This is why "all troops are forever irredeemable" is a bad take. The most powerful military on earth uses the most powerful propaganda machine on earth to target kids who are barely shaving for recruitment. That kid has zero firsthand experience with the reality of the imperial war machine, and if they try to quit once they're in they can get a black mark next to their name that will impede their ability to get housing, education, and employment for the rest of their life. We can't hold a kid 100% responsible -- with no possibility of forgiveness at any point -- for their decision under these conditions. That's totally inconsistent with how leftists should think about culpability and rehabilitation in any other scenario.
Compare this to cops, who generally sign up for pig school in their 20s, who live under the realities of American policing every day, and who can quit at any time with no real repercussions.
That kid has zero firsthand experience with the reality of the imperial war machine, and if they try to quit once they’re in they can get a black mark next to their name that will impede their ability to get housing, education, and employment for the rest of their life.
This is actually something we could potentially use to our advantage, since there are various ways to help people leave the military without having it be too damaging, but most soldiers just don't know how. The command structure purposefully obfuscates regulations and military law in order to prevent soldiers from knowing their rights, but there are anti-war vet groups and other organizations like the GI Rights Hotline who specialize in this. I wish there was more awareness/support for that kind of thing. If we can help reduce the military's numbers in a way that's completely legal and might even win more people to our side, why wouldn't we want to support that?
This is why "all troops are forever irredeemable" is a bad take. The most powerful military on earth uses the most powerful propaganda machine on earth to target kids who are barely shaving for recruitment. That kid has zero firsthand experience with the reality of the imperial war machine, and if they try to quit once they're in they can get a black mark next to their name that will impede their ability to get housing, education, and employment for the rest of their life. We can't hold a kid 100% responsible -- with no possibility of forgiveness at any point -- for their decision under these conditions. That's totally inconsistent with how leftists should think about culpability and rehabilitation in any other scenario.
Compare this to cops, who generally sign up for pig school in their 20s, who live under the realities of American policing every day, and who can quit at any time with no real repercussions.
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Spot-on all around. And damn, every time I think about Korea I'm just so fucking disgusted with this country.
This is actually something we could potentially use to our advantage, since there are various ways to help people leave the military without having it be too damaging, but most soldiers just don't know how. The command structure purposefully obfuscates regulations and military law in order to prevent soldiers from knowing their rights, but there are anti-war vet groups and other organizations like the GI Rights Hotline who specialize in this. I wish there was more awareness/support for that kind of thing. If we can help reduce the military's numbers in a way that's completely legal and might even win more people to our side, why wouldn't we want to support that?