Are you willing to fight and/or die for your country?

[isoFlux]

i will die to protect the life of people i love. but beyond that, i will be able to accomplish a lot more alive than dead. ther are plenty of things i will fight for, but few things i will be able to willingly, conciously die for.

i find myself wondering what was going through the mind of monks like
Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk who burned himself in protest to Vietnam. sure, he demonstrated that he did not like the Americans interferring with Vietnamese politics and social experimentation, but what did he accomplish? he demonstrated extreme and almost inhuman disicipline when he didnt move or make a sound, but did it really change anything? i think him, and the other monks who did so, could have done many more swaying and effective things if they were alive to protest and make a real difference in the viewpoints of both the Vietnamese and American public.

i think an important thing to realize when you sign up for any Armed Forces, esp in a time when your country is at war, or is nearing war, is that you are very likely to have to sacrifice a hell of a lot. that means leaving your family and children, living under extreme conditions and dealing with intense stress, being shot at, shooting other people, taking part in brutal actions, and many other things that only a soldier can understand. while there are many thousands of soldiers who are not injured, almost everybody who leaves a war (or police action :wtf: ) leaves changed and injured in some way. its not guarnateed, but you can count on it. so, joining the military in my book is similar to pouring the kerosene on your body and wating for somebody to throw a match at you. if you arent ready to burn yourself alive for that cause, i wouldnt feel comfortable even being a cog in the war machine thousands of miles from the front.