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Something like 92 percent of Americans have a positive view of the armed forces, yet it's OK to hate the government, the police, doctors, lawyers, even though we need them just as much as we need soldiers.
I realize some people in the military commit acts of heroism and we need a military (albeit not nearly as large and expensive as the one we have now) but why is it that having a negative opinion of the institution is considered blasphemy nowadays?
Before Desert Storm in 1990, there wasn't this same universal adoration for the armed forces. The respect people have for the armed forces goes beyond a healthy appreciation for people doing a vital job and borders on worship. People get a fuzzy feeling and are irrationally reverent of anyone in a uniform. Even liberals and peaceniks stop short of criticizing the wars and the armed forces themselves, even if they are against the purpose of the war, they will still support the war because of their adoration for the soldiers.
My opinion of the military is not as negative as it used to be, as I realize they do serve a purpose. But it's weird how there's no debate that they are a force for good. We don't hold them to the same scrutiny we hold other equally important professions that have power of life and death.
Do people secretly hunger for military rule? Considering people trust the military way more than the government and police, I wouldn't be surprised if many people would embrace martial law. Is the cultural atmosphere in America during the past quarter century more militaristic than it used to be?
The problem is that military is used as s political tool by conservatives
"Sending troops to fight in the Middle East" is considered patriotic
"Asking for soldiers to come back home" is considered "hating the troops"
The other thing to keep in mind is that soldiers have one job = to follow ordered from their superior
It has to do with brainwashing at an early stage when kids go into the educational industrial complex. People think soldiers are heroes because they follow orders and they think they are protecting their country.
Really, soldiers are not protecting ones country but are protecting the will of the politicians and will of the majority of the people over the will of the minority.
The logic of following orders is pushing someone off a bridge because someone tells you to. The logic of democracy is pushing someone off a bridge because 51% or 99% of the people tell you to. That doesn't make it right either way and you should be blamed most because you did the dirty deeds as opposed to people who put words (orders) on paper and sit in their homes and offices. It is the same thing with police who claim they are following orders.
Personally I don't see how invading foreign countries to interfere in foreign affairs that don't affect your people is noble. Soldiers should be defending the borders and waters and only respond to direct threats.
The problem is that military is used as s political tool by conservatives
Huh?
WW1 = Dem POTUS
WW2 - Dem POTUS
Korea - Dem POTUS
Vietnam - Dem POTUS lied to get us in
Iraq 1 - GOP POTUS
Iraq 2 / Afghanistan - GOP POTUS
Afghanistan now - Dem POTUS
Libya - Dem POTUS
Drone Wars - Dem POTUS
Not even addressing the involvement (or lack) of Congress. I'm not seeing how the military is used solely or even primarily by conservatives as a political tool.
Perhaps there is enough memory of how the military was treated with Viet Nam and it is wished to not repeat that.
Or perhaps it is that with the 90's when we started to actively use the reserves in hot wars, more people realized that there were more people that they knew who could actually be doing the fighting. I seem to recall that in Desert Storm, there was the sudden shock by some in reserves that they were actually being sent to war. It was like the line that "Cally" said in Battlestar Galactica "Fragged":
Doctor Gaius Baltar: [Lt. Crashdown has ordered his untrained, outnumbered men to make a suicidal attack on Cylon Centurions] This is insane. I've never fired a gun in my life! Selix: I haven't fired a weapon since Basic. Doctor Gaius Baltar: [to Cally] You? Crewman Specialist Cally: I only joined up to pay for dental school!
(who knows, that passage may have been derived from that situation in reality)
Having been in the military, I don't have any negative thoughts against them.....but now that I am out and am more educated from a non military, regimented environment (such as extensive briefings about My Lai and illegal orders), I don't think I would survive for long if I was back in, for one reason or another.
Interestingly enough on that last, when Abu Ghraib broke, the Captain I had served as a "Provost Marshal" (the Navy's term is Security Officer) under wrote me to ask me what I would have done in such a circumstance.
I knew the Rules of War under him, I taught them daily to his troops. One does not torture prisoners. Period. Further, such would the kind of situation of where I would have to make the harsh decision for it would be the end of my career either to refuse such orders or incompetently obey them. If I was lucky, I would be relieved and dismissed from the service, probably without the hard worked retirement. Why? Because I know that things like that do not remain hidden, that eventually they will be discovered and for the high ups that gave the order, they will escape while those down below will be holding the bag and become footnotes in history as war criminals.
Hence, getting back to that thing of martial law, from my stand point, it is handle the immediate situation as best as possible BUT return control to the civilians as soon as possible.
The military is a voluntary force of everyday people from the back bone of our society. They willingly sign up to serve their country not knowing if they will be going to war or not. Not knowing if it will be the death of if they will come home missing pieces.
