Well here is my opinion.
#1. It is not for a private to decide what wars are immoral or illegal,
whether drafted or a volunteer. Their job is to follow the orders of
their Commander in Chief and the officers and non-commissioned officers
over them.
Now if a Sergeant tell his men to go into a village and kill everyone
for no apparent reason other than to get a good body count, that is
different, and the regs even state that a soldier can and will disobey
orders that they know are illegal or immoral. I know, I have done this
and I did not get in trouble.
#2. These guys are cowards, pure and simple. One of our greatest
soldiers was a conscientious objector. His name was Alvin York. He tried
to get out of being drafted, was denied, went to Germany and did what he
had to do. These "men" deserve to be deported and have the book thrown
at them, especially today when it is an all volunteer force.
Here is the Oath of Allegiance that we service member take when joining:
/"I,/ {insert name here}/, do solemnly swear </wiki/Swear>, (or
affirm), that I will support and defend the Constitution of the
United States </wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States> against all
enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and
allegiance </wiki/Allegiance> to the same; that I take this
obligation </wiki/Obligation> freely, without any mental reservation
</wiki/Mental_reservation> or purpose of evasion </wiki/Evasion>;
and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the
office on which I am about to enter. So help me God </wiki/God>."/
It is very clear that they are to take their obligation freely, without
any mental reservation of purpose of evasion (going AWOL).
There is not a single service member who can honestly say with a
straight face that the prospect of war never crossed their mind. When I
was in Germany, my unit was a border unit. Basically a big speed bump
for the communist hoard that was only a few hundred yards away from us.
Trust me, we took this job very seriously and the thought of going to
war with Russia was very real and always on our minds. This is why we
partied so hard - because that might be the last beer we drank, the last
schnitzel that we ate, or the last woman that we......well you get the
point.
Even after the Cold War anyone joining the military knew that he/she
could be called up at a moments notice. If they have a problem with
that, then they need to get out. Pure and simple. Too many kids join the
military for the sole purpose of getting college money or now days, big
fat bonuses (up to $40,000.00 for new privates) to pay off bills, and
they don't think of or see the bigger picture, that they are part of an
all volunteer force subject to pick up arms and fight wherever they are
told to at any time.
Bruce
G Money wrote:
> I think it's important that soldiers retain the ability to conscientiously
> object to an assignment that they know to be immoral or illegal.
>
> Iraq sucks balls, but it is neither immoral or illegal. It is the type of
> service that they signed up for. In this particular case, I think the
> soldiers should be punished.
>
> But I'd like to hear opinions from active and retired soldiers.....?
>
> On Nov 16, 2007 9:28 AM, Bruce Sorge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
>> So it appears that Canada is no longer a safe refuge for cowards. Their
>> Supreme Court rejected refugee applications for several American service
>> members. Way to go Canada.
>>
>> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21794024/
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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