Quote:
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Originally Posted by RocHard
What does that mean?
When you enlist in the United States Military, you "serve at the pleasure of the President". It means if the President orders the military to go to war, your going to war. It's not open to dicussion.
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it's interesting that you should respond to a rather minor point out of all the ones that ive brought up. with that said, i have to admit that im in two minds about this.
on one hand, i fully support the modern version of evolution where the stupid darwin themselves out - they were emancipated at the time they enrolled and, although most would have considered it unlikely, if they were not aware of the possibility that they would be called into combat, that's surely their fault.
on the other hand, enrollment in the armed forces in this country is promoted as a means to pay for your education and in the majority of cases, the possibility of being called into active service has been downplayed by aggressive recruiters. if the government feels compelled to put stickers that read 'falling out of windiw may cause severe injury or death' on our screen windows, prohibits certain substances because it does not trust people to use them responsibly and pursues draconian policies aimed at shielding young adults from the facts of life (as opposed to exposing them to real life and helping them adjust), *i* feel the government has been (in comparison) negligent in making sure every single person enrolling in the armed forces and reserves is fully cognisant of the fact that they may well die as a result. a big sticker, not unlike the one seen on screen windows, which reads 'enrollment may cause severe injury, permanent disfigurement and/or death' wouldnt be out of order.
with all of the above said, this really is a tangential topic. i respect soldiers who serve their country and i respect those soliders who disagree with the war and yet risk life and limb to fulfill their duty even more. i watched an interview with a private stationed in one of the hot spots and you could feel the pain with which he tried to reconcile his duties as a soldier, his ethical judgement on what he was involved in and his fear of death - it touched me deeply. all of the oil in the world is not worth his life.
feel free to call me a pompous ass.