Why do some people hate soldiers and the military?

Question

Why? Many of them didn't decide to go their or had to go because of financial problems. But some did to defend this fine country and YOU and your family from being destroyed. Also people think war should stop, and I think that to. But it will never stop. Even if all countries said "no more fighting" we would still stock up on weapons and keep our military. Because everyone knows someone will be born, take control, and attack another country. Or someone will want another country tooken care of and since their would be no real defense, would take it over. But if you want our troops to come back right now go ahead! Although I can't wait to see the looks on your faces when they come into our country :)

Answer 1

Confessions of a Nintendo Soldier

As a soldier, I consider it part of my duty to read the various editorials and Opinion columns relating to my profession. I hear this retired General say that and I read a retired NCO say this, and every column seems to speak of the downward spiral of the modern Army, co-ed Basic Training, the lack of combat readiness, our Chief of Staff's decision to change official headgear. However, the favorite topic by far, is the quality of the "new" soldiers, and the weakness, ill training and overall worthlessness of the people filling the Army's ranks. I am not a senior leader. I am not an NCO. I am the center mass of the Army, a Specialist with two years of service, and not an Airborne Ranger, but a combat supporter. Given the MOS demographics of late, this puts me directly in the category of Joe Average, the everyday, stereotypical soldier. I am also one of the "new" soldiers, who attended co-ed Basic, who missed Desert Storm and Somalia by a long shot, and who, if you listen to the consensus, seems to consistently be "weaker" than the soldiers of yesterday. Basically, I'd say I'm at the ground level of everything that the retired Colonels and Sergeants major seem to write about and despise, the very composition of the force that seems to concern them.
So I thought I'd put in my two cents, and let you everyone know what it's like to be a fabled "Soldier of the Nintendo Generation”. Despite the pictures that are being painted by everybody, my basic wasn't fun. I counted the days till I graduated, and cherished mail, just like the old soldiers did back whenever they were in. I did hundreds of push-ups, I woke up at obscene hours, I was screamed at, despised by Drill Sergeants, called worthless, I did more push-ups, I didn't use the phone every Sunday (try twice), I didn't eat pizza or eat candy, I didn't have a stress card, and I didn't have fun. And that was US Army Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1999.
I don't know how these stories are built, and where all the grizzled veterans are getting their facts. Maybe there are some utopian BCT companies somewhere that exhibits all these soft qualities, but I haven't seen them. I saw professionals, NCOs and Drill Sergeants doing their best to train civilians to be soldiers, to train us to be like them. And believe me, my Drill Sergeant remains my mentor for soldiering to this day. Now, I am at my line unit, my permanent party assignment, out in the big, bad Regular Army. Moreover, every time I turn around, I read the articles I have already mentioned, complaining of the "soft" soldiers manning the Army's Divisions. Well I'm here, right in the middle of it all, and what do I see? I see "soft" soldiers who work ridiculous hours day and night--Privates, Specialists, and Sergeants. I see "soft” soldiers who could be making a lot more in the civilian world, but instead staying in boots, transcending fiscal desires for love of country. I see "soft" soldiers who are preparing to fight and win war, through countless deployments to NTC and JRTC, and experience tough, realistic training on a daily basis. I see "soft" soldiers daily going above and beyond what they are required to do, putting the accomplishment of the mission before all else.
The Army is swirling in a mass of controversy, differing opinions, uncertainty, and doubt. The last thing we, the soldiers of today need, are to read volumes of documents by you, our predecessors, our mentors, and our fathers degrading us. If you disagree with the policies, discuss the policymaker. If you disagree with the leadership, discuss the leader. However, leave us, the soldiers, out of it. As "soft" and "weak" as you say we are, we remain here, on guard, in Tuzla, Korea, Fort Bragg, and Fort Campbell. We don't choose who we perform Basic Training with or what hat we wear. We just serve. I am the rank and file of the new army you all seem to distrust.
I ask one thing: next time you put us, the new, "soft" soldiers, in the sights of your verbal lashings, have a little faith, because when the dogs of war are loosed again, we will rise to the challenge just as you did, and continue to uphold the legacy of the American Soldier.
You'll see.

Answer 2

When I was drafted, I joined the Air Force instead. As a college graduate I was offered Officer's Candidate School and became a gold bar lieutenant. Then off to pilot training. This was way back in 1971. I was spit on and called a baby killer, and much worse in civilian airports and while walking down sidewalks. I had no other training other then learning how to march and how to fly a trainer. I went on to B52 school and became a Pilot.

But what I remember most of the Air Force was the World War Two Veterans tell me how it was to fight the Luftwaffe or the Japanese Zero. I would here stories about the war in Korea with the development of the MIG-19 and the F-86. "Now those were airplanes." What ever bomber was before mine was the best ever made.

