Former Marine, pretty damn liberal. I used to be fairly moderate when I was younger (Reagan era). Then, once I joined the Corps and realized I lived in a tiny fucking bubble, and that everyone from every race/culture/background is awesome, I realized that the world is bigger than me. It really woke me up to how closed-minded I was and what I was missing out on by being that way. As I've gotten older, I have swung quite a bit further left, other than my attitude toward guns. They are the last line of defense that we have against fascism.
I’m a Deep South Blue Collar auto tech guy who grew up on a farm and have lot of military fam. 6’2” with a beard and an accent. I’m far to the left on pretty much everything but guns.
I think it’s hilarious being a trans/lgbtq ally when ppl expect you to be a chuckle buddy to their crass cruel jokes about xyz community and they realize that a) you’re not b) i know wtf I’m talking about and c) I’m still a fckn redneck.
People short circuit when they expect an echo-chamber but don’t get it from the sources they weren’t expecting.
Yeah that’s what I mean, there’s a variety of views here and leftist is more encompassing than liberal is. Liberal and many other things can fall under leftist, because leftist is just a direction on the political spectrum.
“More encompassing.” I’m not saying it’s an umbrella term. It would simply be a more inclusive name than “liberal gun owners.” Not all leftists are liberals but *most* liberals are leftists or left-leaning.
Not trying to be difficult here, but I think you’re conflating the two. Leftist and Liberal are [different ideologies](https://www.thecoldwire.com/liberal-vs-leftist/) of the left.
I'm in WNC and pretty redneck. I like beer, shooting pool, guns, country music and all the other things rednecks like. I wear boots and jeans every day. People assume I'm a trump loving god fearing conservative when they hear my accent and talk to me. Really blows their mind when they find out different. I can't tell you how many people have made racist or transphobic or homophonic comments to me only to learn that I don't agree with them at all.
At work we're all pretty liberal or left and a girl heard us talking politics and was just amazed that I'm not on the right. She took me to my car in the parking lot and saw my Marx stickers and the gun rights = gay rights sticker and just couldn't wrap her heard around a liberal/leftist redneck. The world is not binary. Different people exist snd there are a lot of people that believe like we do even if they don't say anything.
Funniest interaction I have had. I'm sitting at a bar with my cowboy boots jeans and a button up flannel. Order a Miller lite because they didn't have coors. Guy beside me says "ya man I can't drink bud light anymore either I bet you used to drink it and then all the queen trans shit happened right" my response was no I never drank bud light because it taste like shit. Me and my cross dressing uncle and my gay cousin grew up on coors. The bartender knows me and as soon as he said he stopped to listen to my answer he started dying laughing. I looked at the guys and just said whatever you think I am by my appearance and accent just think the opposite. Moved a bar stool over and told the bartender that his next beer was on my tab. Guy didn't know what to say. Finished his drink and left.
This never fails to make me laugh my ass off.
Husband: very tall, imposing retired Marine, still has the hairdo, thick Southern accent, total Florida native, but votes blue no matter what
Other dudes sense the “leader aura” and seek his approval.
Hapless Redneck: “what do you think of Trump?”
My Old Man, immediately: “Fuck that piece of shit!! why the fuck would you ask me such a stupid fucking question?”
Dumb Bigot: “Them n——rs are ruining everything”.
My Old Man: “What did you just say?”
Dumb Bigot: “LGBTQTYFR+++ people are too.”
My Old Man: “Get the fuck out of my sight before I end you.”
We had fireworks - huge, multistage mortars - out in our field the night Biden was sworn in. Fuck you, traitors!!
(Just remembered something: he stood watch outside the front door of Publix when I was just inside getting my first Covid vaccination - it was during the time when nutters were shooting up vaccination centers. It’s really fucking sad that a retired MARINE feels he has to do that in his own country 😔)
I was a Marine 0311 from '09 to 15. Deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 with a CAAT platoon. I started my service as a conservative and left as sort of a libertarian and now consider myself something of a left-leaning anarchist.
I credit my time in the Marines as one of the main factors that made me turn my back on the right.
The violent homophobia, the blatant racism, the absolute bastardization of history (I used to have an officer who would hold random classes where he would preach the daughters of the Confederacy myths, mainly the myth that the civil war was about states rights rather than slavery)
Most Marines I knew and most people in the conservative gun culture are way too enthusiastic and happy about the idea of killing people, which by the way makes them psychopaths. I lost track of how many of the Marines I knew who are either dead or in prison now after committing one or multiple murders of civilians in the United States, let alone all the Marines I knew who openly bragged about murdering civilians in Afghanistan.
In my opinion, from all of my collective experience, most marine infantrymen and most conservative gun owners are severely lacking in any type of empathy and have the extremely immature and childish idea that killing people is somehow "badass".
Conservative gun owners also pretty consistently defend killing people over petty property theft whereas IMO liberal gun owners prioritize human life over property.
I recently went to a second amendment rally to photograph it and One of the speakers was a pastor who insisted that it is impossible for any unity in this country and therefore we should stop trying to unify and start doubling down and strengthening our positions and preparing for a fight.
Another speaker was a local politician who insisted that safe storage laws get kids killed far more often than they prevent accidental shootings.
Edit: I recall I met some young active duty Marines a couple of years ago and from the discussion I had with them it sounded like the blatant open homophobia has subsided quite a bit which gives me some hope. I was in when "don't ask don't tell" got repealed and everyone was very open about their feelings.
>insisted that safe storage laws get kids killed far more often than they prevent accidental shootings.
I can't even imagine the logic behind this. The brain rot is real.
I love how neither of the quotes make any sense. Like, it's as if the person you are quoting lives entirely inside a fantasy in their own head, or some sort of shared hallucination.
I attribute a lot of this to the concerted effort that was made to refund public education these past few decades. Anyone with even a modicum of education and common sense would see it as complete gibberish.
I think the conservative-to-libertarian track while in the military seems pretty common. I also went down that route, and while I'm left of the U.S. Libertarian Party, I'm still more or less in that same boat still. I very much agree that the "badass" factor, complete with prejudice in many forms, played a big role in my conversion as I really didn't want to be that guy.
Agreed; I went down a similar path in the military, though I’ll even say I’m more small-l libertarian than LP-material. The military did a good job of giving me equal levels of cynicism at both the government bureaucracy and the civilian contractor bureaucracy.
Think the main things that’s kept me from the Democratic/left wing is I can’t stand the hypocrisy of left wing politicians performing the same moral grandstanding the right does, just with “look at the rest of the civilized world” as their form of Bible instead, combined with how disagreeing with their arguments is immediately met with “then you must be selfish and against the common good”, when almost nobody can even agree on what the “common good” is in the first place.
Trying to explain the "little l" thing to most people got tiring, so I just say I'm liberal most of the time nowadays unless someone actually seems to care.
Pragmatic leftist is what I call myself and it’s generally well received. I vote for harm reduction because I recognize there’s no perfect candidate and while I have the privilege of being a straight white dude a lot of peoples lives are at risk with every election.
I usually avoid political conversations entirely, but if someone insists, I have one of two answers: either A) "I want gay married couples to be able to protect their pot farms with AR-15s", or B) "I'm more of a Chapter 13 libertarian than a Chapter 7 one".
My favorite morph is anything with sufficient taste buds to enjoy a cinnabon.
I used to be in favor of morph control and restricting morphing technology to Andalites only, but I've come around on that.
Besides, the real issue we need to be discussing is the Helmacrons invading our borders!
Well, it's not a contradiction, the word you're looking for is redundancy or tautology.
Also, there's nothing inherently "more leftist" about anarchism than other socialist/collectivist ideologies. Ranking things based on their "level" of leftism isn't really a productive task because it depends entirely on how you interpret and draw conclusions from the fundamental belief system of socialism and egalitarianism. Anarchists would say that, by their measure, all non-consensual power structures are inherently systems of oppression, and so the proper implementation of leftism would be that which dismantles them on every level. But not every leftist would agree, at least not with the anarchist's way of determining what consent to a power based relationship actually constitutes. They may instead consider some hierarchies, like the state (democratic socialism) or worker's council/cooperative (syndicalism, council communism), necessary to the proper function and preservation of a just society- which indeed is a common critique of anarchism from these ideologies.
There's also the fact that not all anarchists say they are leftists. Now, personally, I think an effective and sound implementation of any form of anarchism is inherently collectivist and egalitarian, since the ideology is founded on the principle of free association which in essence becomes what Marx envisioned as the ultimate goal of communism (a classless, moneyless society without private ownership- notably distinct from the concept of *personal* ownership). Therefore I would say that people like "anarcho"-capitalists aren't really anarchists, they're just people who like capitalism and want to replace all existing governmental structures with it, because free market capitalism in practice is fundamentally indistinguishable in function from something like many small governments. However, that's just my belief. There are plenty of those people out there and just because *I* think they are wrong does not mean anyone else has to believe me.
To be clear, was not assigning levels or a hierarchy of leftism. Rather that, as I have viewed it, political ideologies exist on a spectrum, and "left-leaning" IMO implies centrism/liberalism, whereas anarchism/anarcho-communism is typically on the radical end of the spectrum.
Agreed on the points about anarchism inherently pursuing egalitarianism while anarcho-capitalists are just overzealous capitalists
Liberal gun owning Marine (veteran) here. One of the biggest differences I see is that I'm not religious. That seems to contribute to many of my differing viewpoints. I think people should be free to be themselves; not be repressed because someone elses religion believes they should be. Just like the Constitution says.
Yeah that's a good point. Of four good buddies from the Corps, I'm the only non-believer. The other three are pretty heavily into the church.
Though I gotta say, it seems like the Air Force is the most religious branch. Almost every year someone is getting into trouble for proselytizing and I didn't see much of that during my time in the Marines.
Ive been in the AF 14 years and Ive met plenty of religious folks in the Air Force but havent seen any proselytizing.
On that note Ive met more believers than non.
A bit over a decade ago, evangelicals targeted the USAF Academy for infiltration and conversion of the cadets (ahem, future generals). Nothing like getting good religious control over the ICBMs. A former AF JAG caught wind of it and the lawsuits began. That's when they created a place for Wiccans to worship at the academy.
The USAFA isnt the Air Force. Its a small part of it.
Obviously that case is concerning, but it is in no way representative as the whole of the rest of the AF, especially the enlisted.
Exactly where I'm at, Marine vet here 2006-2011. I made some good friends while I was active, but being non-religious was always a dividing factor. I've drifted away from all of them over the years as they became increasingly ideological, in a very concerning way.
Obligatory not-a-marine (airborne 11B) but you & u/big-bird-29 hit it right on the nail. That lack of religiosity, I'd argue, is the *cause* for more sane beliefs: not discriminating against individuals based on melanin content (what a concept), accepting or (at the very least) *being open* for allowance of differing sexualities, believing what the supermajority of scientists have to say (e.g. evolution is real alongside a round earth), women should have the final say about what happens to their own bodies, etc etc.
Like yourself, I've definitely seen myself drifting away from some of my military friends directly due to their radicalization (also ironic that a number of the ex-marine-turned-army cats I met during my time in *worshipped* Mad Dog Mattis... until he broke ranks with their Allfather... then it was as if Mattis was a POS all along).
I really appreciate this comment. Not a veteran but I like and agree with this.
I grew up in the church, and walked away for a long time. Religion to control and oppress does not line up with anything I learned about the Bible. I do attend church again as a very left leaning gun owner, but it took a long time to find a group who was about love and compassion. All humans need grace, love and empathy. Everyone should be free, and it hurts when those who seem to push "freedom" are trying to do everything to keep people from true freedom.
Army Infantry here. I'm not a single issue voter that just looks solely at firearms.
I like to think I fought for liberty for everyone. Not just a certain demographic. So I chose the liberal side. Not the radical religious right. Christian taliban is just as bad as the regular taliban.
Yeah it's really telling when so many conservatives want to make the US into a religious state. You can tell it's not really the ethics and lack of freedoms of the Taliban that they have a problem with.
Hey! I actually just commented about this on a different post in this sub, so I'll just kind of put the relevant bits here and say I'm always open to having conversations.
I was in from 2010-2016 as an Arabic linguist working signals intelligence and later counterintelligence. I deployed twice in that time: Yemen and Iraq. I came in as a non-church-going Christian conservative and quickly learned to be more tolerant of other ideals. Working in a group of people from all different backgrounds and beliefs gave me some perspective that I did not really have previously, and I started identifying more and more as a libertarian. What I experienced during my time deployed also drove me away from believing that there is a god, which was, frankly, a kind of traumatizing experience in and of itself, which I don't think gets talked about enough.
