How many atheists in foxholes do we have here?

[triadboy]

Navy Boomer Submariner - Radioman onboard USS Lewis And Clark (SSBN644 Blue, 1975-79)
Air Force ICBM Launch Officer - 740th Strategic Missile Squadron (Minot, ND, 1985-89)
5th Bomb Wing Training Officer - B-52/KC-135 EWO Training Officer (Minot ND, 1990-94)

Notice I hit all three legs of the nuclear triad? I'm Triadboy. Atheistboy didn't have the right ring.


(Only guy in history to do that)

 

[Orphia Nay]

Ex-Navy here. My dogtags said NORELPREF.

6 years RAN. The only time I went digging was to the bottom of my macca's tin.

Ex RN, Not been in a leteral Foxhole but I have been secured in a ships compartment while the Argentinian Airforce tried to drop bombs on us so I suppose that's a steel foxhole

The only "foxhole" I've ever been in is one of my own construction during basic training....
No enemy were involved.
I have been a police officer for 40 years, and have been involved in a number of scrapes that were pretty hairy. I never found time to call upon the sky-daddy; I was too busy handling the situation.
Which brings up a thought about the origins of this saying.
Seems to me I recall that this originated around WWI, where troops on the front lines would endure seemingly endless artillery barrages while "dug in".
Imagine hours of shelling, day after day after day, with the knowledge that the next shell might take you out.
Under such constant stress, men broke. The term "shell shock" came into use about that time. It's hardly surprising that someone who might have been a convinced atheist would hunker down and start praying for deliverance under such incomprehensible stress.
Strictly an emotional response.

22 years Australian Regular Army and 5 years as a full-time Reserve.

I managed an associate diploma in aerospace maintenance techniques between hole digging assignments.

Twenty years USN. Never saw god out there in the ****, never needed him.

Navy Boomer Submariner - Radioman onboard USS Lewis And Clark (SSBN644 Blue, 1975-79)
Air Force ICBM Launch Officer - 740th Strategic Missile Squadron (Minot, ND, 1985-89)
5th Bomb Wing Training Officer - B-52/KC-135 EWO Training Officer (Minot ND, 1990-94)

Notice I hit all three legs of the nuclear triad? I'm Triadboy. Atheistboy didn't have the right ring.


(Only guy in history to do that)

My sincere respect and thanks for your service, all of you.

In addition to what Bikewer and others are saying... the proponents of the myth claim that people will pray to a god when in fear of their life...

Not only do they ignore the clear evidence that that's not true for everyone, it is in no way evidence for a god's existence.

Furthermore, for those that do pray, it's proof that it is a human instinct to seek help in times of trouble. How underwhelming.

 

[Slimething]

Doesn't really count because I've not been in the military but I really, really thought I was dying once (sudden blurred vision on a Friday afternoon and didn't see the doctor until Wednesday). I started making arragnements for property transfer to my family, no thought of conversion or returning to any faith. So, please add an 0.05, or whatever, to the atheist side.

 

[arthwollipot]

Not me, but my father was - RAAF and an atheist.

If we're considering parental units, my father was a career officer in the Australian Army Signals Corps. Straight into RMC Duntroon out of high school, retired a Lieutenant Colonel after some thirty years' service. Not an out atheist, but I have my suspicions...

 

[sloinker]

I wasn't an atheist during my 4 years in the USCG but I have become one over the 27 years since I got out. No foxholes in the coast guard but I was plenty scared on some of our rescue missions in high seas on a small boat.

 

[JoeMorgue]

14 years USN. Sea deployments in support of operations Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Allied Force. Humanitarian aid missions in Haiti (Earthquake), Turkey (Earthquake) and New Orleans (Hurricane.) Going "Boots on ground" to Afghanistan soon.

Had my dog tags remade so they say "Atheist" instead of "NORELPREF."

 

[Akhenaten]

14 years USN. Sea deployments in support of operations Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Allied Force. Humanitarian aid missions in Haiti (Earthquake), Turkey (Earthquake) and New Orleans (Hurricane.) Going "Boots on ground" to Afghanistan soon.

Had my dog tags remade so they say "Atheist" instead of "NORELPREF."

They wouldn't let us do that and the best I ever managed on a set of tags was "None". The explanation was that you had to have something on there so they'd know which mob to bury you with and I got sent to the naughty corner once for innocently asking if the blokes with nothing weren't allowed to get buried.

RSM's have no sense of humour at all, it seems.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

If we're considering parental units, my father was a career officer in the Australian Army Signals Corps. Straight into RMC Duntroon out of high school, retired a Lieutenant Colonel after some thirty years' service. Not an out atheist, but I have my suspicions...

Reminds me somewhat of my dad. He made it into the Home Guard* (if Hitler's Panzas attack, poke them with these pointed sticks) but kept his full time job as an aircraft engineer. He never ever discussed religion, but in one of his last rational conversations with me, noted that he was "not going anywhere."

As for me -- I've only had military status as civilian and never been in a foxhole but, based on actual experience, I can almost guarantee my last words will be "OH ****".

========
* Home_Guard_(United_Kingdom)^WP

 

[Dragonrock]

14 years USN. Sea deployments in support of operations Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Allied Force. Humanitarian aid missions in Haiti (Earthquake), Turkey (Earthquake) and New Orleans (Hurricane.) Going "Boots on ground" to Afghanistan soon.

