Comment by poof131 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by poof131 | Hacker News Reader

Please don’t feel guilty. Voting your conscience is fine, protesting a war is fine, but shaming people who work for the DOD is childish. Americans are risking their lives all over the world for our country. If you’re ashamed to help your fellow countrymen survive, to do their jobs better, and to return home to their families, that’s not good.

I spent over a decade in the military. I have issues with the military industrial complex. I have issues with a lot of the leadership. But I respect the people who need the tools you work on and wouldn’t want to see their lives put in jeopardy. I can understand not wanting to spend your whole life in the DOD world. If you want to focus on other things, move industries, I did, but don’t feel ashamed while you’re in and don’t let others make you feel ashamed either. I respect the job you’re doing. Thank you.

They're not risking their lives for your country, they're doing it so that american corporations can make more profit.

I highly recommend you read "war is a racket" written by General Smedley Butlers.

I also want to point out that I don't blame anyone who's working for the US military, unless they're like Dick Cheney or something, I understand that people need to make a living, and that a lot might even buy into the big ol' patriotic lie.

America's military is really a tool for foreign policy. Granted, as with everything in America, the policy is partially set with corporations in mind - but without it, America would have no way to compete for influence over the world, and the second/third-rate countries would be overtaken by China, Russia etc. My guess is that it would not end well for USA.

I’ve read War is a Racket. It’s a great piece and raises issues we all should think about. I also read A Bright Shining Lie, About Face, The Best and The Brightest and other books critical of the military [1, 2, 3]. Like I said in my previous comment, I have many issues with the military, but I’m also concerned when the elite of society no longer feel the need to serve, that makes me think of the Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire [4]. War sucks, but we all need to play our part, either in support or protest, but just pretending like it doesn’t exists and going about our day is the worst of both worlds.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bright_Shining_Lie [2] https://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Odyssey-American-Warrior/d... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_and_the_Brightest [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and...

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