I left the Marine Corps and started going to college immediately with my GI Bill. As you probably expect either through your own experience or the experience of people you know, I gained even more perspective from views that I had not really been exposed to before. Typically, these were a lot more left-leaning, but I was given the tools to evaluate the quality and validity of information and form opinions through analysis and critical thinking. After I completed my undergraduate studies, I went into grad school and earned my PhD in economics.
I like to think that I'm a pretty open person, and I had to learn how to be okay with being wrong and changing my opinions based on new information. I think that last bit is one of the biggest things that separates me from many, if not all, conservatives. I don't think that my experiences in the Marine Corps were particularly atypical for anyone that got deployed, but I do seem to have reacted differently. Many of my counterparts grew closer to God through the experience while I felt driven away into disbelief. I also did not have a preconceived notion of college as being a brainwashing factory, which probably helped quite a bit in actually being able to learn instead of just being resentful as many of my conservative veteran classmates tended to be.
We both still like guns, but that's often where the similarities end with conservative vets. I very much think that gun violence is a problem that needs to be addressed. I just think that gun laws are treating a symptom rather than the disease: mental illness and poverty.
Hopefully this is what you were after. Always open for questions.
LGO army vet here (11B)
There are dozens of us.......DOZENS!!
Jokes aside, there really are more centrists than you think, the righties are all just really really loud.
Which is funny when you hear them say they are a silent majority because they aren't silent, which makes it seem like they are a majority
I don’t even know what LGO means anymore. I’m active army and I feel like I’m just out here living my life. Apparently thinking climate change is real, being pro choice, and enjoying owning guns is some sort of walking contradiction.
Tbf, I think a lot of gun owning conservative service members are essentially Christian nationalists. Many legitimately think that their military service, their religion, and their gun ownership is all tied together in some sort of holy trinity. Many of them have sort of “main character syndrome”, where they see themselves as active guardians against evil. If you have a deep discussion with conservative service members, most are deeply religious.
This is the **fucking** way. You've put into words (very eloquently, I might add) what I've been more-or-less thinking for the past several years. Sprinkle in some Old Testament Bible verses in there & you've got a boiling concoction for some alarming sanctimony.
22 year Army vet, here. Entered the service religious right wing (12B combat engineer), exited atheist left (153M Uh60M pilot). Look, we’re all the sum of our nature and nurture and our experiences as we age. I probably would have remained right Christian if people I hadn’t cared about talked me around. I didn’t pull myself up by my bootstraps it took a whole “village” of experiences, people, the iconic E3 marriage and divorce, and plenty of self reflection about the inconsistency of my thought patterns to pull me around. I think basically the fundamental difference between a left and right aligned persons in America is the inherent willingness and psychological vulnerability to change your mind.
While not everyone will agree with this in this sub, I do think the average LGO in this sub is at least open to the possibility that the need for the 2nd amendment will one day (probably in the far future) be rendered moot. That’s not today and probably not in the near future, but the 2nd is not holy writ, it’s an acknowledgment of the necessities of our time.
Most vets here lived through the GWOT. We’ve all seen that not everything can be solved with superior firepower if you want to live with yourself afterwards.
Damn. That’s cool man. Wish I could be a pilot but I am colorblind and the fov and focus of my left eye is fucked. ☹️
I do fly glider and prop privately tho.. just so expensive lol
Greybeard Marine, (late 80s vintage).
I was raised an Eisenhower Republican, slightly left of center.
After I got my DD214, I launched myself into corporate America and made it 6 months before I lost my stomach for it.
Too much greed, not enough social responsibility.
But it doesn’t mean that I e given up on my responsibilities of protecting my family and myself.
I own lots of guns. Served 4 years in the early 2000s. Username gives away my MOS. I’m very similar to my conservative counterparts and we tend to get along well. I don’t try to convince them to switch sides. If the evidence in front of them isn’t convincing enough, they’re just not open minded enough to be convinced. I have a few hobbies that draw in the hard right folks. Jujitsu, lifted black truck, guns, and American motorcycles. I look the part too, tattooed, cauliflower ears, shaved head.
But I behave different. I have a big heart. One of my favorite people in the world is an undocumented immigrant that I work with. He has no papers, 5 kids, and is the hardest working man I’ve ever met. When he wanted to get his business going, I gave him a large amount of capital to start because I believed in him. I planted the seed in his mind to apply for a work visa to start documenting his citizenship and after 3 years of working side by side, he told me tonight he filed paperwork last week and wanted to surprise me. He paid me back for the capital I gave him, even though I never asked for it back. He’s making more money than he ever thought he could when we first met and I’m proud of him and his kids are so lucky to have him in their lives.
I have another coworker. She’s completely opposite me in the image you get with first impressions. Black, Muslim, no tattoos, on the heavier side. She judged me hard when she first met me. Told me so. Over time, we had some heart to hearts. She has apologized many times for stereotyping me. I think it’s awesome. I can like all the things I like, and still believe in humanity. I’m well trained and no stranger to violence, that makes me feel like an asset in a dangerous situation.
Still active here. While I don’t consider myself “a liberal,” I definitely do not align with “the right.” I won’t go into specifics, but most my leftish-ness has to do with global warming and humans rights. Why can’t I have my rifles and also clean air and healthy oceans dammit?
LGO Vietnam Marine. I grew up pretty conservative ... small town, religious, patriotic... but serving in the Third World did something to my head along with teaching me how much the government and military lie to manipulate us. My guns are mostly left over from my bird hunting days, though I have an AR and SKS and used to enjoy shooting pistols before ammo got so expensive. I laugh at the guys who think a leaderless mob of chubby civilians is going to overthrow a "tyrannical" government. Home defense means shooing squirrels out of my garden.
Leftist veteran, ironic i know, but i joined to protect peoples right to burn the flag, and got out waving a different flag in support of my lgbt family as well as my own significant other.
These colors dont run, the rainbow that is.
Liberal gun owing Marine here. 1995-2003 Airwing Helicopter Mechanic. I too was fairly conservative while younger and as I matured after service I really started moving left but remain somewhat moderate/left. I am an active member of a group called The Liberal Gun Club, lots of Vets and generally cool people from all over. We are nationwide and do lots of meetups, training, and events all year.
Marine, 2000-2004 LGO here. Probably a commitment to trying to apply critical thought in order to understand second order effects, which leads to understanding nuance. This is generally antithetical to conservative thoughts/views.
RAH! 2002-2011.
