Read the article by following the link. It's VERY interesting and it's VERY rich in facts. And... read my commentary to it. The second one. Filed as AVRWC:
The comments below, from a couple 'service' guys or 'troops' (who would want to be called a 'troop', I don't know but then some people don't mind when others call them 'minorities' - hey, I'm going to have a 'minority' invited to our house today - but I digress)... so the comments by the 2 'troops' seem to claim that they 'the troops' are performing a dangerous and needed service and therefore they should be thanked and they should be respected, compensated and adored because if they didn't 'serve' then the other guys would come here and, after first following us home and hiding under our beds, would 'kill us all'. All of the above is nice propaganda but it's just that. What I see is 'us' advancing further and further down the slippery slope toward the emerging militaristic/surveillance/police state which we probably deserve. Orwell is smiling in his grave, I'm sure.
But let's talk about their 'service'. To me, the military is not unlike the 'squeegee men' of New York City's 10-15 years ago. They would spray some goo on your windshield as you were waiting at a red light and then demand to be paid to 'clean' it. If you didn't you were likely to hit a lamp post or maybe hurt someone because you could barely see through your windshield. But if you paid, he would clean it and you had a great reason to be thankful. After all, the squeegee man had 'saved you' from driving into a lamp post or a passer-by and he did it at a great risk to himself - walking through traffic and everything.
Same with our military. Without asking us, they go abroad, bombing people, torturing, invading, occupying, bossing around and humiliating dozens of countries and nations. Then... they demand praise, respect and above all, ever more 'pay' for... 'saving and protecting us' from all these enemies they created. Pretty clever, if you come to think of it. It's like those 'net' outfits who first dump a lot of crapware/spyware on your computer, then demand that you regularly pay them (usually forever) to clean up your computer and to keep it clean.
So, when it comes to 'men and women who wear uniforms' and demand to be paid to 'take bullets' and sweat in places far, far away from our borders and keep themselves busy at making more enemies my take is this. They should NOT enlist in the first place. By now everyone should understand that 'our troops' do NOT protect us. They are a parasite force whose main goal is to keep growing into a larger, fatter parasite and to protect their own growth by ensuring that there is always a plentiful supply of 'enemies' they would protect us from. If you are in the so-called 'service', do NOT re-enlist. I know, it's not easy to find a normal job but you seem to be complaining about making only $5 per hour. At that rate, I would hire you to do work around the house and I promise that you won't be shot at. I may even get you a raise. Staying in the military is wrong. Maybe your pay is not that great and maybe 'serving' is not comfortable but the outcome of your service is evil and, far from protecting your country, your 'service' keeps pushing the country and all of us who live in it farther along on the path of 'Evil Empre' which, thanks to your service, we've become.
Now, that you know what your 'service' does to your country - creating enemies for her and giving your commanders a pretext to order you to kill, torture and destroy other people's property - you should understand that you continuing to 'serve' is wrong and if you keep doing then you should be ashamed of yourself.