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Imperial soldiers be like (lemmy.ml)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[–] 38 points 8 months ago* (16 children)

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.

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  • [+] -8 points 8 months ago (15 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 21 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago*

    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.

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  • [–] 21 points 8 months ago (9 children)

    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.

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  • [+] -11 points 8 months ago (8 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 13 points 8 months ago* (6 children)

    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.

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  • [–] -5 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I'm sorry you were forced into that, but I have mad respect for you helping the elderly instead of joining the military.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Thank you very much for saying that, but in hindsight it was actually a great life experience. I met a man who was 103 at the time, in 1997. So he was 21 years old when WWI broke out. He later joined the German socialist party SPD, he resisted the Nazis and was forced to emigrate, he had such amazing stories to tell.

    I think he played a big part in why I became interested in politics, German history and also why I became an antifascist and anti-militarist. Him and the fact that the Nazis executed one of my two grandfathers for "defaitism".

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  • [–] -3 points 8 months ago

    Well, as you say. If you don't pay your taxes, they will put you in jail. So you do have the free will to choose. You could of course also move to a country with a less interventionist military so that your taxes aren't paying for it. In the US, kids from poor neighborhoods have very few job options. We don't have good public transit, so they can only go so far for a job. Moving is usually out of the question expensewise because they are living with their parents already.
    For many who end up in combat roles, it is often a choice between making a living via crime or the military. At least with the military they have a decent chance to become a productive citizen after a few years. So it is the better of two bad options. Others are just not too bright. They have no idea how the military is used. They just hear the words of a sweet talking recruiter telling them how good a person they will be for signing up. It's hard to blame them for being dumb.

    I am not saying noone in the military is a bad person. But I am saying that not all are. The US military has like a 50% resign rate. You could say the ones that sign up for a second tour are choosing of thier own free will, with thier eyes open. That I will agree to.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago

    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.

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