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Originally Posted by Slims
The Military is an honorable career, whether or not our politicians use us in the best way possible.
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It's honorable regardless of what you're ordered to do? It's honorable to do something you know isn't protecting the Constitution or the US because it's an order?
It's great people want to risk their lives for something important, something they believe in, but why put your fingers in your ears and close your eyes when the order comes down and it has nothing to do with honor or duty?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slims
Iraq may not have been in our best interest, but Saddam committed several acts of war against us...
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It's 2009. This line doesn't even work on devoted Bush supporters anymore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slims
The only people I have had to shoot at were shooting at my friends
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I'm sure they were using the same or similar justification for trying to kill you. So where did you killing all of those people get us? And where did them killing our soldiers get them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slims
Also the idea that we went to war in Iraq to secure oil is absurd...Sadam was selling it to us at rock bottom prices,
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Heh. In September of 2000, Saddam Hussein was no longer going to accept dollars for Iraqi oil; he was switching to euros. Give
this a read.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slims
Now we have to purchase oil at higher prices and are pumping money into that country...how is that 'hoarding?' It seems to me like we might actually be trying to do good in the middle east.
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Yeah, the decisions were made by complete idiots who were given charge of the US military.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slims
I know plenty of soldiers who have been to combat, killed and experienced loss. Of the dozens I know personally, only one is showing (or has expressed) any signs of PTSD or emotional problems. It is tiresome hearing how poorly the military prepares it's soldiers from people who have never joined and who have no first hand knowledge.
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So we're talking about 1 out of every 8 soldiers or so, right? Because
after deployment, approximately 12.5% had PTSD, a rate greater than that found among these soldiers before deployment.
Look, I can appreciate wanting to join the military. Bagezio2 has made up his mind, and I'd really like for him to do well. All I'm saying is that it's not all flying cool planes and killing evil-doers. Being in the military means a lot of ethical gray areas and serious philosophical questions which often necessitate oversimplification for the purpose of survival. The most common reason I hear for soldiers doing what they do isn't about honor or duty or even oil, it's about his or her fellow soldiers. You yourself even made reference to this with the "The only people I have had to shoot at were shooting at my friends". You had to oversimplify. And I don't blame you. I'm not built for war and I'd probably have folded under those circumstances. Or I'd be dishonorably discharged for insubordination before even being deployed. War is supposed to be incredibly difficult and most wars are at best morally gray. People thinking about joining up need to hear that.