Do you think American soldiers are put on too high of a pedestal

[Minimalist]

CL, read what the early church fathers like Tertullian had to say on war, Capital Punishment or military service. Only with the Constantinian buttkissing contest of 313 they performed a complete turnaround. But one of the reasons why the church lost all credit with me.

I'm glad we've learned from the mistakes made hundreds to thousands of years ago.

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In that war, target lists were developed that made no military sense -- for instance, we couldn't attack shipping bringing replenishment SA-2 missiles into Haiphong, but on the target lists were sites where the batteries were operational. The best place to defeat any weapon is in the supply chain, before it may be brought to bear on your soldiers, airmen, and sailors.

That targeting decision was politically motivated, as a result of the policy of gradual escalation, and dictated from DC. It's an easy priority to establish when it ain't your ass flying into a barrage of SAMs and 23-mm fire.

Exactly.

Try to imagine the potential problems which might have resulted from one of our planes attacking a 'neutral' ship.  

Georges Clemenceau: "War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men. "