[paganel]

Really now? I know Western newspapers like the NYTimes have become very, very enamoured with the military-industrial complex, and I get that, de facto, the US is at war, but why should anyone feel sorry for the people mentioned in the article, people whose mission is to kill some poor peasants herding their goats in the mountains of Yemen or who are attending a wedding somewhere in Afghanistan?

[goldenkey]

The same reason that the workers at slaughterhouses deserve pity. Even vegans understand they undergo PTSD and injuries to keep a machine going. No person is suited for these jobs.

[torbTurret]

I buy that argument maybe during a draft, but not for those volunteering for such duties.

[Jarwain]

People volunteer for a number of reasons, whether because they Want to be a part of a military machine or because it's the best way to pay for school. Either way they do so with some expectation that the intel is sound, that they're helping to protect America/American values, that they're attacking Threats and not random civilians. To have that trust & expectation violated can be traumatic, and nobody deserves that.

Even if they volunteered totally aware of what they would be doing and what would happen, it's one thing to Know and another thing to Have Experienced.

[erklik]

> Either way they do so with some expectation that the intel is sound, that they're helping to protect America/American values, that they're attacking Threats and not random civilians.

With the amount of information that's been released in the last few years, it's bonkers that anyone going into this and having done a limited amount of study won't be aware that shooting civilians is part of the job. It's quite unrealisitic to have such an expectation really.

> Even if they volunteered totally aware of what they would be doing and what would happen, it's one thing to Know and another thing to Have Experienced.

True. But if they volunteer aware that they'll be killing innocents. It seems kind of insane that they deserve any level of sympathy regardless of what they experienced.

[kortilla]

> With the amount of information that's been released in the last few years

> But if they volunteer aware that they'll be killing innocents.

We’re talking about 18 year old kids who are absolutely not well-informed and their knowledge about the military will be what the recruiter tells them.

Most seniors exiting high school have approximately no critical thinking ability. They just parrot ideas ingrained into them via their social circles. So unless they came from an anti-military household or anti-military material was popular in their social media, they are absolutely not “aware they’ll be killing innocents”.m

[erklik]

> We’re talking about 18 year old kids who are absolutely not well-informed and their knowledge about the military will be what the recruiter tells them.

I mean there weren't front-page news stories about the US bombing weddings and schools in the past few years? I am not sure we should be underestimating 18yos that much.

They don't need critical thinking skills to know that America has bombed kids and schools and weddings and stuff in the past willy-nilly. Also, 18yo won't be going onto a drone the day after. This happens after years of training and remaining in the military, is it really fair to plead ignorance after all that?

[goldenkey]

These are well paying jobs with health insurance and benefits. It's not simple to switch jobs without the requisite degrees or skills.

Referring to working a job as "volunteering" is incredibly naive.

[pvaldes]

volunteering can mean working for free but also 'willing to do the job', 'applying for the job'.

[homonculus1]

If those who repent of evil can't be forgiven then none of us have hope.