Now I see the brave young men and women putting up with the same stuff that I had to put up with when I was new to the military. I have often thought the military motto should be changed to "Years of Tradition Unhampered By Progress".
As we develop in the service as in civilian life we mature and learn that the more things are different the more things are the same.

LIfe in the military is completely different then in civilian life. Would you as a civilian rish your life to save the life of a fellow soldier you do not know? Knowing that he would do the same for you. Would you be able to cry knowing everyone in your platoon was killed except you? Would you be willing to fly a 500.000 pound aircraft loaded with nuclear weapons into the heart of the highest defended country in the world? And do it at 450 knots and less then 500 feet off the ground? Would you be abe to fly a fighter off the deck of an aircraft carier, fly supersonic to get into an airbattle with a guy would already has decided that you have to die?

Maybe I have gone on to long. But in 60 years of life, I have met WW1, WW2, Korean, 1st Gulf War, Somalian, 2nd Gulf war and evethint inbetween veterans. Each one of them brings tears to my eyes. I also cry for those brave men and women who never had the chance to become veterans, by being killed on the battle field. Salutes to all the services in war and in peace. Without them there would have never been a United States of America.

Answer 3

Everyone has their own reason for not liking the armed services.

Take the Clinton's for instance, they both despise the military. They don't feel much differently about the FBI and the CIA either. Bill Clinton doesn't like the military because he is deathly afraid of it. As a young man during the Vietnam war, he ran away and hid under a rock because he was afraid of being drafted. It was OK for someone else's son to fight and die, but Willy wasn't going to be one of them, so he high tailed it to Russia, and protested against the war in Moscow. What a guy !

It is said that Hillary was turned down flat by the Marine Corps. She was considered persona non grata to become a Marine officer. I guess they knew that she wouldn't cut the mustard if she was accepted. As you can see, she too has an axe to grind for being humiliated in this manner. I can remember when she was first lady and having a White House party, she ordered her people to have the young Marine officers assigned to the White House, to serve appetizers at this party.

This was an unforgivable and callous act on her part, and one the Marine Corps will not soon forget. Think about this too, this women who was not suitable to serve in an elite branch of service, now expects to return as it's commander-in-chief. There's something wrong with this picture !

Answer 4

I'm not an American I'm a Brit, but I know what you mean. In today's political climate the soldiers of both our nations get a bum deal. I do however think that on the whole it's ignorance and not malice. People equate uniform with government. They see a soldier with the same contempt that they have for the policy makers who sent the soldier there. I have no respect for the majority of my country's politicians or political stance on the middle east, I also feel the same way about the current U.S politicians and their questionable middle eastern policies. I do however despair at the lack of support for both our armed services. They are doing a tremendously hazardous and difficult job. They are soldiers, they go where they are ordered and currently, at least in my opinion, those orders are coming from questionable motives. A soldier however does not have the luxury of an open debate concerning given orders. They obey. My own political views are of a distinct anti-American nature. That's anti-American of a political nature, not one concerning the average man/woman in the street, for they are not responsible for the decisions of an elected body, no matter how 'democratic' said body is. Our Soldiers are simply doing a job, however distasteful people like myself perceive that job as being, our frustration and scorn should not be directed at those placing their lives in jeopardy. It should be directed at those that sent them there.

Answer 5

They don't hate the military but refuse to allow a squad of Marines to film in San Fran while rolling out the red carpet for the Folsom Street Freaks? Okay lefty, whatever you say.

Answer 6

Read what the recipient of Two(2) US Congressional Medal of Honor; USMC Major General Smedley Darlington Butler .
Smedley Butler on Interventionism
-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933
http://www.fas.org/man/smedley.htm
The Smedley Butler Society is dedicated to eliminating US military imperialism. http://warisaracket.org/

Activist or an IGNORANT man?
He WAS an active duty US Army enlisted Infantryman
http://mariaisabelescobar.vox.com/

Answer 7

The simple answer is ignorance. The so-called high-minded pacifists hate war and, by analogy, anyone involved in war. That's why we still have soldiers being accosted by spoiled little punks who call our men in women in uniform facsists and jack-booted Nazis. They fail to see their own hypocrisy. But I'll tell you right now, if I ever come across someone spitting in the face of an American soldier, the next thing that guy/girl is going to see is my fist remodeling his/her nose.

Answer 8

People hate soldiers because soldiers are doing the dirty work the work these people are too scared and not willing to do to keep freedom in our great country.

Answer 9

Human nature!

Why are some people anti-social?Why are others Football Hooligans,

the list is endless!!

TOMMY

by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theater as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

Answer 10

Because they group military in with government.