The troops are under fire.

The troops.. the troops.. the troops are under fire.

A recent bulletin came across complaining that the soldiers should be grieved as much as the VT students, I left that alone -- It is fallacious rhetoric and doesn't deserve the scrutiny it received thus far. The person who reposted it added her own opinion to the matter. I will respond -- her quotes are indented quasi-APA style.

"Also, it says clearly that our army is Volunteer. The people who are in Iraq fighting and unfortunatley dying, kne wthat was an option when they signed up....."

That is not the point.

They knew dying was an option when they signed up, but volunteering in the army doesn't just heave expectations onto the soldier... it also leaves the army and our leadership under certain expectations. Read further.

"Fact: Dying in a volunteer army is something you can expect, dying at school is something you shoudn't have to worry about."

This is a very true point, though it fails under scrutiny. The fact that expectation somehow changes the balance of how one should grieve. There is a large expectation of dying while driving, yet we feel for vehicular tragedies. The same can be said of crossing the road, swimming in the ocean, everything we do is voluntary unless we are being forced.

Also, when you join the army you place your life in the hands of others, you rightfully expect that those others will perform their job as they are supposed to. Why should you not?

Even though they volunteer they expect that their government will make the right choices concerning how they are "expended". This means making proper strategic decisions.. People do not join the army to be led by Goofy and Donald, they volunteer under the assumption that their leadership is capable.

One cannot argue the fallacy of this war, the conclusion of such an argument is inevitable -- we've made a complete ass of ourselves and are now struggling to justify our positions both strategically and morally. There is no strategic goal! How do you play a game of chess without knowing what the ultimate goal is?

When you make sweeping statements about how the war plans have been a large mistake, as the administration (Bush included) have, then you admit that that you were incompetent and people died for it.

Having said that: Many people who volunteered for this volunteer army did so under false pretenses. I was one such person and I served for 6 years, and also served in Iraq. I did what I volunteered to do, but the military lost a good soldier due to incompetence, and is even now fatally losing them due to incompetence.

That is the point.