A couple people had expressed interest in this topic, and I have a bit of extra time for a couple days, so here goes:
Bona fides: I am a former infantry NCO and sniper, hunter, competitive shooter, reloader, hobby gunsmith, sometimes firearms trainer and currently work in a gun shop, mostly on the paperwork/compliance side. Back in the day, was a qualified expert with every standard small arm in the US inventory circa 2003 (M2, 4, 9, 16, 19, 249, 240B, 21, 24, 82 etc.), and today hang around the 75th percentile of USPSA classifications. I've shot Cap-and-Ball, Trap and Sporting Clays badly; Bullseye and PRS somewhat better and IDPA/USPSA/UML/Two-gun with some local success. Been active in the 2A community since the mid-90s, got my first instructor cert in high school, and have held a CPL for almost twenty years now.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in every aspect of firearms, there's huge areas that escape my knowledge base, but if you've got questions I'll do my best to answer.
Technical questions
Gun control proposals for feasibility
Industry
Training
Wacky opinions
General geekery
Some competition links (not my own) just for the interested.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U5IhsWamaLY&t=173
https://youtube.com/watch?v=93nEEINflXE
https://youtube.com/watch?v=utcky0zq10E
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Notes -
Infantry work is very much a young man's game, and in most of the military you'll be out of the field long before thirty. A twenty-eight year old infantryman is probably the platoon sergeant, in charge of thirty to fifty guys, and rarely in harm's way. Officers are out of the field within two or three years of going active. There's plenty of room for people to have families, but it's a really bad idea for lower enlisted in their first couple enlistments. It's practically a comedy when you start offering poor, stupid kids triple pay if they can knock up some hambeast. My first team leader was on his third marriage, with four kids and I had to buy him beer because he wasn't twenty-one yet.
This. My family is a long series of soldiers, but few of us were married or had kids while we were active. One of my brothers was married while he was in, but he was an officer and it was still a close thing. My other brother and I didn't marry for over a decade after we got out.
As to whether all this is workable in the long run, I suspect not. People get paid in power, money or status. The military has the guns. If you won't pay them in money or status, they'll just take it in power and we'll be back to the days of the military crowning leaders.
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