America loves thier soldiers until they have to take care of them

I despise anyone who becomes a soldier of their own free will. The moment you enlist, you accept that you could be obliged to kill, and that you will have no control over whether that killing will be justified.

In other words, you accept the possibility that you could become a murderer.

That's why the US likes to keep a well stocked under class which makes the Army one of the few options to get out of abject poverty.

You join the USN, you help with the logistics, someone you've helped in some way or another presses a button somewhere, a cruise missile is fired, obliterates a target and a few bad guys, some civilians die as collateral damage - to me, you've helped kill these civilians even though, admittedly, you've only played a very minor role. I very much doubt there are any contracts at the USN that 100% exclude that possibility and I'm not giving anyone a benefit of the doubt.

I wonder what would happen if we didn't have a military at all

I have a good friend that is a cardiologist in the air force. Joined the military when he got into med school to cover his tuition and the get guaranteed residency. He's never been deployed over seas, never been in a war area, and never designed a process or item that has led to an indirect killing. An exception could be if he saved someone that went back to kill someone, but that would be true for all doctors military or not, so that's not a valid comparison.

There are many military jobs that are simple office jobs like accounting. Not everyone of them is linked to battle.

If you think these more mundane jobs indirectly lead to military related casualties, you better start hating on your local grocery store, because odds are they have given supplies to a soldier that eventually indirectly killed someone. Or probably any public service a soldier could use, because indirectly, that may help the soldier kill someone.

The grocery’s job doesn’t rely upon the imperial pillaging of other places to make economic sense. “Non combat roles” in the military do. The military doctor’s job is to get the boys back out doing more slaughter. That’s the point. If they didn’t do that they wouldn’t be doing their job. Other doctors, that’s not the point…it could be some distant effect, sure, but for a military doctor it’s direct. Other doctors see patients who are not involved in imperialist slaughter of innocents. Military doctors do not.

This is like Von Braun saying “I was only an SS officer developing military weapons for the science! I wasn’t like…info it, you know, you can’t hold it against me.” Accountants for the Nazis should have quit, and it’s okay to say they’re awful people and complicit in the holocost. Anyone who works for the US military is complicit in the imperialist crimes of that organization. I’m sorry if that’s you or people you love. If it is, you should do something about it.

So much this. The same people saying "thank you for your service" are the same people that constantly want to cut veteran services. Sure they care when you're a tool for their goals, but why can't you then just instantly become an invisible member of society once you're done?

Oh, you want more?! Wasn't service enough for you? How dare you be traumatized by killing people and having bombs nearly blow you up! Maybe you should be a man.

But maybe I'm just too sensitive about this...

This might work for anybody who signed up for the military after Operation Epstein Fury started, but my guess is there aren't going to be many of those.

Most of the rest probably signed up while Biden was president, and thought at worst they'd be going to war to help keep the oil industry profitable.

Working for the military makes you a war enabler. Best case. You help making it possible for some government asshole to wage war. Worst case, you become a murderer.

So whether you're in battle or not only decides if you're a murderer or helping murderers.

None of these possibilities are acceptable. Period.

Absolutely agree.

I happen to be German, by the way. My grandfather was forced into the Wehrmacht, he tried fleeing the battlefield, he got executed.

Anyone who works for the military enables politicians to wage war. And no soldier will ever be able to 100% prove their actions never led to anyone getting hurt.

Soldiers know and accept that and that's why I despise them.

Trump has been in power for over a year now, so at least a couple of ten thousand new people have signed up since then. And a couple ten thousand more renewed their contracts. Everyone in the US military is part of the war effort and nobody can claim innocence.

Gather round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun,
A man whose allegiance
Is ruled by expedience.
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown.
"Ha, Nazi Schmazi," says Wernher von Braun.

Don't say that he's hypocritical,
Say rather that he's apolitical.

"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun.

Some have harsh words for this man of renown,
But some think our attitude
Should be one of gratitude,
Like the widows and cripples in old London town
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun.

Your grandfather was very brave ❤️ It’s sad that ordinary people are sometimes forced to choose between bravery and monstrosity. But there it is.

And frankly, us military members are not forced. They can just…have a normal life instead.

No you don't understand, they are doing it to get into college! /sarcasm

Yeah. Why not just lead a normal life.

I wish society would frown upon people choosing to become soldiers like they do upon prostitutes. But instead, all this glorification and militarism makes them think being a soldier is a commendable thing.

