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Ask HN: If you're funded by the military, how do you tell people?

5 points by throwaway2439 ↗ HN
I am a graduate student funded on a DoD grant. Not weapon's development, or anything classified, but I often find in conversation that once "I work at the base" comes up, I have to scramble and explain that I don'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'm curious if anyone else in similar places ever deals with this.

15 comments

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[dead] weeblywoo
Easy.

You: "I work for the US government."

If anyone wants to probe deeper, you can tell them you work for the DoD. There's no shame in weapons development, either.

Liberals trying to impose their own feelings of inadequacy/incompetence are the real shameful ones.

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 ;)

eip
People are probably skeptical that the Department of Death would fund anything they don't intend to weaponize.
godelski
"I'm a DoD contractor"

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

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

taway_1212
America's military is really a tool for foreign policy. Granted, as with everything in America, the policy is partially set with corporations in mind - but without it, America would have no way to compete for influence over the world, and the second/third-rate countries would be overtaken by China, Russia etc. My guess is that it would not end well for USA.
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 [2] https://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Odyssey-American-Warrior/d... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_and_the_Brightest [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and...

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 ?

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.

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.
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.