
Ask HN: If you're funded by the military, how do you tell people? - throwaway2439
I am a graduate student funded on a DoD grant. Not weapon&#x27;s development, or anything classified, but I often find in conversation that once &quot;I work at the base&quot; comes up, I have to scramble and explain that I don&#x27;t work on anything weapons dev related. Obviously, I bear some responsibility by choosing this field, but I often get to the point where I start to feel guilty funded by uncle sam. I&#x27;m curious if anyone else in similar places ever deals with this.
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poof131
Please don’t feel guilty. Voting your conscience is fine, protesting a war is
fine, but shaming people who work for the DOD is childish. Americans are
risking their lives all over the world for our country. If you’re ashamed to
help your fellow countrymen survive, to do their jobs better, and to return
home to their families, that’s not good.

I spent over a decade in the military. I have issues with the military
industrial complex. I have issues with a lot of the leadership. But I respect
the people who need the tools you work on and wouldn’t want to see their lives
put in jeopardy. I can understand not wanting to spend your whole life in the
DOD world. If you want to focus on other things, move industries, I did, but
don’t feel ashamed while you’re in and don’t let others make you feel ashamed
either. I respect the job you’re doing. Thank you.

~~~
dpc59
They're not risking their lives for your country, they're doing it so that
american corporations can make more profit.

I highly recommend you read "war is a racket" written by General Smedley
Butlers.

I also want to point out that I don't blame anyone who's working for the US
military, unless they're like Dick Cheney or something, I understand that
people need to make a living, and that a lot might even buy into the big ol'
patriotic lie.

~~~
poof131
I’ve read War is a Racket. It’s a great piece and raises issues we all should
think about. I also read A Bright Shining Lie, About Face, The Best and The
Brightest and other books critical of the military [1, 2, 3]. Like I said in
my previous comment, I have many issues with the military, but I’m also
concerned when the elite of society no longer feel the need to serve, that
makes me think of the Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire [4]. War sucks, but
we all need to play our part, either in support or protest, but just
pretending like it doesn’t exists and going about our day is the worst of both
worlds.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bright_Shining_Lie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bright_Shining_Lie)
[2] [https://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Odyssey-American-
Warrior/d...](https://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Odyssey-American-
Warrior/dp/0671695347) [3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_and_the_Brightest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_and_the_Brightest)
[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire)

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paulcole
>I bear some responsibility by choosing this field

You bear 100% of the responsibility for accepting a DoD grant. You can't
absolve yourself of some nebulous amount of responsibility because of who's
writing the check.

~~~
kohanz
I don't think that's entirely fair. Graduate students are hardly in a position
to refuse a funding source. That's up to the primary investigator and even
those only have the luxury if they are able to secure other sources of
funding. Unless you're saying you would quit your graduate studies or start
over and find another supervisor after your lab becomes DoD funded.

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mattbgates
You know, I'd rather that tax payer dollars go towards something good when it
comes to research, rather than wasted on whatever else the government decides
to waste it on. And while I don't know all the specifics of where the American
tax payer dollars are going, I'm pretty sure they aren't always going to where
they are needed or provide the value of what is supposed. Don't feel too
guilty. You are probably given funding which amounts to less than 1% of all
the funding available. I would hope you are contributing towards something
that is for the betterment of humanity as a whole.

You know... we're all waiting patiently for that Star Trek future that
awaits... oh and some semblance of world peace, that too ;)

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wayn3
if you dont want to say that you work for the military, just say what youre
working on.

Instead of "I'm working on stealth technology for unmanned carpet bombers" say
"I work on next gen nanomaterials that can bend a broad range of wavelengths
around objects - to make them invisible - like the invisibility cloak in harry
potter".

Whatever. Frame your reality the way you want it to appear. You're not
testifying before a court. Leave the things you dont want to say out.

Just make it sound exciting. Amuse yourself. Don't be apologetic.

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seesomesense
If you are not ashamed of your DoD connection, why do you feel obliged to
state that you are not involved in weapon's development ?

If you are ashamed of your DoD connection, what have you done about getting
alternate funding ?

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digikata
Don't feel guilty, the US underfunds basic research as is, if you happen to
capture some funding through the DoD route, all it means is that some of the
vast DoD funding had a better chance to affect the general good on a practical
basis.

On the other hand, the topic you're researching may have an ethical component
in terms of its impact in the world. But identification and evaluation of that
is completely independent of your funding source. You could be funded
completely privately and still need to examine ethics issues.

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tedmiston
I wouldn't feel this way. I previously worked for the DoD (AFRL) doing
research. Since everything is funded by grants, I personally never experienced
people making the leap from being funded by the DoD to doing weapons
development. There are tons of defense contractors out there and many make
pretty benign stuff like inventory management software.

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eip
People are probably skeptical that the Department of Death would fund anything
they don't intend to weaponize.

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godelski
"I'm a DoD contractor"

As for feeling guilty, why? Are they doing bad things with your work?

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frankhn
I don't have any such experience. Nearly every nation has a military force,
what's the big deal?