In my view, prostitutes should get the medals. They literally make love, not war.

We wouldn't see images like the Iranian girl's rucksack smeared with blood.

Yeah, its hardcore

If we had free college tuition and universal healthcare, there would be no one to fight the pedo oligarchs' wars for them.

Which is why republicans and centrist democrats oppose both free tuition and universal healthcare.

What do you think the drones are for?

No sympathy for willing imperial enforcers.

I know the nuance will be hard for some. So I will start by saying that I am very against the actions of our government, and have been since a pretty young.

But, the vast majority of our troops are in the military because it was the best or maybe only option to make a living. And that is the way the government design the economy. They make sure people have no or few other choices.

Now compare what the military is doing to distract from the epstien files to what the billionaire class is doing. Then look at who you work for. Odds are your job in some way supports the very people who made epstien possible. So we are all complicit. Yet we all have little choice but to work. So instead of pointing your anger at someone who just like you is complicit. Point it at the people actually responsible.

A tale as old as time. We all need to develop some bone spurs.

Thats the trick. If a country doesn't have a military and they have something like resources other countries want. The become puppets of the countries that have militaries. The exceptions are small countries that don't have enough of anything anyone wants for others to bother taking it. They don't tend to do so well usually.

It's a race to the bottom.

Paying your taxes makes you a much bigger war enabler than the non combat military. And with taxes, you not only enable your country to go to war. You enable other countries to do so too, as your gov pays for weapons to give them.
The fact is, noone is innocent. And the people truely causing the wars for thier own interest just want us to blame each other instead of them. Clearly, you are giving them what they want.

If you read my first comment, I explicitly said "of their own free will". I do not pay taxes out of my own free will, so your comparison is invalid.

The pedocracy. New term coined.

20 a day become one of the good ones

That's an angle that more people should talk about, honestly.

The mistreatment of the American populace isn't just to keep a steady supply of cheap labor for the rich people's investments, it's to keep a steady supply of cheap lives for the government to do their dirty work.

My generation's dead and disabled veterans fell in service to that sweet Iraqi oil. Oh and the Saddam hidden underground meme, can't forget that one!

It's almost like soldiers are not immune to the material conditions that help perpetuate the capitalist empire......?

Historically one of the most important missions for any revolution is to spread class consciousness among the imperialist troops.

I don't really know how people really expect a revolution to be possible while withholding class solidarity from the only people who have military training.

Yeah but the ones that die are "suckers and losers".

(Quote from Pedolf Shitler)

even a broken clock is right twice a day

I understand the message here, but surely the remaining population could push for change while the military part worked down their contracts.

Um... If they really had a choice, the vast majority would not join the military. There are exceptions of course. But most feel they have no other options. Just like technically you don't have to pay your taxes (you can file a form to have nothing withheld from your paycheck). But it is the best choice if you want to make a living. So still, very much valid.

Love Pedolf Shitler that’s great. I was using pedolini and the rise of the turd Reich

I don’t know much about the SA. But my understanding was that the SS required a person to be pretty fanatical. So that is a little different than just joining the regular army to be a cook or something. It really would be more of a person by person determination, than a sweeping generalization of everyone who joined the military. There were and are certainly plenty of people who join looking to become murderers and such. But in todays military, that percentage is a lot lower then back there. There is just a lot more jobs that lead to a better career, and are often the only way many people can get to that stable life. This is of course one of the reasons they don't want college to be free. It's thier hook for a lot of people.

"Don't worry! I'll come back and be venerated as a hero for protecting Western imperialism. And possibly become a "progressive" candidate for Maine, if I get enough nazi tattoos."

One of the very few true things he's said.

Holy reaching Batman. That's quite a reach from serving in the military doesn't ackchually serve the military in some cases to your grocery is probably serving the military.

No wonder yankistanis like getting dominated by your government. Keep kissing that boot though and wondering why the government turned fascist, it's probably the local groceries fault.

Feeling you have no other option (despite a lot of other jobs being on offer) and totally not having any other option (because they'll put you in jail for not paying taxes) are two completely different things.

With all due respect, but there is no reason to join the army unless they force you to. Even when Germany still had mandatory military service and they wanted to draft me in 1997, I opted to wipe old peoples' butts in an old people's home instead because that was the only way out. Don't you dare tell me there is no other option.

So what you're saying is... superpower nations shouldn't exist