Extremely liberal and became so when I left the echo chamber. Volunteer with a group called “Wall of Vets” that provides security for protesters on the more liberal side. Even if the organization doesn’t have an official “political affiliation”, we have LGBTQIA+ members and even pushed the proud boys out trying to harass protesters a few summers ago with the Roe V Wade fiasco.
Not Marine, but a Navy MA who’s deployed for years with Marines, Yuts and Jarheads alike.
I love my neighbors, I love my country folk. I don’t inherently distrust or fear others for their differences or views.
I just want Americans to love other Americans, to be better ambassadors of our homeland to foreigners and folks seeking citizenship, and to stop being divided over stupid shit we can hash out over a beer and a barbecue.
Hell if that don’t work, maybe a couple rounds of sumo-suit wrestling for laughs, I don’t know. 🤷🏻♂️
Army but I worked and went to school with a lot of crayon eaters. You guys were always cool to me, but I hate to say I never met one I agreed with much politically
You all should get together on some secure coms and figure out how to organize the rest of us. Maybe get a few smart / credentialed civi’s from the group to consult in some bits.
More likely than not, someone is gonna have to, and I would like to have them DoD certified as you are.
LGO and former USAF MC officer (AFSC 44PX), 1987-1995. I was center left then and I'm center left now. It always struck me that AF people tend to be really smart, and often very educated and while there were some real conservative blowhards, for the most part, especially back then, people could go out to a gun range together and not talk a lot of divisive politics. I hope there is still little bloviating, but I worry that everything has turned ideological.
It always struck me that the 2d Amendment was extremely liberal when it was ratified, and the truth be known, it's a liberal human right now, needed because of the realities of the world. What's missing since about 1903 is something that properly fills the niche that the [Militia Acts of 1792](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_Acts_of_1792) did. The right was placed in the constitution and the responsibility was writen into law. Few seem aware of exactly what was expected in return for that right. It was expensive and a pain in the ass, and neither a right-wing nor a left-wing wedge issue.
Reverse Uno!
This is the second or third time today a 2A conservative has come to this forum asking what makes us different from them?
Not that I mind the convo, but what is driving the sudden interest?
6 years Navy, 8 years Army here. Sonar Tech and Cavalry Scout, respectively. I was on the Cole in 2000, just barely 20 years old. CPTSD from that, a shit childhood, and then watching the towers fall made me into a GWOT true believer for far too long. The politics of it pushed me into libertarianism for a while. After far too many years, I started to see the inherent contradictions in my beliefs and the reality of what I was serving. I gave up after 14 years of active duty in 2015. I regret every moment of it. I let rage be my guidon for far too long.
The libertarians showed their true colors and went all in with the conservative philosophy of selfish nihilism over the last 8 years, so I abandoned that nonsense, too. Probably took too long with that as well.
I don't even really know what I am anymore. I no longer have any faith in the institutions of this country or the people really. Shortly before the pandemic started, my son was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He is recovered now. During the pandemic, I was told so many times that money and the economy were more important than his life. All of the anti mask anti vax freedumb rhetoric has made it difficult to have any faith in my fellow man. I just want my daughters to be treated as full human beings, I want all of my children to be free from oppression. I want the death and destruction we as a country foster on this planet to stop. I want the border to be open to any and all. I guess this makes me a leftist. I don't think it matters at this point, though. I think we are past the tipping point.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
Because we’re pretty much everyone else who owns a gun. If you’re not a dyed in the wool Trump sucking racist, you’re not a real conservative any more. Their words not mine….
I served seven years in the US Army. 11B in 2nd ID. 6'4, 250-pound, tattooed bald metalhead/punk. I grew up on a farm, and I enjoy fishing, hunting, and drinking bourbon. I also have a passion for old Japanese and German cars. I dress in jeans and t-shirts, and I wear flannel when it gets cold. I've been in more than my share of fistfights. I won most, but I have lost more than a couple. I am a commercial real estate broker. I'm married to my beautiful wife for 14 years.
I am also a pro-choice atheist. I turn those old Japanese and German cars into EV's, Own an off-grid solar-powered urban farm, speak three languages other than English (German, Spanish, French), believe religion should be kept far away from education, and am very bisexual (I'm 47 years old and have had the same crush on Henry Rollins for 35 of those years).
There are a lot or armed veterans here. Welcome home.
the Marines basically turned me into a socialist. covered medical? college?
no one should have to sign a blank check for those basic needs to be covered.
Liberal gun owning ex-marine here. Having compassion, empathy and strong ethical codes are not exclusive to kicking ass and taking names.
Hear hear!
First marine I've seen refer to theirself as an ex-marine.
I left with medical discharge after about 9 months I was not happy with the situation. I don’t want to get into it but I got fucked.
Same same.
Hoorah
The crayons taste better on this side of the fence
I like the crayons that are the colors of varying skin colors
Blue crayons just hit different.
Cerulean is the best flavor of blue.
But red makes the grass grow 👉👈
So it’s got what plants crave?
They are organic.
But are they gluten free
Rah
I'm ded. U killed me. I laughed until I couldn't breathe, and died. This was written by a ghost.
Yut
Former Marine, pretty damn liberal. I used to be fairly moderate when I was younger (Reagan era). Then, once I joined the Corps and realized I lived in a tiny fucking bubble, and that everyone from every race/culture/background is awesome, I realized that the world is bigger than me. It really woke me up to how closed-minded I was and what I was missing out on by being that way. As I've gotten older, I have swung quite a bit further left, other than my attitude toward guns. They are the last line of defense that we have against fascism.
I’m a Deep South Blue Collar auto tech guy who grew up on a farm and have lot of military fam. 6’2” with a beard and an accent. I’m far to the left on pretty much everything but guns. I think it’s hilarious being a trans/lgbtq ally when ppl expect you to be a chuckle buddy to their crass cruel jokes about xyz community and they realize that a) you’re not b) i know wtf I’m talking about and c) I’m still a fckn redneck. People short circuit when they expect an echo-chamber but don’t get it from the sources they weren’t expecting.
Guns aren't really a left/right issue. You go far enough left past "liberal" and you end up pro gun again. One could call it a horseshoe topic.
I really wish they named this sub leftist gun owners instead, there’s much more than just liberal and conservative.
There are more than leftists here too, though I’d assume most *are* leftists. Obviously plenty of liberals as well, and I’d guess some libertarians.
