Reply #40: The Leaders have a point ...

[ShortnFiery]

When I was an impressionable 18 y.o. first enrolled in R.O.T.C. I loved everything about patrolling and small unit tactics. I joined a group that trained cadets to attend that kick-ass Ranger School and *really*, I mean *really* got into the thought of covert ops. I have trained with numerous SF and Ranger types, to include attending parties that honored Bo Gritz. However by the time of my Regular Army Commissioning (upper 5% of R.O.T.C. graduates) I was beginning to mature and form more of a "real effect" image of combat and it's aftermath. When a (metally healthy & somewhat compassionate) person matures emotionally, all that *take no prisoners* rhetoric is put into perspective as PURE fantasy.

My Point: The reason that I provide my history above is to emphasize: at the age of 17 and 18 years old, the vast majority of our intelligence slotted enlisted soldiers do NOT have the emotional maturity to FULLY understand the repercussions of "violent behavior." The foregoing is NOT a dismissal of their overall intelligence but, I believe, a statement of fact that those under the age of 21 (many under the age of 25) do not have the capacity to "think things through" but instead, live for the moment.

I have changed my philosophy 180 degrees over my lifetime. But I still remember "the rush" of charging through an objective; setting off grenade simulators; firing a LAW; jumping out of perfectly good airplanes; firing a cal 50 and rappelling Australian (face first) off of the local fire tower, etc. etc. Now that I'm an old broad, I feel a little guilty because of the "gung ho" feelings I felt back THEN. :blush: However, I understand the INTENSE allure, especially for very young and impressionable adults. We should, as a people, be careful to not encourage barbarism at this point in our nation's history ... even if it is dubbed as *fiction.*

That's why the portrayals of horrific methods of coercion are NOT good for young adults who sign onto the Military Intelligence MOSes. The instructors have to "train out" the delusions of grandeur that such fantasy programs portray.

Any series and/or movie that GLORIFIES any aspect about WAR or TORTURE does a disservice to our youth. It's always the old powerful men (and some women) who send our treasure (young people) off to kill and die. To glorify MAIMING and KILLING, IMO, is just plain EVIL. :shrug: