Part of the problem is their age: 18. At 18 you are considered an adult, and you think you know it all. Most American 18 year olds know very little outside of what they've seen on television.
Look at the average age of our soldiers in WWII: around 25. Not much older, but seven years has almost a third of the life experience added on. Not to mention the men in WWII weren't ignorant because of television addiction.
I don't blame Americans, males, or a lack of discipline. I blame a culture that teaches young men to not use their brains and abandon intellect. I blame a culture that is fearful. I blame a culture that celebrates emptiness and stupidity, so much so that a fool like Bush Jr. can be elevated to the highest office in the land. I blame the lowest-common-denominator GOP culture.
Let's not blame a few rotten apples, let's ask why we prefer rotten apples to good ones. It's probably because in a prosperous society, no one wants to join the military. Our culture is geared toward keeping some people in poor conditions and keeping them undereducated just so we'll have more people to join in the damn fool Republican crusades.
These rich Republicans want wars for oil and profits? Let them fight them for themselves.
Let's not condemn everyone who joins the military to lift themselves out of the Republican-sponsored poverty as mindless thugs. They are honorable people who do credit to their nation. It's just they're put into horrendous situations at too young an age, and with too little life experience, and act accordingly.
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