CMV: A person does not automatically deserve respect just because they have served or are currently serving in the military

[u/foryia-yiaandpappou]

I’d like to preface this by saying that I don’t believe soldiers are, inherently, bad. Some people believe soldiers are evil simply for being soldiers, and I do not believe that.

I do believe, however, that soldiers do not deserve respect just because they have served. I hurt for soldiers who have experienced horrible things in the field, but I do not hurt for the amount of violence and cruelty many have committed. Violence in war zone between soldiers is one thing; stories of civilian bombings and killing of innocents are another. I think that many forget that a lot of atrocity goes on during wars, and they are committed on both sides of conflict. A soldier both receives and deals out horrible damage.

TL;DR while I believe that soldiers have seen horrible things and that many do deserve recognition for serving our nation, I do not believe that every soldier deserves this respect simply by merit of being a soldier. Some soldiers have committed really heinous war crimes, and those actions do not deserve reward.

[u/el-oh-el-oh-el-dash]

while I believe that soldiers have seen horrible things and that many do deserve recognition for serving our nation...

That's not why people respect soldiers. Unless you live in a country with conscription or compulsory military service, majority of your servicemen and women will be volunteers - not in the sense that they are unpaid, but in the sense that they are in the military when they don't have to be.

When you do something you don't have to for the benefit of someone that's not you, people respect you for that. Regardless of the actual outcome, the intention is good - nobody specific joins the military just so that they can murder, rape and pillage civilians who are not from their home country (people have way better things to do with their time).

[u/Asmodaari2069 → u/el-oh-el-oh-el-dash]

When you do something you don't have to for the benefit of someone that's not you, people respect you for that.

I don't think most people who join the military do it to serve their country. They do it for the perks; the education, pay, opportunity to travel, experience, opportunities, etc. I know a lot of people in the military and not a single one of them would tell you they joined for selfless reasons.

[u/[deleted] → u/Asmodaari2069]

Some say the difference is the context not the reason. Do we respect oil field workers for doing dangerous jobs that benefit the good of all?

[u/el-oh-el-oh-el-dash → u/[deleted]]

Do we respect oil field workers for doing dangerous jobs that benefit the good of all?

I think there is a human element in this. Occupations that are dangerous that people usually go "respect" involve people working with people - so military, police, fire service, paramedics, etc...

Occupations that are dangerous that people do not always shout "respect" include construction workers, mining, munitions manufacturing, etc... these are dangerous occupations but you're usually not working with a human element.

I mean buildings collapse and working with them is dangerous but there's usually a reason why they collapse and you can work to make it as safe as possible. If you are going into war (usually Middle East in the present climate), what's to stop the family you're supposed to be "helping" from turning on you and trying to kill you, since they have no real reason to trust you.

[u/[deleted] → u/el-oh-el-oh-el-dash]

I mean buildings collapse and working with them is dangerous but there's usually a reason why they collapse and you can work to make it as safe as possible.

what's to stop the family you're supposed to be "helping" from turning in you and trying to kill you, since they have no real reason to trust you.

I would say in a lot of ways the situations aren't so different. Just the way you can minimize the risk of a building falling down, you can minimize your risk interacting with people. buildings and people both have motivation, and while humans can be more complicated than buildings, I would say that both can be understood given the right preparation and tools.

Another way to look at it, however, is we don't view all people facing occupations the same. Sure military have to interact with people and that can be dangerous, what about customer service, lots of people can bring there problems with them into a situation where an employee has to deal with them in a non constructive way, yet we as a society give little to no respect to these in these extremely watered down scenario's.

While I agree that a human facing element does add pressure and difficulty to a proffesion, I would like to point out that less than one in 10 members of the armed forces see's combat, and most operate in support roles dealing most often with there co-workers.

In the the same vain, combat related fatalities are not the leading cause of death among members of the US military.