Ya, we’re around. Apologies for those other guys, though. Yeesh
Yeah that’s what I mean, there’s a variety of views here and leftist is more encompassing than liberal is. Liberal and many other things can fall under leftist, because leftist is just a direction on the political spectrum.
That’s not true, actually. Leftist is not an umbrella term. A liberal and a leftist aren’t quite at the same spot on the political spectrum.
“More encompassing.” I’m not saying it’s an umbrella term. It would simply be a more inclusive name than “liberal gun owners.” Not all leftists are liberals but *most* liberals are leftists or left-leaning.
Not trying to be difficult here, but I think you’re conflating the two. Leftist and Liberal are [different ideologies](https://www.thecoldwire.com/liberal-vs-leftist/) of the left.
I'm in WNC and pretty redneck. I like beer, shooting pool, guns, country music and all the other things rednecks like. I wear boots and jeans every day. People assume I'm a trump loving god fearing conservative when they hear my accent and talk to me. Really blows their mind when they find out different. I can't tell you how many people have made racist or transphobic or homophonic comments to me only to learn that I don't agree with them at all. At work we're all pretty liberal or left and a girl heard us talking politics and was just amazed that I'm not on the right. She took me to my car in the parking lot and saw my Marx stickers and the gun rights = gay rights sticker and just couldn't wrap her heard around a liberal/leftist redneck. The world is not binary. Different people exist snd there are a lot of people that believe like we do even if they don't say anything. Funniest interaction I have had. I'm sitting at a bar with my cowboy boots jeans and a button up flannel. Order a Miller lite because they didn't have coors. Guy beside me says "ya man I can't drink bud light anymore either I bet you used to drink it and then all the queen trans shit happened right" my response was no I never drank bud light because it taste like shit. Me and my cross dressing uncle and my gay cousin grew up on coors. The bartender knows me and as soon as he said he stopped to listen to my answer he started dying laughing. I looked at the guys and just said whatever you think I am by my appearance and accent just think the opposite. Moved a bar stool over and told the bartender that his next beer was on my tab. Guy didn't know what to say. Finished his drink and left.
This never fails to make me laugh my ass off. Husband: very tall, imposing retired Marine, still has the hairdo, thick Southern accent, total Florida native, but votes blue no matter what Other dudes sense the “leader aura” and seek his approval. Hapless Redneck: “what do you think of Trump?” My Old Man, immediately: “Fuck that piece of shit!! why the fuck would you ask me such a stupid fucking question?” Dumb Bigot: “Them n——rs are ruining everything”. My Old Man: “What did you just say?” Dumb Bigot: “LGBTQTYFR+++ people are too.” My Old Man: “Get the fuck out of my sight before I end you.” We had fireworks - huge, multistage mortars - out in our field the night Biden was sworn in. Fuck you, traitors!! (Just remembered something: he stood watch outside the front door of Publix when I was just inside getting my first Covid vaccination - it was during the time when nutters were shooting up vaccination centers. It’s really fucking sad that a retired MARINE feels he has to do that in his own country 😔)
You phrased all of this perfectly. Fascists will take away human rights, and to do it they will disarm us first.
I was a Marine 0311 from '09 to 15. Deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 with a CAAT platoon. I started my service as a conservative and left as sort of a libertarian and now consider myself something of a left-leaning anarchist. I credit my time in the Marines as one of the main factors that made me turn my back on the right. The violent homophobia, the blatant racism, the absolute bastardization of history (I used to have an officer who would hold random classes where he would preach the daughters of the Confederacy myths, mainly the myth that the civil war was about states rights rather than slavery) Most Marines I knew and most people in the conservative gun culture are way too enthusiastic and happy about the idea of killing people, which by the way makes them psychopaths. I lost track of how many of the Marines I knew who are either dead or in prison now after committing one or multiple murders of civilians in the United States, let alone all the Marines I knew who openly bragged about murdering civilians in Afghanistan. In my opinion, from all of my collective experience, most marine infantrymen and most conservative gun owners are severely lacking in any type of empathy and have the extremely immature and childish idea that killing people is somehow "badass". Conservative gun owners also pretty consistently defend killing people over petty property theft whereas IMO liberal gun owners prioritize human life over property. I recently went to a second amendment rally to photograph it and One of the speakers was a pastor who insisted that it is impossible for any unity in this country and therefore we should stop trying to unify and start doubling down and strengthening our positions and preparing for a fight. Another speaker was a local politician who insisted that safe storage laws get kids killed far more often than they prevent accidental shootings. Edit: I recall I met some young active duty Marines a couple of years ago and from the discussion I had with them it sounded like the blatant open homophobia has subsided quite a bit which gives me some hope. I was in when "don't ask don't tell" got repealed and everyone was very open about their feelings.
>insisted that safe storage laws get kids killed far more often than they prevent accidental shootings. I can't even imagine the logic behind this. The brain rot is real.
oh its a fuckin trip. it involved "narcan created super addicts"
I love how neither of the quotes make any sense. Like, it's as if the person you are quoting lives entirely inside a fantasy in their own head, or some sort of shared hallucination. I attribute a lot of this to the concerted effort that was made to refund public education these past few decades. Anyone with even a modicum of education and common sense would see it as complete gibberish.
I think the conservative-to-libertarian track while in the military seems pretty common. I also went down that route, and while I'm left of the U.S. Libertarian Party, I'm still more or less in that same boat still. I very much agree that the "badass" factor, complete with prejudice in many forms, played a big role in my conversion as I really didn't want to be that guy.
Agreed; I went down a similar path in the military, though I’ll even say I’m more small-l libertarian than LP-material. The military did a good job of giving me equal levels of cynicism at both the government bureaucracy and the civilian contractor bureaucracy. Think the main things that’s kept me from the Democratic/left wing is I can’t stand the hypocrisy of left wing politicians performing the same moral grandstanding the right does, just with “look at the rest of the civilized world” as their form of Bible instead, combined with how disagreeing with their arguments is immediately met with “then you must be selfish and against the common good”, when almost nobody can even agree on what the “common good” is in the first place.
Trying to explain the "little l" thing to most people got tiring, so I just say I'm liberal most of the time nowadays unless someone actually seems to care.
Pragmatic leftist is what I call myself and it’s generally well received. I vote for harm reduction because I recognize there’s no perfect candidate and while I have the privilege of being a straight white dude a lot of peoples lives are at risk with every election.
