“I am afraid of a military in which service becomes monetarily lucrative, because then they have something to defend other than the freedoms of this country.”
There are no servicemen getting rich for being in the military - and a 10% discount from a vendor is certainly not the pot at the end of a rainbow.
Some people are really clueless about what it means to serve. 1% of our nation is willing to die for the freedom and ideals of the 99% that don’t serve - they should be paid more while athletes and movie stars should be hoping for a little discount at the store because they need the help making ends meet...
“Some people are really clueless about what it means to serve. 1% of our nation is willing to die for the freedom and ideals of the 99% that don’t serve - they should be paid more while athletes and movie stars should be hoping for a little discount at the store because they need the help making ends meet...”
Somewhere, somehow there has to be some admiration for the efforts of the taxpayer who pays for it all, and without whom, none of the freedoms would be possible.
The all volunteer armed-forces under civilian control is a lynchpin of democracy. But even the US armed forces is not beyond being perverted by a sufficiently diabolical civilian leader. We have that leader now.
The military must not become a threat to democracy. Placing them in an elite category above the taxpayers that pay for them is one way to start disconnecting them from the citizenry whose rights they protect and defend.
Military service connected with military industrial complex post military employment is lucrative, and every bit the threat that Eisenhower claimed it could be - only it’s worse now.
I still believe that most in the military serve for selfless reasons. But I am concerned for our country, and as with most institutions that are part of the grand experiment, and I no longer believe that there is an overwhelming majority serving for selfless reasons as there once was.