I have to say that I am more than a little tired of the arrogance of the military in our country. These kids go to boot camp, get indoctrinated by propaganda, and accept it as gospel. It is not. The purpose of boot camp is to indoctrinate you into the military ideals. They do not want their foot soldiers questioning commands. And trust me, most military members are far from inquisitive.

The first myth I hate is that you are defending my freedoms. No you are not. You are following orders. If your orders are to end my freedoms, you will do that happily. If your orders are to fire upon unarmed civilians practicing their freedoms at Kent State, you will do it. Nothing that you are doing in the "war on terror" helps my freedoms. All of a sudden, we have an administration that can declare you an enemy combatant and hold you without trial. What if you are a citizen? Well, the government says you are an enemy combatant, so you dont get a right to prove that. The government can now effectively summarily revoke your citizenship. We have a terrorist watch list of over a million people. In 2000, the CIA estimated global membership in al qaida at 190. 190 people in the whole word, now hundreds of thousands have been held, two countries invaded, a million people on a watch list, government surveillance, and the complete erosion of legal protections of civil liberties. Thank you military for protecting my freedom. However, as with most things, you did a shitty job.

The next myth I would like to address was just mentioned in a previous blog. I am not joining the military, not because I am a pussy, but because I have better career possibilities, and I do not beleive that what you do is moral. Simple as that. An intelligent person can come out of school today making well over $60,000. Why the hell would I go to Iraq, spend a year away from home, away from women, getting hot and sweaty around a bunch of men, and occasionally shot at just to make $25,000 when I can make 2 to 3 times as much to stay at home. And by staying at home, I dont have to be a party to an imperialistic power grab. Yeah meathead, you are right. the $25,000 job is far better. There must only be one reason for anyone to reject it.