Had my dog tags remade so they say "Atheist" instead of "NORELPREF."

You couldn't do that when I was in. When I was in Korea we had a guy get a set with "Jedi Master" on them. The sergeant major was inspecting the first floor, the guy lived on the third floor. The platoon sergeant told him that he better run and get a set with something sensible on them before the sergeant major got there. He ran off and made it back in time with a set with "something sensible" on them which he presented to the platoon sergeant. The only reason he didn't lose a stripe was that he had another set made that had "NORELPREF" on them.

 

[BStrong]

Yes, but agnostic.

I did admit in the other foxhole thread to having prayed "to whom it may concern" in the case of friends and family currently deployed.

 

[tkmikkelsen]

I served with the Danish army in ex-Yugoslavia, during the time when the Croats and the Serbs where fighting each other. Our camp end up in the cross fire and got bombed. That day I lost 3 good friends all below 25 years old. My thought when I saw them dead was that if anyone says something like they are resting with God now, then I am going to put a bullet in their head.
Trust me war is the best way to prove that there is no benevolent god. It is absolute hell and you are a different person afterwards. Some people crack and go completely off the deep end and I can understand why. Others come out of it with healthy respect for life and as a more humane person.
To this day I don't think it is fun to go to a shooting range and fire guns, because I have seen first hand what guns can do. They are not for fun purposes.
I would not wish my worst enemy to ever go to war.

 

[LarianLeQuella]

There are no atheists in foxholes because they aren't dumb enough to get pinned down like that?

And I never went into a foxhole becuase I did all my combat over 20,000 feet (retired USAF pilot). I had atheist on my tags. My wife is convinced I was passed over for LtCol because of my lack of belief, but without any evidence to support that, I just shrug my shoulders and move on. Besides, getting paid to fly airplanes was such a scam!

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

You couldn't do that when I was in. When I was in Korea we had a guy get a set with "Jedi Master" on them. The sergeant major was inspecting the first floor, the guy lived on the third floor. The platoon sergeant told him that he better run and get a set with something sensible on them before the sergeant major got there. He ran off and made it back in time with a set with "something sensible" on them which he presented to the platoon sergeant. The only reason he didn't lose a stripe was that he had another set made that had "NORELPREF" on them.

Inspection includes checking dog tags to make sure everyone has the right religion? Count me out.

 

[iknownothing]

Not me, but my husband is an atheist and was in the Marines for 4 years.

That was in the late 80s, so no fighting or anything. But, he also had a serious health scare a few years ago, and spent close to 2 weeks in neuro/ICU. An evangelical friend of his kept visiting and witnessing to him, and really wanted it to be the thing that would bring him to Jesus. No luck there.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Navy Boomer Submariner - Radioman onboard USS Lewis And Clark (SSBN644 Blue, 1975-79)
Air Force ICBM Launch Officer - 740th Strategic Missile Squadron (Minot, ND, 1985-89)
5th Bomb Wing Training Officer - B-52/KC-135 EWO Training Officer (Minot ND, 1990-94)

Notice I hit all three legs of the nuclear triad? I'm Triadboy. Atheistboy didn't have the right ring.


(Only guy in history to do that)

We carried 'Special Weapons' (nuclear depth bombs) on a couple of the ships I served on. They wouldn't let us dock in Australia once because we couldn't confirm or deny theat we had nuclear warheads aboard.

 

[TraneWreck]

I have had the fortune to never find myself in a foxhole and hope that I never do (thank you to those who willingly take my place), but my Granddad spent more time in such places than he wished.

He missed D-Day because of a stomach virus, which is why he lived, he was headed to Omaha Beach, but was given the task of identifying remains after. He fought through Normandy, into Europe. He won Belgium's highest military award, but refused to talk about it. He died without ever explaining the circumstances. Everyone in his unit (not sure if that's the correct designation) died in the Battle of the Bulge except for him.

He entered the war a believer, left an atheist. Not wanting to follow the same path, I preemptively adopted atheism.

 

[Akhenaten]

We carried 'Special Weapons' (nuclear depth bombs) on a couple of the ships I served on. They wouldn't let us dock in Australia once because we couldn't confirm or deny theat we had nuclear warheads aboard.

Sometimes our fishing laws seem a bit protectionist, I must admit.

 

[arthwollipot]

I did actually work out the loophole in the law that allowed US ships to dock here a couple of years back, but I've forgotten what it was.

 

[Ausmerican]

My grandfather was an atheist on the Kokoda Track. He said he started the Track agnostic but when you see enough of your friends die badly in front of you you get to be pretty sure that there is no benevolent deity looking out for people. Either that, he said, or god was Japanese.

 

[383LQ4SS]

6 years in the Marines on CH-46E helicopter crew chief. No combat time....but many many many close calls...more than I care to think about on-board that damn contraption. Last 4 years of my service I made them make me a dog tag that said atheist. I still have them. Most tags say "no religious preference". That wasnt good enough for me because it seemed like a non answer.

My Sgt Major in Hawaii... his name was actually Sgt Maj K. E. Marine...questioned me about the dog tag. He said I should change it and gave me a few reasons why. I wasnt really listening and mostly ignored him. I dont think he actually cared...but thinking back I am pretty sure he thought others might.