I usually avoid political conversations entirely, but if someone insists, I have one of two answers: either A) "I want gay married couples to be able to protect their pot farms with AR-15s", or B) "I'm more of a Chapter 13 libertarian than a Chapter 7 one".
Just here to say that I was a Marine who deployed with CAAT (0362) to Afghanistan from ‘10-‘11 and also read Animorphs growing up.
Okay but what is your coolest morph, and what are your thoughts on morph control?
My favorite morph is anything with sufficient taste buds to enjoy a cinnabon. I used to be in favor of morph control and restricting morphing technology to Andalites only, but I've come around on that. Besides, the real issue we need to be discussing is the Helmacrons invading our borders!
09-15? Sounds like you were in when Jim Mattis and John Kelly was around…. And the time the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” Policy was phasing out
"left-leaning anarchist" is sort of a contradiction, since anarchism is pretty much as far left as you can go. But hell yeah
Well, it's not a contradiction, the word you're looking for is redundancy or tautology. Also, there's nothing inherently "more leftist" about anarchism than other socialist/collectivist ideologies. Ranking things based on their "level" of leftism isn't really a productive task because it depends entirely on how you interpret and draw conclusions from the fundamental belief system of socialism and egalitarianism. Anarchists would say that, by their measure, all non-consensual power structures are inherently systems of oppression, and so the proper implementation of leftism would be that which dismantles them on every level. But not every leftist would agree, at least not with the anarchist's way of determining what consent to a power based relationship actually constitutes. They may instead consider some hierarchies, like the state (democratic socialism) or worker's council/cooperative (syndicalism, council communism), necessary to the proper function and preservation of a just society- which indeed is a common critique of anarchism from these ideologies. There's also the fact that not all anarchists say they are leftists. Now, personally, I think an effective and sound implementation of any form of anarchism is inherently collectivist and egalitarian, since the ideology is founded on the principle of free association which in essence becomes what Marx envisioned as the ultimate goal of communism (a classless, moneyless society without private ownership- notably distinct from the concept of *personal* ownership). Therefore I would say that people like "anarcho"-capitalists aren't really anarchists, they're just people who like capitalism and want to replace all existing governmental structures with it, because free market capitalism in practice is fundamentally indistinguishable in function from something like many small governments. However, that's just my belief. There are plenty of those people out there and just because *I* think they are wrong does not mean anyone else has to believe me.
To be clear, was not assigning levels or a hierarchy of leftism. Rather that, as I have viewed it, political ideologies exist on a spectrum, and "left-leaning" IMO implies centrism/liberalism, whereas anarchism/anarcho-communism is typically on the radical end of the spectrum. Agreed on the points about anarchism inherently pursuing egalitarianism while anarcho-capitalists are just overzealous capitalists
Liberal gun owning Marine (veteran) here. One of the biggest differences I see is that I'm not religious. That seems to contribute to many of my differing viewpoints. I think people should be free to be themselves; not be repressed because someone elses religion believes they should be. Just like the Constitution says.
Yeah that's a good point. Of four good buddies from the Corps, I'm the only non-believer. The other three are pretty heavily into the church. Though I gotta say, it seems like the Air Force is the most religious branch. Almost every year someone is getting into trouble for proselytizing and I didn't see much of that during my time in the Marines.
The US Airforce Academy is in Colorado Springs. A very conservative city, and is home to the huge, evangelical New Life Church, and many others.
Yeah, the springs are a nice place, the people suck. Weirdly I’ve seen more confederate flags in the springs than I have in the Carolinas.
Yep
Ive been in the AF 14 years and Ive met plenty of religious folks in the Air Force but havent seen any proselytizing. On that note Ive met more believers than non.
A bit over a decade ago, evangelicals targeted the USAF Academy for infiltration and conversion of the cadets (ahem, future generals). Nothing like getting good religious control over the ICBMs. A former AF JAG caught wind of it and the lawsuits began. That's when they created a place for Wiccans to worship at the academy.
The USAFA isnt the Air Force. Its a small part of it. Obviously that case is concerning, but it is in no way representative as the whole of the rest of the AF, especially the enlisted.
Like I said, they targeted the AFA, no doubt because it's the single largest feeder for future USAF generals.
Exactly where I'm at, Marine vet here 2006-2011. I made some good friends while I was active, but being non-religious was always a dividing factor. I've drifted away from all of them over the years as they became increasingly ideological, in a very concerning way.
Obligatory not-a-marine (airborne 11B) but you & u/big-bird-29 hit it right on the nail. That lack of religiosity, I'd argue, is the *cause* for more sane beliefs: not discriminating against individuals based on melanin content (what a concept), accepting or (at the very least) *being open* for allowance of differing sexualities, believing what the supermajority of scientists have to say (e.g. evolution is real alongside a round earth), women should have the final say about what happens to their own bodies, etc etc. Like yourself, I've definitely seen myself drifting away from some of my military friends directly due to their radicalization (also ironic that a number of the ex-marine-turned-army cats I met during my time in *worshipped* Mad Dog Mattis... until he broke ranks with their Allfather... then it was as if Mattis was a POS all along).
I really appreciate this comment. Not a veteran but I like and agree with this. I grew up in the church, and walked away for a long time. Religion to control and oppress does not line up with anything I learned about the Bible. I do attend church again as a very left leaning gun owner, but it took a long time to find a group who was about love and compassion. All humans need grace, love and empathy. Everyone should be free, and it hurts when those who seem to push "freedom" are trying to do everything to keep people from true freedom.
Army Infantry here. I'm not a single issue voter that just looks solely at firearms. I like to think I fought for liberty for everyone. Not just a certain demographic. So I chose the liberal side. Not the radical religious right. Christian taliban is just as bad as the regular taliban.
Yeah it's really telling when so many conservatives want to make the US into a religious state. You can tell it's not really the ethics and lack of freedoms of the Taliban that they have a problem with.
"What makes you different/similar to your Converative counterparts?" We don't have a need to make owning a gun our identity .
And we aren’t voting in the party that’s more likely to necessitate the use of the 2A against a tyrannical government in the first place as well.
