[zovat]

Originally Posted by Flubflow

To many people, this US soldier could quite easily be considered a child - especially by her parents. [Click]
Oh well, I suppose she did have one whole year of legally adult life experience (in the army) before she was sacrificed.

Ok, here we go .... (note this is an OPINION).

If you choose to join the military, in any country (including reserves/National Guard/TA/etc), then you must accept the fact that you may well be putting you life at risk at some point in your career - why else would we spend so much time learning how to shoot, and how to treat people who have been shot, as part of the basic training ?

If you join the military with the attitude of "it'll never happen to me" then you do not have a grasp on reality.
Most countries will not allow you to serve overseas until you are 18 (or 17.5 in some cases).

If you die, that is unfortunate, but it is an occupational hazzard.
It is often very hard for the people who care about you to cope with the fact that you willingly put your life on the line for others - in truth that is not how you see it.

I would put it more along the lines of "You do the job you have to do, and have the faith in your training, your team and (unless you are British ) your equipment to see you through it".
You do not sit there in the vehicle on your way to some far off battle-scarred land thinking "I may have to die for my country", you sit there thinking "Lets get the job done and get the XXXX out of here and back to my family and friends".

We all know the risks of the job we choose to do - we accept that risk because we have that faith in ourselves and our team.

Therein lies the crux - we choose to do this job, we train for it, we practice in all conditions. We know the risks, but we accept them because we believe in what we are doing.

If you are old enough to choose to be a soldier, then you are old enough to understand the risks. I know that those around you may not feel the risk is acceptable, but it is your choice, and your life that you risk.


As I have said - it is often harder for those that care about you to cope with the fact that you are in a war zone than it is for you as a soldier - you know the job, the risks, and the real situation - those at home can never understand the emotions and thoughts you have, nor do they ever truly know what is going on - they only see what they press want them to see (and the military allows the press to show).

Thanks for listening

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