[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by dekeguy

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Dulci et decorum est pro patria mori. Although I prefer General Patton's comment that the idea is not to die for your country but to make the other poor dumb son of a bitch die for his! [dekeguy]
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Yay more dead people! That's the sort of line that works when one is IN the military, and I can see why, but isn't particularly motivational outside of it to someone like me.

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Life in the real world by its very nature involves risk. Service in the military can be seen as about as risky as being a cop or a firefighter. The points one gets for service come not from cooling it in a nice safe place but going out in harm's way and taking responsibility and demonstrating courage, determination, and savvy.

My guys aren't becoming cops or firefighters either. I firmly believe that most people of all backgrounds don't want those accolades, they want to support their families. They can demonstrate many positive character qualities along the way, to be sure, but they don't need or want to prove their courage or get a gold star for it.

With opportunity comes responsibility and with service comes a bit of danger. No one in the Army ignores or understates this. The more training, maturity, and savvy one can acquire the better prepared one will be. When one understands the risks and possibilities one is far better prepared to deal with the downside of it all.

Aye but you were speaking in general to and about people outside of the military, it's not like I thought you were lacking in understanding of the risks.

As is the case with very many units which have been forward deployed my outfit keeps tabs on one another. I lost no one KIA but some of my troopers were wounded (I caught one myself). None of us have committed suicide, some stayed in the Army, some like Cincinnatus have returned to civilian life, all (I guess) have experienced some degree of PTSS but we deal with it, work through it, and drive on. Life is life, deal with it!

Um, good for you guys?
This rather ignores that there are now more suicides in Afghanistan than combat deaths. Someone with full PTSD doesn't just deal with it and things get better. Their families generally suffer along the way and there has not been support available to them until relatively recently. The VA is just learning to handle having women vets receiving regular services.

A recent study showed half of veterans in college have suicidal thoughts, a third have severe anxiety and a quarter are depressed. Symptoms were found as clinically significant (that is they were severe and diagnosable) and 45% showed clinical signs of PTSD. We're just not doing enough to help them and brushing it off as "It's Life, Deal with it" does a serious disservice to those service members.

There is one other point which I think is worth mentioning. Through my readings and my Dad's stories of way back when, during the Viet Nam War, I found that ROTC was excluded from very many schools and universities. The recruiting pool was very limited and the services had to lower standards for selecting leaders. It is apparent to me that this situation brought about Lieut. Calley and the Mei Lai Massacre tradegy. Unprepared leaders not ready to lead and command and take responsibility for what they and their soldiers do or fail to do! So, I believe that JROTC begins the process of forming the leader who is responsible and able to command with some degree of wisdom and honor.
dekeguy

As I said, I'm not against programs like the JROTC or the military itself. That doesn't mean we should ignore the demographics of the military and the reasons for it.