only during my time during active duty as a Navy Sailor, but in my personal life and overall bearing since my time on active duty. The values I learned will last a lifetime.”
Thank you for having the patience to read my very long post scxt!

“最后，由于评论中有几个人试图贬低我对军队的态度和想法，以及我在职业生涯中所采取的态度，我声明下：我深信我所写的东西，以及我在海军期间学到的积极价值观。我关心我的职责，关心我的船员同伴和与我共事的海军陆战队队员。我非常自豪能与一些非常优秀的水兵和海军陆战队员一起服役，我非常钦佩他们，我很幸运能在他们身边，我试图向他们学习。我对我的服役，对我周围的人，对我的国家都很在乎。我在服兵役期间学到了东西，因为我非常幸运地拥有优秀的前辈导师，他们不仅在我作为海军水手的服役期间，而且在我的个人生活和服役后的整体举止上都对我产生了很大的影响。我学到的价值观将持续一生。”
谢谢你有耐心阅读我如此长的帖子！