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Originally Posted by dragoon500ly
The military profession is perhaps unique in that its members really don't want to put to use the skills that they have learned.
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Really? Perhaps it is a reflection of the combat arms they serve in but the majority of serving and recently-serving soldiers I know are proud of their skills and look forward to putting them to use. Not because they want to end lives specifically but because they excel as warriors and are proud of their warcraft. The Australian and US militaries are both volunteer forces. Soldiers who don't want to be put in a position where they use their skills for real can always leave.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dragoon500ly
But you never hear about the marine who gives his dinner to a starving child. Or the seamen on liberty that, instead of getting drunk and laid, volunteer their precious leave time to build a new roof for a orphanage. Nobody mentions the soldier who pulls trapped civilians from a collapsed building following an earthquake. And nobody cares about the airman that grabs a man as he falls and renders CPR until the paramedics arrive. That too is a face of the military that is never mentioned.
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Strange, I hear about that sort of thing on a regular basis. It is quite common for the local media here in Perth to report on USN and USMC personnel on leave from ships berthed in Fremantle Port volunteering to assist in local worthy causes (such as cleaning up after a major bushfire last year). Or ADF personnel helping with disaster relief following the massive floods and fires in the Eastern States over the past few years. Is the US media so different?