"So, What Do You Do for Fun?"

She asks it casually, mid-sip. And you feel the floor open up, because the honest answer is work, gym, and a couple shows you're half-watching.

Women rarely say this out loud, but a man with a life is attractive before he says a word. The guy who spent Saturday deep-sea fishing and came back with photos and a story — he walks in already interesting.

The "22 Rules" pushed me to build a life worth talking about. Turns out the fastest way to be interesting to women is to be interested in your own life first.

Read more...

The Draft

zekko

Master Don Juan
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
16,788
Reaction score
10,012
I was watching a PBS program on the draft (Selective Service). Most posters here are probably too young to remember the US having the draft. Nixon ended the draft in early 1973, when I was still 12 years old. Anyway, there was a question asked: "Is it worth fighting a war if the people themselves are not willing to sacrifice for it (be drafted)?".

This got me thinking about males, females, and military service. As it currently stands, women in the US are banned from seeing combat, although they can be in the military. As such, if the draft is ever brought back, it is doubtful that women would be included, and even if they were they are not likely to see combat.

I would write this off as simply being gender differences, but feminists always push for equality. If a young man can be pressed into military service and sent off to be killed or have his limbs blown off, simply on the basis of his gender, where is his compensation for this? To come back to a country where he is told he has to step aside to make room for more women to take his job so the employment picture can be more equal?

Mind you, I am not advocating women in combat, or even in the military, for that matter. But if the sexes are supposed to be truly equal, where is the justice here? What does the guy get for his trouble?
 

"The Coffee Shop Girl You Never Spoke To"

You've replayed it a hundred times. She stood three feet away, scrolling her phone. You had an opening. You composed the perfect line — after she was gone.

For all you know, she's married now. To some guy who said something. Anything.

Openers are cheap. Almost any sentence works when it's delivered within three seconds. The expensive part is the standing there, drafting and deleting, while the window quietly closes.

The "22 Rules" stripped out my hesitation. What to open with, how to keep it alive, and the one habit that costs guys more women than anything else: waiting for perfect.

Read more...

Bible_Belt

Master Don Juan
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
17,577
Reaction score
6,360
Age
50
Location
midwestern cow field 40
There are so few jobs left for young people that it is actually difficult to get into the military. It took my cousin almost six months. He's a healthy 22 y/o with no criminal record, and he wanted to be an infantry grunt, which is the easiest job to get. He just arrived in Afghanistan last week.
 

zekko

Master Don Juan
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
16,788
Reaction score
10,012
There are so few jobs left for young people that it is actually difficult to get into the military.
That just reinforces the idea that it is the poor people of the nation who are sent off to war. There are certainly advantages to the volunteer military, and disadvantages as well. But I was thinking more about the gender differences.

Since the US is so adamant about knocking down all gender roles and differences, in a case like this where only a male might be forced to die or be maimed for his government, what does he get for his trouble?
 
B

BlueAlpha1

Guest
Every man could suddenly claim transgender-ism or come to Canada under the guise of gender persecution.
I'm no war hawk, I'm an non-interventionist for chrissake. I take the Rand Paul approach to foreign policy, but I'm voting for Trump because I fear the day a President similar to Justin Trudeau or Angela Merkel comes to America. Obama was Diet-SJW and Hillary is 50% Less Sugar-SJW. Bernie was cutting it pretty close to those two. Disregarding policy entirely Trump is what the west needs just by virtue of style in how different he is from all of these cowardly leftists from hell.

I don't want women in the draft. We should encourage them to stay home and return to their feminine instincts, not give them the final insane push they want towards total genderlessness. Plus they'd be less effective on the battlefield.
 

"I just moved here from Florida."

That sentence contains at least five follow-up questions she WANTS you to ask. Where in Florida? What brought you here? How long have you been in the area? What do you miss? How does it compare to here?

She handed them to you on a silver platter. And you said, "Oh cool. I come here every week. I love this band. Ummm... pretty crowded tonight."

She smiled politely. Nodded. And never texted you back.

I was that guy for years. Talking too much. Listening too little. Panicking about my next sentence while she was literally feeding me the answers.

Then I found 22 rules that fixed the whole thing. Rule number one: shut up and listen. She'll tell you exactly what to say.

Read more...

Bible_Belt

Master Don Juan
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
17,577
Reaction score
6,360
Age
50
Location
midwestern cow field 40
Women aren't allowed in "Combat Arms" jobs like infantry and armor. But they are allowed in Combat Support jobs. Jessica Lynch was a truck driver: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lynch

She lived through being captured, but could have easily died. The modern war we are fighting does not have an enemy who plays by any of the rules of warfare. Women in combat support roles still risk their lives, too.

There are a lot of non-citizens in the Army, recent immigrants to the US. Many of them barely speak English. Active duty military personnel get their citizenship fast-tracked. The US military benefits a lot from immigration.
 

Dust 2 Dust

Master Don Juan
Joined
Dec 25, 2002
Messages
2,163
Reaction score
680
Location
Florida
Drafting women is a stupid idea from a strategic standpoint. Young fertile women need to be pregnant and at home to maintain a sustainable birthrate during a time of war.
 
Top