the culture of military obsession

People join the military, esp. the US military for an education. What they get up to in foreign lands with their holiday snaps you would wonder about the standard of that education.

Leftist wrote: »

Of course I don’t see it as an Irish thing and maybe it's just culturally foreign to me, but social media and media in general from specifically the U.S and to a lesser extent the U.K, is littered with fawning over military.

I get the propaganda comes due to participation in overseas wars (general media), but what I don't get is the lack of perspective (social media) Yes, people conscripted during world wars, fighting an obvious menace are and should be respected. But non-conscripts involved in overseas wars in afghanistan? They don't have to be there.

These people have taken a choice, they are doing a horrible, tough, brutal job, but they are trained killers more or less, involved in operations in countries that have no expansionist policies.

Perhaps I am unreasonable and I am open to debate, please refrain from emotional replies.

Its is a great way to cull out the lower un-educated classes. they will either end up doing something good and earn a living and education, or will end up as a target dummy. Either way, you dont get alot of college educated people going into the G.I. they will go for officer training.

Topper Harley wrote: »

I'm not sure I understand your answer.

My military career spanned five years, circa 1972, 23Bn Signals/Collins Bks, Cork. There was a lot of changes, we were expecting to reinvade the North, we had a President resign and soon after die and we had a defence minister sacked.

Same minister, in preparing us for our upcoming role said we were "paid assassins!" and we got briefly equipped with the latest new weaponry. During my time five members of the FCA were shot and killed in various actions, some accidents some in exchange of fire.

I was not indenting to give details of my service here, just to outline that I was, and it was great, all of it, the fear, the cold, the wet, the hunger, the food. Food never tasted better.

http://www.military.ie/overseas
Currently serving in places like the Leb'. Underfunded and at risk. Surely worthy of a bit of fawning OP?

Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon this have taken over control of a crucial United Nations observation post directly on the border with Israel.
From this post, the Irish soldiers will be able to monitor activity in their volatile area of operations where violence can suddenly erupt.
The Irish peacekeepers took over the post from French soldiers attached to the UN. About 30 Irish soldiers will be based here for the duration of the Defence Forces deployment to UNIFIL.
The post is directly beside the Blue Line, the demarcation which separates Lebanon from Israel, which occupied Southern Lebanon for decades till the year 2000

The whole subject is a very complex area. Don't automatically assume that support for the troops is the same as support for war. No one actually likes war least of all those involved. But there are various motivations for becoming a soldier and patriotism is rarely the overriding consideration.

In some ways Americans over do the support for the troops at the moment. But that in part is probably an over compensation for the disgraceful way many Vietnam veterans were treated. Most of whom were conscripts and many of whom genuinely believed they were helping protect their freedoms. That same is true of the current crop of soldiers.

America still has a greater enthusiasm for militarism than most of Europe. This is most likely because they haven't been fought over and flattened less than seventy years ago. I don't think it's true of the British. If anything their militarism has declined in recent years and the army is not that well regarded even if there is support for the troops.

In Europe generally there is very little militarism for the reasons mentioned above. In the past virtually everyone in France and Germany served in the military whether conscripted or not. Two ruinous wars reduced the enthusiasm for that.

So it isn't fair to say that there is any increase in militarism even in America. If anything the over zealous support for the troops is if anything an over compensation. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are pretty remote for all of us but particularly so in America.

As for Ireland, if anything we've gone the other way. The army is considered a joke by many people and it certainly is under resourced.

Ironically I think the main reason is that it has never gone to war. While Irish soldiers have seen combat occasionally, it's rare. So it's not respected the way other country's armed forces are respected. If the army had been to war and earned it's spurs so to speak. I think things would be different and Leftist might have a greater understanding of how other countries see their militaries.

As it is many young men seeking a military career don't even consider the Irish army. They know if they join the British army they'll see action at some point, naive as they are.

Then of course there's our so called neutrality which allows many of us to retain the smug belief that we are better than all those other 'warmongering' countries. Meanwhile we let them do all the fighting and dying to protect our little island from the grim realities of the hostile world out there.

Militarism is in decline in the west and while some may believe this to be a good thing. It's not, history has a way of repeating itself. America was perceived to be weak by the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden before 9/11. I wonder if he thought America was quite so weak when a Navy Seal kicked in his bedrooom door after years of hiding from them.

It all goes in cycles. Once the war in Afghanistan winds down attitudes will change.