I just quote them without thinking? If you think I said the Oath of Enlistment without thinking about it, you are (edit) Of course I know what it means. That particular section is talking about the constitution. I swore to defend the set of values represented in that document. From anyone who threatens it, or my country. I swore to uphold it in my own life, when I said the words “true faith, and allegiance to the same”. I swore to obey the commands I am given, should they be lawful.
I gave it lots of thought. I wasn’t 18 when I enlisted, and it wasn’t my first job. It wasn’t my first time out of the country, and it wasn’t the “default” thing to do in my family.
Just because someone decides to join the military, of any country, does not automagically make them an asshole. I am, but I was before I joined up. To say that most of them, who may or may not be aware of the horrible error of the policies of their respective government, are not worthy of a little respect above, say, a gas station clerk, is ignorance. Those soldiers have volunteered to be the first ones shot at, should someone decide to fuck your country up. Since I AM, in fact, an American soldier, I know, from history, if nothing else, that I am just as likely to get somewhere to die for YOUR ass as for my own country. Probably more so, since the idiots in my administration seem to enjoy "interventions ".
But like I said before, I just do it, I don’t make the big decisions.
Thanks for the clarification about 'ems. I didn’t know that.
So it seems to me that you fight whoever you’re told to fight - which is right, of course, because the US military is civilian controlled, so clearly it’s not your job to decide who you should fight.
But I remain unconvinced that this approach (“I’ll kill whoever they tell me to kill, without giving the matter any thought”) is ultimately one that we should admire.
You won’t ever be called on to do that, though. Or at least, the chances seem pretty remote. It’s much more likely you’ll be called on to further the political and foreign policy goals of whatever administration happens to be in charge.
And I know that doesn’t sound so impressive, but it is the most likely outcome of anyone’s military service.
Soldiers (military in general). We respect them because, well, they take the fall for our irrational actions. If we didn’t have a bunch of guys who were prepared to say “Invade Iraq? For no good reason? You got it, Sir!” then the policies of that government couldn’t possibly have been implemented. It takes a lot of effort to create such an organisation, to have this group of people who will risk their own lives simply because they’re told to.
And they do it for us, really, they do. We elect the clowns who send them off on pointless missions, we’re responsible for the fact that they die for no good reason. What else can we do but respect them? We respect them in every way we can. Well, except for not sending them off to do this stuff in the first place but come on, we are Serious people.
Police. Well, we respect them because they keep us safe at some risk to themselves. And because we granted their power: they’re civilians, and we’d hate to think that we’d granted power to a bunch of egomaniacs and power-trippers. So we ignore their egregious mistakes because, well, surely we, clever as we are, would never give power to such crazy people. It must be us that are wrong.
Firefighters. Well, they save people from burning buildings and stuff. Hard to think of a downside here.
Pretty good view. That’s about the way I look at it. I only do what I’m asked to. If someone asks me to do something, and then wants to shit on me for doing it, well, that’s just rude.
Essentially the attitude of Yodoc and his ilk is just a fetishism of the military; it’s a form of machismo by proxy justified by rationalising people who do a job for pay as steely-eyed lantern-jawed defenders of right.
It is the point. It’s the most important point of all. Anyone fighting in a war that they don’t actually believe in is a prostitute.
You claim to have been in the Iraq war. If you want respect, then explain why the war is justified.
Actually, I don’t even believe your claims. You have the vocabulary and posting style of a 13 year old. I think that you aren’t really a soldier at all, but you want to be one when you grow up.
Oh, come on. I don’t care if you respect me or think I am a prostitute. I really don’t care about your opinion at all, but even you are better than stooping to this level. I know you have one act, and this ain’t it.
Well, sure. But unlike some of your colleagues in the past, you had a choice. You could have chosen not to join the military, unlike, say, many Vietnam vets.
So to a large extent, you are responsible for your own actions. It’s been obvious for decades now that the US military does not do much to protect the US itself - at least not in the sense most people would understand the term. Anyone who signs up should know this.
Now we have to venerate you because you willingly did the stupid crap we asked you to do? I don’t buy this. We are free agents and could have decided not to ask you to do it. You are a free agent and could have chosen not to sign up.
So no, I don’t blame you for doing the job you signed up for - it’s what we all do. But I do think other professions deserve more respect.
