abaya

Well, this seems to be the major issue, to me. Now, I am not in the military, so I suppose by some standards, I shouldn't even be posting in response to this thread . But I do understand a bit about how the political economy of the military is not supposed to reflect aspects of class (e.g. being able to afford armor while someone else cannot, and most like that "someone else" is a minority), and how screwed up solidarity would become if class entered the picture to this extent.

The whole psychological goal upon entering the military, *as I understand it* (very little, yes), is to erase individuality and differences as much as possible and to instill a huge sense of group responsibility and "taking one for the team." This sense of brotherhood is essential for combat operations, I imagine. How can you take one for the team when you have better armor than the rest of the team, and you survive something when no one else does?

This is not even close to a parallel, but I'll say it anyway. When I was on the college varsity crew team for 4 years, our coach was a Marine (rank Major) and he ran the joint as such. You should have seen the shit hit the fan when one or two boats started buying their own uniforms that were fancier than other boats' uniforms (issued by the team, which didn't have much financial support as a whole). The whole unity of the team broke down, with people bristling and bitching behind each other's backs, until the coach resolved it by standardizing one uniform.

Now imagine if it wasn't about looking good at rowing competitions, but about actually who survived battles and who didn't? As someone with no authority to speak of on the military, I can't say much, but maybe this is what the military is trying to avoid?

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And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran