“they are government employees and will do as they’re told by whoever signs their checks”
That’s true... but then again, the check signers in Chile probably thought that too, until they woke up one morning to aerial bombardment and tanks in the streets of Santiago.
There was a time when military service meant a little more than just being a government employee. It was about serving your country. It’s a real shame if we’ve lost that.
I can’t speak for the Military as a whole, but from my experience....well, I’d say that concept has been on it’s way out since at least the mid-90s. Based on how many of my senior NCOs were only in it “For retirement” or the common re-enlistment line “It’s a guaranteed Paycheck, and it’s a tough economy out there” To me they viewed military service as a form of welfare.
“the check signers in Chile probably thought that too”
Like the check signers in Spain they meant to de-fang the military; in both cases the military acted in its own interests and installed one of its own to sign the checks (and keep them coming).
“There was a time when military service meant a little more than just being a government employee. It was about serving your country. It’s a real shame if we’ve lost that.”
It was a country worth serving, not just a divisive post-Christianity agenda posing as a country.