Originally Posted by Mikhayl

Just rambling but then again from the start I think it's healthy to make the difference between a soldier within the homeland borders and away.

I could go on and on and on with sadly funny (home) or downright ugly (abroad) personnal stories and friend's stories from "duty" but I think it can be summed by a couple numbers. In the french army there's at most 0.7 applicant for 1 job. The job pays 200 euros more than any other "non qualified" job, and you're sure to get it. When I left the army I had to post over 50 resumés to finally get a lousy job paying 900€ compared to the 1150 + benefits I was making in the army. Some people on this forum will want to use that to take a shot at the french as usual but before doing so take a look at the stats for your own army

So with that mind I'm never surprised when I hear in the news that this guy was charged with rape, this one was seen on a blog photo wearing nazi garment, this one accidentally discharged his firearm on a comrade etc etc.

I think it's safe to say that if an army has to resort to advertising and roaming streets to find recruits, then you can be sure things are going to be ugly especially when these people are deployed abroad. There is a huge difference between the actual stuff and the romantic vision of strong men placing duty above and giving up their life to "serve and protect".

Basically I agree with OLC's statement that soldiers are a necessary evil but an evil nonetheless.