Morlock wrote:Maybe in the US since WWII. The US is not the entire world.
No, you are probably right. The US is the only country where the military ruins your life as a rule. Maybe you should have a chat with some Russian veterans from Afghanistan. Or just about any military in Africa. Any one of the grunts in Thailand.
And people wouldn't be killed if the military isn't doing it's job?
Sure they are, but probably fewer. Why add to the bodycount? If military types played their wargames on the moon or in Arizona and just killing other military, then it would be fine by me - their choice. Unfortunately they keep placing their warzones in ordinary people's back yards.
I don't understand your point....yes, that is the widely accepted definition of "defending". Do you see anything wrong with that?
Seen any western armies defending something lately? Forward positions on foreign soil excluded, of course.
Yes, I can, but as I would be in the minority opinion, I'll refrain from doing so, so as not to divert attention from the matter at hand.
This has to be the strangest response I've seen in a while. You mean to say that the non-stupid mission is generally viewed as stupid by most people with the exception of you and a few others?
As I said, the military's function is not for these missions, but for the day-to-day business of keeping a nation safe. I worked in the air-force, in a F-16 squadron, first as a technician, than in a more executive position, in both positions my job was to take care of the planes. Aside from the importance of the job, the amount of responsibility and trust that is put in you something no one at the age of 18 is going to find anywhere else. At 19, I was arguing with generals and telling them what's what. You can't get that any where else. And, aside from that, you will find freindships in the army you won't find anywhere else. I met my girlfriend in the army. Many of my best friends are from the army. My unit was like on big, 150-man family. It's a life-altering experience that focused me and gave me skills I couldn't find anywhere else.
You find very good friends, an education apart from anything else and get to yell at authority in most prisons as well. I would still dissuade anyone from becoming a criminal. Learning how to service the tools of war is not a self-serving purpose, it is simply preparation - taking good care of a nuclear warhead is preparation for genocide, nothing else. I guess it is too emotionally taxing to consider the fact that the thing you are fixing is built to kill other people, so it's easier to just see it as a job.
In short, I'm just saying......you had to have gone thru it to be able to impart what the military experince is like, since, according to your attitude above, you've got the wrong idea.
Home at the base is one thing, war something completely different.
Still, you are missing the point. I am not arguing against the good friends, the education, the telling off generals, etc. That's all fine. It is still for the purpose of murdering other human beings. Fixing and fueling up an F-16 is simply aiding and abetting.
And, true, I did not go through combat in the army (even though I've been in my share of shooting and bombmings), and cannot tell you what it's like encountering an enemy in combat, but, the military experience is certainly not a one-faceted experience. I spoke with my best firends in combat units all the time, and the feeling are very much the same.
Your friends must either have better morale than their colleagues or not be part of the US invasion of Iraq, because last I heard, most of the servicemen want to go home. Iraq is boring, deadly boring and sometimes just deadly.
