Are military personnel brainwashed dummies?

Question

You join the military, they tell you that you are a fighting machine and don't ask questions. Then some idiot like Bush or a general tells you to go off to Iraq for 15 months and perhaps die. If you survive, you come home to some lousy military pay. If you are hurt, you may not be able to pay your bills. So you are a hero? What a joke!

Of course our military are brave folks, and some are very smart, but who would want to join now to go to Iraq for this President?

Answer 1

Is Nick P a Liberal media brainwwashed dummy?

Answer 2

I think it's hilarious how people like you have this image that our Military is brainwashed and made to believe they are "Killing Machines." My husband has served in the Military for 22 years and has never been told he's a fighter and not to ask questions. He's probably the most independent person I know.
The Military pay has certainly supported our family very well since we married and started having kids ten years ago. It's also paid for my husband to receive a bachelor's degree, and will pay for him to attend law school when he retires from the Navy at the end of the year. I also won't complain about the retirement check we'll receive for the rest of our lives.
And for the record, yeah, they are heroes. Regardless of rather they served in Iraq or any other war, their heroes just for signing up and agreeing to defend their country. People like you only wish you could be like the men and women in our Armed Forces.

Answer 3

Actually, the US military invests a great deal of time and effort preparing all members of the military for their roles. They start with a training system that assumes you don't really want to be there, and aren't really interested, and make sure the training includes practical reasons why you should be interested as well as the content of what they are training, and that includes the leadership and management aspects as well as the functional aspects of training, whether it is combat training, or training on technical aspects, or anything else. The general you refer to has already had the equivalent of at least a Master's degree, possibly multiple degrees, in his area by the time he is a general. As for the president, Bush or any other, he managed to convince a statistical majority of the US electorate to elect him as president, so the competence of the president rests on us, really. But idiots do not get elected president, you know, even oversexed ones like Clinton are just human, not idiots.

Answer 4

First of all, let me say that everyone who has ever served in the military is a hero because they have done something that few have...served their country. I am a liberal and very proud of it. I am also a veteran of the war in Iraq. I joined the military before the start of the war (even before 9/11) because I wanted to serve my country. I went overseas when called upon not because I liked the war or because I was “brainwashed” but because, unfortunately, it was my job. I got out of the military when my time was up because I didn’t agree with this war.
If you want to vent your anger toward anyone vent it to the government, who started this war, but not the soldiers who fight it. The fact that you have the freedom to say what you do is because some “brainwashed dummy” gave you that freedom. So, hate the war all you want, but leave the soldiers alone.

Answer 5

Some of what you say is true. Brainwashed is a harsh term, I think conditioned is more appropriate. But yeah, you train as a unit, you know how to fight, they give you a mission and you do it without objection or questions. But it has to be that way, you can't have a democratic military with power sharing or a feedback loop, it's been like that since the dawn of time.

By the way: the pay isn't always lousy, it is only if you are a grunt. And if you see in the news about the bionic hand attachment, not all of the injured receive bad care.

Answer 6

after spending 23 years in the marine corps , I agree with you when we go into boot camp and we are being trained in hand to hand combat we are told these dummies are the commies or ? so you must kill him befroe he gets you , if you don't he will be in your neighborhood raping, killing your wife, daugter, mother etc so kill him quickly, one of the first things the D,I, tells you when you enter boot camp is "you are here and we will be your mother , father, sister and brother, we are also your girl friend or wife just don't try to ;uck me, or your :ss is mud, if I tell you to shoot your ma ma then by hell you had better shoot, you don't ask questions you just do as I tell you.
this is repeated daily, so therefore I would say we are brain washed, then one day they sign a little piece of paper and tell us okay boys kiss and make up they are your buddy now,???
and of course most people as I just wanted to serve our country honorably, and lets admit it we also wanted to be hero's, then when we get home we are treated like some kind of criminal or even worse, if we apply for a S,B,A, loan we are informed , all of the funds are earmarked for minorities, if we need medical , it was a preexisting condition,
but, we are hero's and we can take our medals down to the coffee shop and with one dollar we can get a cup of coffee,
if we are caught doing any thing illegal we are given on average 35% more prison time, and we will always be called baby killers etc, isn't it great to be an American?

Answer 7

I'm not against criticizing military practices or failures, but criticizing the premise of the military as a whole is idiotic.

Neo-hippies love to criticize the military and fantasize getting rid of it. Pragmatically think of what would happen to our country without a strong military in our history. During the War of 1812 we would have been taken over by the British, and lived in a monarchy.

In 1946 we would have been taken over by the Fascists and become slaves to their economies.

From 1950-2000, Russia would have taken us over and we would have become the slaves to their Communist economy.

Today, if we all of a sudden lost our military we wouldn't have our sovereignty. We would be fodder to the interests of military and economic powers like Russia, China, Japan, and others.

That is why military personnel are regarded as heroic. They protect our sovereignty, which protects our freedoms and liberty.

The irony is that these neo-liberals cherish the freedom to **** around and do whatever the hell they want. The military protects your freedom to express yourself.

Answer 8

Their's not to question why,
Their's but to do or die.

I can understand this for an ordinary, high school dropout with no job joining the army, but I never understand why the brightest minds in the USA want to go to West Point. Probably they harbour political ambitions and see the military as a stepping stone.

Some (the common soldier) are definitely brainwashed, but there is something in it for higher ups.

Soldiers need to be brainwashed, by default, into thinking there is a need for them to fight "enemies" (not presonal foes, but decided by state propaganda machine). People in neutral or isolationist countries like Switzerland or New Zealand do not have that mentality. Why would terrorists not bomb them. Because they do not antagonise other countries with an aggressive foreign policy manned by soldiers brainwashed into dehumanising and killing "enemies" for the sake of protecting some imaginary freedoms. For all I care, Switzerland is a freer country than USA.Do they need to stick their noses into the world's affairs to protect their freedoms.

The whole thing is perpetuated by a large populace that believes the soldiers are doing an essential job. But as for the soldiers, they were best described by Einstein:

"They have been given a large brain by mistake, for them a spinal cord would suffice."

Brainwashed fools all of them. Much of the world's problems stem form the military having too much control over politics of a country, as have happened hundreds of times in the last 100 years when a military or guerilla leader becomes a dictator via coup.

Answer 9

Our military trusts our elected officials to make the right decisions based off of our constitution. When our elected officials hold the military hostage to self serving political agenda's who should you cast the blame at. Certainly not the people who are risking their own lives to protect someone else's. Why don't you ask a WW11 vet that same question.

I would hate to have you as a next door neighbor if the Gestapo ever knocked on your door. People like you crumble and sing opera.

Answer 10

wow, you are probably the most close-minded person ever. first off, bush may not have made the best decisions ever, but you have no idea what kind of decisions you would make. second of all, my brother is in the army, currently in Iraq, and i know for a fact that he isn't a "brain-washed dummy." yeah, if you're injured in combat it is harder to pay your bills, but the government does give you compensation.

Answer 11

All give some, some give all!

You must love what you are going to do, knowing the sacrifices, full tilt. If you are not willling to go forward with this in mind-- then by all means don't. Get out of the way and let someone who will do this-- do this.