It is very noble to sign up. How could anyone hate that?
Now the politicians on the other hand use the military as a tool to further their own politics. They don't seem to have much respect for the military and we witnessed that when Obama and Hillary left our guys out to die at the Benghazi attack.
It is easy to dislike the people that make the rules and impossible to dislike those who are sworn to follow those rules.
I am ex-military and while I loved my time and fully support the troops, I can understand why people would not like the military.
Some people simply don’t believe in war and that if someone wants to invade you, rape, pillage, plunder and enslave… you simply say “welcome”. The idea being that total pacifism and nonviolent resistance is how lives should be lived and that by doing so you win people over to your way of thinking. While I may fully disagree with that point of view, I can sort of respect it.
The sad thing is that those people take for granted their very freedoms provided to them by the military.
The one area I will take exception to is domestic terrorism against the military. That was more prevalent in the 70’s and 80’s. With eco-terrorist groups like Green Peace… I wonder if it will start up again by others.
The military, like any government institution, is flawed. Members of the military, from four stars on down to privates, should be criticized just like any other public servants when they commit acts worthy of criticizing.
Ironically, the knee-jerk "How dare you criticize our brave soldiers?" attempts at shutting down a discussion (as opposed to rationally discussing an issue) is precisely the sort of thing that is labelled political correctness by the same crowd (the ones who rail about political correctness are generally of the same group that castigates those who dare to criticize the military).
It's perfectly fine to 'support the troops', but support does not entail carte blanche immunity from immunity from criticism. More to the point, improvement can only come from adjustments made due to the critical analysis of shortcomings and outright failures. Demanding that an institution not be criticized is to hinder its continual development.
The military, like any government institution, is flawed. Members of the military, from four stars on down to privates, should be criticized just like any other public servants when they commit acts worthy of criticizing.
Ironically, the knee-jerk "How dare you criticize our brave soldiers?" attempts at shutting down a discussion (as opposed to rationally discussing an issue) is precisely the sort of thing that is labelled political correctness by the same crowd (the ones who rail about political correctness are generally of the same group that castigates those who dare to criticize the military).
It's perfectly fine to 'support the troops', but support does not entail carte blanche immunity from immunity from criticism. More to the point, improvement can only come from adjustments made due to the critical analysis of shortcomings and outright failures. Demanding that an institution not be criticized is to hinder its continual development.
I 100% agree with this. Many of our service men/women join out of a sense of duty and honor. But many others do so for self serving reasons. I don't think people in the military should be elevated to the status of gods just because they chose to go into the military. I also don't agree with the attitude that their job is so much more important than others. Although it is important without a doubt, our police are important, firefighters, doctors, nurses, truckers, and many other employees a variety of professions are important, and our country would cease to function without them. Also, military folks get amazing benefits with their job, far more than most any other jobs, even though the pay isn't great.
But ultimately, they are human beings, just like the rest of us, and they are as different as civilians. Some are exceptionally brave, courageous, and worthy of our respect, and some are just jerks. My wife is ex-Navy, loved her military life, and would have retired from the military if they hadn't discharged her for being gay way back in the 80s. But it all worked out in the end, because if she hadn't been discharged, she would still be out in the middle of the Mediterranean, and I would never have met her
The military, like any government institution, is flawed. Members of the military, from four stars on down to privates, should be criticized just like any other public servants when they commit acts worthy of criticizing.
Ironically, the knee-jerk "How dare you criticize our brave soldiers?" attempts at shutting down a discussion (as opposed to rationally discussing an issue) is precisely the sort of thing that is labelled political correctness by the same crowd (the ones who rail about political correctness are generally of the same group that castigates those who dare to criticize the military).
It's perfectly fine to 'support the troops', but support does not entail carte blanche immunity from immunity from criticism. More to the point, improvement can only come from adjustments made due to the critical analysis of shortcomings and outright failures. Demanding that an institution not be criticized is to hinder its continual development.
I can't think of very many people who believe that the military are immune from criticism. In fact, I can't think of anyone aside from those who dislike the military and arbitrarily like to think so.
And there are atrocities committed by members of the military and they are held accountable for them. I have been involved with dishing out military discipline to include kicking people out. In the entirety of this world there is no police or military force that is pure and perfect.
Maybe it's the fact that the military, like the police, inherently have a noble job. We protect and serve the people of this country and our country's interests. These things are never done perfectly for a host of reasons- some beyond the control of the military, but as such it deserves a certain amount of respect and I would go so far as to say a certain amount of tolerance given the degree of difficulty of the job. Such people are willing and available to die for the principles they believe if for the sake of others- and many of those others bask in the willingness of others to protect their right to dislike such forces. And we swear an oath to do so.
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