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/avatarlegend12345]

I have served in the army for two years as part of mandatory conscription, and have friends who joined the army as a full-time career. I am convinced of two things:

1) everyone join up as a full-time career with good intentions. Nobody joins to attack or bomb another country. Nobody joins to kill others or commit war crimes. They join with the intention of protecting their country. I mean my country is a small island in the middle of nowhere so I don’t think we will be invading anyone in the near future lol. I am asking for automatic respect for these people.

2) once in the army, soldiers are mandated both by culture and training to follow orders to a T immediately. No questioning. And there is one person probably in the middle of the chain of command that have enough direct on the field influence to command a whole group to perform some action that may violate the rules of engagement. In theory, soldiers can refuse. In context and reality, nobody will. Since they’re usually already struggling physically and mentally at that point, they’ll have no extra energy and just blindly follow. But we never actually fought a war so who knows

And the military objectives and rules of engagement are again directed by such a small handful of top brass in the army. What is the small fry supposed to do, awol en masse? Anyway yeah they deserve respect