William S. Lind :collection (merged thread)

[carl]

An airman works in an air force depot, doing inventory and equipment checks on spare parts. The inventory starts again once it's done, week after week. He's working with a civilian there who does the exact same thing.

What's so substantially different about this soldier to justify any special attitude or expectations for rewards?

I don't know about any justifications or expectations but what is different is the airman can be ordered to leave the depot and go to the front and fight as an infantryman and he has to go or face penalty. The civilian doesn't.

[carl]

Wm:

Most all good words in your two posts above.

There is one small thing I would sort of disagree with and it is about "sense of the eternal continuity of a great cause." A great cause is not confined only to big politics and big ideology I think. I think a great cause could also be that soldiers and soldiering be what you enunciated in post #190. That is a great cause worth pursuing for as long as there are men.

[Fuchs]

I don't know about any justifications or expectations but what is different is the airman can be ordered to leave the depot and go to the front and fight as an infantryman and he has to go or face penalty. The civilian doesn't.

Not if there's peace. Besides, airman? A civilian can be drafted and be ordered to go fight at the front as well, and that's in many countries much more likely to happen than this happening to an airman.

Again, the difference is not mil/civ, but 'mil at war'/'civ away from war'


Why is it so hard to think logically about this, instead of blurring lines all the time and then drawing an allegedly unblurred conclusion?

[carl]

Not if there's peace. Besides, airman? A civilian can be drafted and be ordered to go fight at the front as well, and that's in many countries much more likely to happen than this happening to an airman.

Again, the difference is not mil/civ, but 'mil at war'/'civ away from war'

Why is it so hard to think logically about this, instead of blurring lines all the time and then drawing an allegedly unblurred conclusion?

Soldiers are soldiers because they are to fight and they don't have the option to refuse sans penalty when ordered. Civilians do.

If a civilian is ordered to the front he in effect just got drafted.

Lots of German airman got sent to the front as well as many American Army Air Corps guys at Bataan.

[JMA]

Soldiers are soldiers because they are to fight and they don't have the option to refuse sans penalty when ordered. Civilians do.

If a civilian is ordered to the front he in effect just got drafted.

Lots of German airman got sent to the front as well as many American Army Air Corps guys at Bataan.

This is really a non-issue.

[JMA]

Why is it so hard to think logically about this, instead of blurring lines all the time and then drawing an allegedly unblurred conclusion?

Yes indeed, it is difficult to understand why you are so confused about this issue.