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Originally Posted by Bluestar
I don't think that's fair. Generalising that the American army is completely evil or generalising that it is extremely helpful to the growth of young adults is the same. There is no difference, i'm not saying it's inaccurate but that you should respect the argument if you want your own view to be respected.
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That's not really what I got from her posts.
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Anyway, the American army is known for being one of the worst in the world. I certainly wouldn't want my child to be a walking talking testosterone, wife-beating junky. Yes, generalisation and probably unlikely, but a lot of American soldiers are like that and i don't favour the possibility of my own turning out that way. Similar to how i wouldn't want them to be narrow-minded extremists who see the world in two colours only. Favouring Bruinrabs option of an alternative, I'd send them to Africa, i know what it's like because i spent a huge chunk of my life there and show them how to kill an animal before you eat it, how to plough the land and reap benefits in the form of food and how to tend to animals. Giving children an awareness of life is different to stripping away all sensitivity to it.
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This makes me think of a story I came across quite some time ago, about a dad who was against his son going into the military. He was a very wealthy man, and reeled at the thought of his son considering such a lowly 'career'. He was elitist, and also a self described racist.
He couldn't stop his son however, and at the last minute decided to go to his grad parade. He was struck by the sense of community, the dignity that everyone carried themselves with - black or white, poor or rich all wearing the same uniform. He gave a pretty idealized description of it all, reminiscent of Malcolm X's description of Hajj.
In any case, I'm not gonna disagree with the assertion that the US military is a broken institution right now, I've heard enough from the guys on the inside to disagree with that. But there are definitely positive elements that capture what I think Shadha was aiming at in her original post.