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[JustAnotherGen]

283. I don't know

My husband was an Italian Marine - he's turning 45 next month. And he didn't just do a 'year' - he did several years and was a tactical sharp shooter who believe it or not - saw combat. We just don't see what Europe "gets into" and "got into".

The problem the US has is that there is not enough 'freedom' within the military. His superiors knew damn well when they were stationed in Pisa that they all used to go up around the tower and smoke weed on their down time. It was just par for the course.

It worked for Italy because they knew 'boys were gonna be boys' and have their fun. And now - Italy no longer has mandatory service and their military is just as strong with more and more women joining after high school every year.

Now my father was a volunteer soldier in the Vietnam and Korean War Era - and was one of the FIRST Green Berets (Captain in the Army at the time).

He would fight you vociferously on this concept if he were alive. He saw more young marines get their heads blown off that had no business being in a combat zone AT ALL. They were there because they had to be - not because they really believed the bullshit he believed about God, Country, The American way and an abject fear that if he didn't do just AWFUL things the 'Commies' would invade us from every direction.

Not every man or woman has that grit and ability to be brainwashed as our first 'elite' soldiers were.

The 'elite soldier' I grew up with became an Arch Pacificist after a Marine barracks was blown up in Lebanon when I was a little girl. War has changed, the tactics have changed, humans have changed, and we only need to defend the homeland.

That doesn't require mandatory service.