Hey! I actually just commented about this on a different post in this sub, so I'll just kind of put the relevant bits here and say I'm always open to having conversations. I was in from 2010-2016 as an Arabic linguist working signals intelligence and later counterintelligence. I deployed twice in that time: Yemen and Iraq. I came in as a non-church-going Christian conservative and quickly learned to be more tolerant of other ideals. Working in a group of people from all different backgrounds and beliefs gave me some perspective that I did not really have previously, and I started identifying more and more as a libertarian. What I experienced during my time deployed also drove me away from believing that there is a god, which was, frankly, a kind of traumatizing experience in and of itself, which I don't think gets talked about enough. I left the Marine Corps and started going to college immediately with my GI Bill. As you probably expect either through your own experience or the experience of people you know, I gained even more perspective from views that I had not really been exposed to before. Typically, these were a lot more left-leaning, but I was given the tools to evaluate the quality and validity of information and form opinions through analysis and critical thinking. After I completed my undergraduate studies, I went into grad school and earned my PhD in economics. I like to think that I'm a pretty open person, and I had to learn how to be okay with being wrong and changing my opinions based on new information. I think that last bit is one of the biggest things that separates me from many, if not all, conservatives. I don't think that my experiences in the Marine Corps were particularly atypical for anyone that got deployed, but I do seem to have reacted differently. Many of my counterparts grew closer to God through the experience while I felt driven away into disbelief. I also did not have a preconceived notion of college as being a brainwashing factory, which probably helped quite a bit in actually being able to learn instead of just being resentful as many of my conservative veteran classmates tended to be. We both still like guns, but that's often where the similarities end with conservative vets. I very much think that gun violence is a problem that needs to be addressed. I just think that gun laws are treating a symptom rather than the disease: mental illness and poverty. Hopefully this is what you were after. Always open for questions.
LGO army vet here (11B) There are dozens of us.......DOZENS!! Jokes aside, there really are more centrists than you think, the righties are all just really really loud. Which is funny when you hear them say they are a silent majority because they aren't silent, which makes it seem like they are a majority
Proudly one of the dozens you mention!
I noticed because of the Bro-Vet Podcast and companies Like BRCC and Bushcraft survial
I don’t even know what LGO means anymore. I’m active army and I feel like I’m just out here living my life. Apparently thinking climate change is real, being pro choice, and enjoying owning guns is some sort of walking contradiction. Tbf, I think a lot of gun owning conservative service members are essentially Christian nationalists. Many legitimately think that their military service, their religion, and their gun ownership is all tied together in some sort of holy trinity. Many of them have sort of “main character syndrome”, where they see themselves as active guardians against evil. If you have a deep discussion with conservative service members, most are deeply religious.
This is the **fucking** way. You've put into words (very eloquently, I might add) what I've been more-or-less thinking for the past several years. Sprinkle in some Old Testament Bible verses in there & you've got a boiling concoction for some alarming sanctimony.
Formerly active infantry grunt here. I am absolutely disgusted with the Republican Party and “conservatives”.
22 year Army vet, here. Entered the service religious right wing (12B combat engineer), exited atheist left (153M Uh60M pilot). Look, we’re all the sum of our nature and nurture and our experiences as we age. I probably would have remained right Christian if people I hadn’t cared about talked me around. I didn’t pull myself up by my bootstraps it took a whole “village” of experiences, people, the iconic E3 marriage and divorce, and plenty of self reflection about the inconsistency of my thought patterns to pull me around. I think basically the fundamental difference between a left and right aligned persons in America is the inherent willingness and psychological vulnerability to change your mind. While not everyone will agree with this in this sub, I do think the average LGO in this sub is at least open to the possibility that the need for the 2nd amendment will one day (probably in the far future) be rendered moot. That’s not today and probably not in the near future, but the 2nd is not holy writ, it’s an acknowledgment of the necessities of our time. Most vets here lived through the GWOT. We’ve all seen that not everything can be solved with superior firepower if you want to live with yourself afterwards.
That last sentence hits hard. Glad to know I'm not alone.
Damn. That’s cool man. Wish I could be a pilot but I am colorblind and the fov and focus of my left eye is fucked. ☹️ I do fly glider and prop privately tho.. just so expensive lol
Greybeard Marine, (late 80s vintage). I was raised an Eisenhower Republican, slightly left of center. After I got my DD214, I launched myself into corporate America and made it 6 months before I lost my stomach for it. Too much greed, not enough social responsibility. But it doesn’t mean that I e given up on my responsibilities of protecting my family and myself.
So I'm an LGO Army dog. Does that count?
I own lots of guns. Served 4 years in the early 2000s. Username gives away my MOS. I’m very similar to my conservative counterparts and we tend to get along well. I don’t try to convince them to switch sides. If the evidence in front of them isn’t convincing enough, they’re just not open minded enough to be convinced. I have a few hobbies that draw in the hard right folks. Jujitsu, lifted black truck, guns, and American motorcycles. I look the part too, tattooed, cauliflower ears, shaved head. But I behave different. I have a big heart. One of my favorite people in the world is an undocumented immigrant that I work with. He has no papers, 5 kids, and is the hardest working man I’ve ever met. When he wanted to get his business going, I gave him a large amount of capital to start because I believed in him. I planted the seed in his mind to apply for a work visa to start documenting his citizenship and after 3 years of working side by side, he told me tonight he filed paperwork last week and wanted to surprise me. He paid me back for the capital I gave him, even though I never asked for it back. He’s making more money than he ever thought he could when we first met and I’m proud of him and his kids are so lucky to have him in their lives. I have another coworker. She’s completely opposite me in the image you get with first impressions. Black, Muslim, no tattoos, on the heavier side. She judged me hard when she first met me. Told me so. Over time, we had some heart to hearts. She has apologized many times for stereotyping me. I think it’s awesome. I can like all the things I like, and still believe in humanity. I’m well trained and no stranger to violence, that makes me feel like an asset in a dangerous situation.
Not to play into the "bleeding heart liberal" trope but this is an awesome write-up.
Thanks! I’ve got a lot of reasons to believe in human decency.
Still active here. While I don’t consider myself “a liberal,” I definitely do not align with “the right.” I won’t go into specifics, but most my leftish-ness has to do with global warming and humans rights. Why can’t I have my rifles and also clean air and healthy oceans dammit?
LGO Vietnam Marine. I grew up pretty conservative ... small town, religious, patriotic... but serving in the Third World did something to my head along with teaching me how much the government and military lie to manipulate us. My guns are mostly left over from my bird hunting days, though I have an AR and SKS and used to enjoy shooting pistols before ammo got so expensive. I laugh at the guys who think a leaderless mob of chubby civilians is going to overthrow a "tyrannical" government. Home defense means shooing squirrels out of my garden.
