My wife and I live in a military area so it is natural that we encounter a great number of people who have benefitted from it and are living fairly good lives. My wife and I talked about this some last week when it was found out that the unbelieving husband of the JW who babysits our daughter is retired Air Force. This would explain why they are living so well. In fact, I only recently learned that he was an unbelieving husband as I took for granted that he was a witness himself. Seems like there are a lot of us unbelieving husbands to witnesses in my wife's cong which, considering the area we live in, makes sense.
This isn't to say that there aren't active witnesses who weren't also former military. My whole pet peeve with them is that they are quick to tell others not to join the military and yet they themselves aren't giving up their military benefits, especially that pension.
My wife said that she had a love / hate relationship with the military. She cannot understand why some people who come out of the military do quite well while others come out as homeless former vets. Each situation is different and I'm sure PTSD may have a lot to do with it, particularly if an individual has seen combat.
I told my wife about the time when the draft was still in place and how a lot of witnesses went to jail for refusing to serve in the military. These witnesses were offered a way out by serving in military hospitals, however they were not allowed to even serve there. Therefore these people went to prison. I asked my wife what did she think about that and why were these witnesses not allowed to serve in hospitals. Her cult mode kicked in immediately.
"There's nothing wrong with serving in hospitals, just not military hospitals. I mean, would Jesus say, 'No, I do not wish to die and give my life as a ransom but I will serve in your hospitals and heal the sick.' I'm sure Jesus would be a real hit in the hospitals."
That was basically the jist of her argument however I fired back by saying, "Perhaps Jesus wouldn't but the Watchtower did however change their stance and now allows for witnesses to serve in hospitals during times of war. Granted it is a moot point now since the draft is no longer in force and a witness today would not face that situation like a witness during the Vietnam era did."
Her response, "Not a military hospital."
My reply, "Yes, a military hospital. The Watchtower changed its stance on that. Now let me ask you something, how would you feel if you went to jail for refusing to serve in the military in any way because your religion said that you could not do so even if the government allowed you to serve in a hospital only to later find out that your religious leaders changed their position on this matter? Personally, I would feel rather slighted that my religious leaders had the gall to do such a thing. I went to jail and now have a criminal record when I could've avoided it by serving in a hospital, something that they now allow but did not allow when I was faced with that choice?"
She got real silent then and started saying is a low tone, "You've got it all figured out, don't you? You've got it all figured out."
Truth is, I am not totally cognizant of the whole stance of the Watchtower society on military involvement. I know that no active witness can volunteer for military service but what if there was a draft, what is the current light on this? Is what I said above correct?