Do you agree or disagree with this phrase about those who serve in the Millitary?

[mlmooney89]

I agree. They are all heroes until proven otherwise.

I may be biased. My father died while in active duty. My mother was in the service for 23 years.

[vorlon13]

A good friend of mine while going thru his father's effects found a bronze star from his Korean War service. No idea what he did, he never spoke of it, and no paper work turned up explaining it.

Curiously, he is aware his dad was AWOL at one point when he became rather enamored of a women he found more attractive than reporting for duty.

[Rev. Rye]

My mother's dad served in WW2. That said, he died before I was born and I'm not sure how much action he ended up seeing in the Navy (I can't even remember if he was on a normal boat or a submarine, though I'm fairly certain he was in the Pacific theatre) or what he did when he found it, so I can't be sure if he was much of a hero. If memory serves, he wound up seeing action late in the war, but, by that point, the Allies already had the upper hand anyway. Odds are, he tried to be a hero at least.

[Divinity]

Disagree. Some of them are heroes. But if you toss around the word 'hero' so carelessly, it becomes meaningless. Not every member of the military is a hero. They aren't a hero just because they signed up. They are, however, human beings and thus deserve the same amount of respect as fucking everybody else.

[pocaracas]

In Portugal, we had a mandatory recruit for all male kids, once they hit the age of 18.... unless you could prove that you were enrolled in school.... but, as soon as you left school, you'd have to take up that recruit. A 3 month ordeal, paid at less than minimum wage...

Useless to say that most kids didn't want to do it. Most just wanted to go to college and live their lives.

When it came to my last year at uni, my year was the last where this rule existed... however, not everyone went to recruit. Most were stationed as "territorial reserve"... or, to be recruited later My brother ended up like that...
But me?... I had an inguinal hernia at precisely that time. Because of that, the military deemed me unfit for service. A few months later, I got my hernia fixed and life went on. Can't say I regret it in the least.

Nowadays, it's all voluntary, so you only get the crazy nutjobs joining the military.

That all said, I can't see people who join the military as heroes. They just seem like aggressive people with training and access to guns!

And those who go fight abroad?... I can't even see those as "defending" your country... They look more like an invading army. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Korea, Vietnam?

My dad was in a war in Angola, back when it was officially part of Portuguese territory, to "defend" it from the separatist forces... He doesn't speak much of that time... just that he was one of the best people there reading the map, and that he once went mushroom picking and ate the lot... only to get food poisoning and a proper stomach cleansing, military style - 2 gallons+ of some solution down his throat - he did say he was thirsty... Also, he took lots of photos he still keeps as slides.
Less than 10 years later, after bleeding out lots of young men, Portugal, newly released from the shackles of a fascist dictatorship, decided to grant the african colonies their independence. Useless wasteful war for nothing.
I don't see my dad as a hero for being in that stupid war. It's just a part of his life. He's a hero for raising me and my brother almost on his own.

[The Grand Nudger]

They're not heroes or villains.  Just normal people.  Military indoctrination is about knowing what levers to pull, and what responses to de-legitimize.  

I'll bet there isn't a single one of you here that I couldn't incite to murder given a few weeks of nothing but my voice in a high stress environment.  At the very least, I could get you to shoot me. The first archetypal enemy the service presents is your instructor. 

[Jackalope]

Shit, Khrm, I'm already half way to wanting to shoot you.

[Divinity]

I'll bet there isn't a single one of you here that I couldn't incite to murder given a few weeks of nothing but my voice in a high stress environment.  At the very least, I could get you to shoot me.  The first archetypal enemy the service presents is your instructor. 

If I shot everyone who pissed me off enough, the body count would be very high.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Shit, Khrm, I'm already half way to wanting to shoot you.  

Dibs on the other half.

[Catholic_Lady]

I think there are bad people in the military just as everywhere else. With that being said, I do think generally speaking, they are heroes. It's a dangerous and scary vocation, but an important one. I know I would never have the guts for it. Heck, I probably wouldn't even be able to get through basic training. I do think those who are good people and put their lives on the line for a bigger purpose are heroes. This doesnt include every single individual in the military, but I'd say many if not most.

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I agree. They are all heroes until proven otherwise.

I may be biased. My father died while in active duty. My mother was in the service for 23 years.

I could stand behind this.

Also, I'm sorry for your loss...