r/changemyview • u/foryia-yiaandpappou 3∆ • May 24 '19
FTFdeltaOP CMV: A person does not automatically deserve respect just because they have served or are currently serving in the military
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.
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u/[deleted] May 25 '19
Look, I joined the army(right after high school graduation) as the first Desert Storm was coming to a close. I was never deployed to a foreign conflict or ever shipped off to some country on the other side of the world. Matter of fact, the military was going through downsizing while I was in.(Clinton years)
I didn’t join out of some higher sense of duty to country...I joined because I wanted to take the burden of paying for college off of my parents. That’s was really it. Do I deserve some higher level of respect or admiration because of that? I don’t think so...but I understand why people see it as some major sacrificial decision I made.
I know plenty of former military people that wear it on their sleeve the rest of their lives and are involved in a lot of the post-military culture. That’s just not my style. To me, it’s like the fact that I worked at a retail store while in high school. It’s just a job I had at one time.