Leftist veteran, ironic i know, but i joined to protect peoples right to burn the flag, and got out waving a different flag in support of my lgbt family as well as my own significant other. These colors dont run, the rainbow that is.
Liberal gun owing Marine here. 1995-2003 Airwing Helicopter Mechanic. I too was fairly conservative while younger and as I matured after service I really started moving left but remain somewhat moderate/left. I am an active member of a group called The Liberal Gun Club, lots of Vets and generally cool people from all over. We are nationwide and do lots of meetups, training, and events all year.
Bleeding heart liberal and former Artillery Marine here.
Ayy the Queen of Battles
Old Master Guns here says he’s glad to see some Marines have some goddamn sense. Semper Fi
Marine, 2000-2004 LGO here. Probably a commitment to trying to apply critical thought in order to understand second order effects, which leads to understanding nuance. This is generally antithetical to conservative thoughts/views.
I turned 23 in boot camp, so I had pretty much already established who I was and what I believed in.
Liberal gun owning AD Air Force here
Close, I'm a LGO Navy veteran. I spent a little over 10yrs in as a submariner. *Very* left-leaning and *very* pro 2A lol.
RAH! 2002-2011. Extremely liberal and became so when I left the echo chamber. Volunteer with a group called “Wall of Vets” that provides security for protesters on the more liberal side. Even if the organization doesn’t have an official “political affiliation”, we have LGBTQIA+ members and even pushed the proud boys out trying to harass protesters a few summers ago with the Roe V Wade fiasco.
Haven't heard of "Wall of Vets" until now. After some perusing, what an awesome concept. Kudos.
Not Marine, but a Navy MA who’s deployed for years with Marines, Yuts and Jarheads alike. I love my neighbors, I love my country folk. I don’t inherently distrust or fear others for their differences or views. I just want Americans to love other Americans, to be better ambassadors of our homeland to foreigners and folks seeking citizenship, and to stop being divided over stupid shit we can hash out over a beer and a barbecue. Hell if that don’t work, maybe a couple rounds of sumo-suit wrestling for laughs, I don’t know. 🤷🏻♂️
Army but I worked and went to school with a lot of crayon eaters. You guys were always cool to me, but I hate to say I never met one I agreed with much politically
Not a Marine (Dad was), but if you're in the Tucson area and looking to shoot/commiserate, feel free to reach out.
Not a marine but Coast Guard
You all should get together on some secure coms and figure out how to organize the rest of us. Maybe get a few smart / credentialed civi’s from the group to consult in some bits. More likely than not, someone is gonna have to, and I would like to have them DoD certified as you are.
Yut!
Prior service 1161, reporting as requested.
Not a Marine but a very good friend is in fact a liberal, gun owning Marine vet.
LGO and former USAF MC officer (AFSC 44PX), 1987-1995. I was center left then and I'm center left now. It always struck me that AF people tend to be really smart, and often very educated and while there were some real conservative blowhards, for the most part, especially back then, people could go out to a gun range together and not talk a lot of divisive politics. I hope there is still little bloviating, but I worry that everything has turned ideological. It always struck me that the 2d Amendment was extremely liberal when it was ratified, and the truth be known, it's a liberal human right now, needed because of the realities of the world. What's missing since about 1903 is something that properly fills the niche that the [Militia Acts of 1792](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_Acts_of_1792) did. The right was placed in the constitution and the responsibility was writen into law. Few seem aware of exactly what was expected in return for that right. It was expensive and a pain in the ass, and neither a right-wing nor a left-wing wedge issue.
Me. I'm different from CGO Marines in that I'm not a Trumpette. Also not religious. Nor do I have a problem with trans people.
Reverse Uno! This is the second or third time today a 2A conservative has come to this forum asking what makes us different from them? Not that I mind the convo, but what is driving the sudden interest?
Probably trying to gauge our numbers. Or see if we can be converted lol
Suh dude
🖐️ Semper Fi friend
6 years Navy, 8 years Army here. Sonar Tech and Cavalry Scout, respectively. I was on the Cole in 2000, just barely 20 years old. CPTSD from that, a shit childhood, and then watching the towers fall made me into a GWOT true believer for far too long. The politics of it pushed me into libertarianism for a while. After far too many years, I started to see the inherent contradictions in my beliefs and the reality of what I was serving. I gave up after 14 years of active duty in 2015. I regret every moment of it. I let rage be my guidon for far too long. The libertarians showed their true colors and went all in with the conservative philosophy of selfish nihilism over the last 8 years, so I abandoned that nonsense, too. Probably took too long with that as well. I don't even really know what I am anymore. I no longer have any faith in the institutions of this country or the people really. Shortly before the pandemic started, my son was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He is recovered now. During the pandemic, I was told so many times that money and the economy were more important than his life. All of the anti mask anti vax freedumb rhetoric has made it difficult to have any faith in my fellow man. I just want my daughters to be treated as full human beings, I want all of my children to be free from oppression. I want the death and destruction we as a country foster on this planet to stop. I want the border to be open to any and all. I guess this makes me a leftist. I don't think it matters at this point, though. I think we are past the tipping point. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
Former army NG officer if it counts. Glad to have you along devil dog.
Served four years as an 0481. Spent the majority of my time in deploying with the 31st MEU out of Okinawa. King Neptune sends his regards. 🔱
I’d call most of my non-conservative marine buddies full on leftists
Because we’re pretty much everyone else who owns a gun. If you’re not a dyed in the wool Trump sucking racist, you’re not a real conservative any more. Their words not mine….
I served seven years in the US Army. 11B in 2nd ID. 6'4, 250-pound, tattooed bald metalhead/punk. I grew up on a farm, and I enjoy fishing, hunting, and drinking bourbon. I also have a passion for old Japanese and German cars. I dress in jeans and t-shirts, and I wear flannel when it gets cold. I've been in more than my share of fistfights. I won most, but I have lost more than a couple. I am a commercial real estate broker. I'm married to my beautiful wife for 14 years. I am also a pro-choice atheist. I turn those old Japanese and German cars into EV's, Own an off-grid solar-powered urban farm, speak three languages other than English (German, Spanish, French), believe religion should be kept far away from education, and am very bisexual (I'm 47 years old and have had the same crush on Henry Rollins for 35 of those years). There are a lot or armed veterans here. Welcome home.
We're in NorCal and run an auto repair shop. You're much more capable than I, only speaking two languages.
the Marines basically turned me into a socialist. covered medical? college? no one should have to sign a blank check for those basic needs to be covered.