Violent Professions

The anti-war crowd is again yammering about our killed and wounded military personnel. We haven’t really heard this sort of thing since Vietnam. The mantra then and now is that we are involved in an illegal war and that we must bring the troops home because too many are dying. Military personnel are depicted as victims of their country’s capriciousness. From the liberal/leftist point-of-view, no war is worth the cost. So it is not surprising that we are hearing the same old song again.

There is one big difference this time. The military personnel are all volunteers. There are no draftees. Each and every military person knew when signing up that there was a potential to be placed in harm’s way. That’s why the military teaches you how to fire weapons, drive tanks and fly planes.

Selecting a job as a soldier is similar in some respects to selecting a job as a police officer. Each is trained to confront and react violently if necessary. And each knows that his death is a possibility. Each year in the U.S. 150-170 police officers are killed in the line of duty. We mourn each one, but there is no call to pull back the police from their dangerous mission every day.

Society needs its warriors: soldiers; and police officers alike. They take a risk for us every day, and that is what they are paid to do. We honor them in life and in death.

I think that the anti-war crowd is disingenuous about their concern for the welfare of the military troops. They are simply using it as a mechanism to bash their political opponents and to play on the emotions of the general public.