A 'Conscientious Objector' speaks

One probably shouldn't enjoy killing people.

 

Well, then that one should probably re-read the first sentence of the post you just quoted. Pretty plain and simple. We are employed to kill bad guys. I'm sorry if you don't like that.

 

I grew up in and around the military. My old man spent 25 years in uniform. Never served on the front lines and never fired a shot in anger (though he came close that one time to the dude who was talking with my sisters at their window). For that, he and I are eternally grateful.
But all of his brothers and his brothers-in-law did see combat.
I would like to know more about the CO's unit and his MOS before I go making judgments. Hey, I've heard stories from the greensuiters about a guy filing for CO status and weeks later, as the platoon is boarding the plane to go to Iraq, dude gets pulled off the flight literally seconds before takeoff. And I've seen guys who sought CO status, just before a second tour in Iraq, just hours before their plane is supposed to head east, even though they've known for months they'll be heading back to the shit.

 

From what I read, it seems like his guy did it the right way. For that, and doing what makes him happy in life, I applaud him.

 

Like has nothing to do with it. At least not for me.

 

Every male in my family has served in the military, me included. My brother just retired from the Army. So it really pained me when my son told me he was a pacifist, and that he might declare CO. I told him there were some things worth fighting for, but you know, I'm glad he's honest enough with himself to know he couldn't stomach it. The military is not for everyone, and part of the armed forces service contract, IIRC, is that you have to put aside your political leanings and follow orders. If you can't do that, don't sign the contract.

As for the original question, well, I was in the Air Force, and all the training was about self discipline, focusing on the task at hand, etc. I'm sure the Army and the Marines have a much different focus.

EDIT: Not that the Army and Marines don't instill discipline. They're just much closer when they do their killing than is the Air Force. So their training is different.

 

That's cool, n_w. It doesn't bother me in the least when someone says they're a CO. If that's your thing, that's your thing.

As for your last statement, no, our focus isn't that much different. We focus on the mission -- the task at hand -- first, and foremost.

 

I just finished Sebastian Junger's "War" and it's the first time I've had any sense of understanding what makes a soldier. I wanted to ask tbf if he had read the book and, if so, if he thought Junger had to some extent captured the reality of a soldier's experience.

 

Yeah, that didn't really come out right. Task at hand is too basic, I guess. The tasks are different, so the mentality is different. We fired M16s at boot camp and we did PT, but the hand-to-hand combat stuff was non-existent. In the Air Force, it's primarily the officers who are trained to inflict damage or harm. The rest of us learned support functions to keep the planes flying.

 

As a veteran, I can tell you that the military is great for those who need some structure and discipline. It definitely helped me in that regard. It also helped me realize what a sacrifice that those folks make when they decide to make it a career, not to mention their families who have to deal with long separations and moving around every two or three years.

As for the best thing I gained from it, it was perspective. When you've been in life and death situations, deadline pressure really doesn't get you rattled. At least if you miss deadline, the worst you will get is an ass chewing from your ME.

As for the killing, the role of the military is to kill people and break things. The problem today is that restrictive rules of engagement are making it tougher for our guys to do that and easier for the enemy to send them home in a body bag. If you didn't sign up for that going in, you're a fool. If you joined to "help" people, join the Peace Corps. But, to each his own.

Asymmetrical warfare (a much superior conventional force battles a vastly inferior, in numbers and equipment) is a nasty, nasty business. The enemy looks like everyone else. They know the battlefield better than you do. The killing of civilians, even if they do it, bolsters their cause because they can always blame it on the superior conventional foe.

I didn't support the War in Iraq because I knew it was going to be that type of slow, messy slog that gobbles up blood and treasure. Even if I thought Saddam was a madman and especially cruel to his people. Even though we've installed a democratic government, I still don't know if the war was worth the life of one of my high school buddies, who died there.