And the naive, the innocent, and the stupid still join the military because they think they're being patriotic and will protect the country instead of the interests of the power elite.
And the naive, the innocent, and the stupid still join the military because they think they're being patriotic and will protect the country instead of the interests of the power elite.
I kick myself over and over for my grandson having joined the army and serving in Iraq/Kuwait. Hell, he was in boot camp before his mother even told me so it's not like I had a chance to change his mind (I suspect his mother, the daughter I fathered at the age of 15 and only met in 2001 planned it that way)
But, I also understand that the boy had no job prospects and college wasn't panning out and like too many other young people he felt that his only way to sustain himself was enlistment. (especially now that the military is serving as the new JOB CORPS)
Needless to say the recruiters don't tell those kids how many will return broken, useless or dead and the various ARMY OF ONE and BEE ALL THAT EWE CAN BEE ads are carefully crafted to appeal to young no-nothings.
And when I was 19 I could probably have been programmed to accept the torching of villages as some abstract exercise in patriotism. In fact I was closer to 30 before my eyes were opened and the sheer horror of American "foreign policy" was revealed as intentional. (as evidenced by the former School Of The Americas' now WHINSEC's genital zapping courses for despots.)
But, are the parents of 18 yr old recruits really any smarter? I've seen several instances where the parents ignored the dangers because they wanted the kids to get on with their lives, so they retreated into the safety of believing that our govt wouldn't intentionally risk harm to "its own" (our daughters and sons) for any but the most noble of pro-American, pro-Jeebus, pro-freedom missions.
In fact you have the uncanny ability to accept without question the words of known liars, murderers and thieves.
How can you tell when the govt is lying (about foreign war mongering for instance) and when they're (according to you) 100 percent truthful, i.e. when talking about the first walk on the moon?