Harmageddon
Member
True, but for the fact that no preparation will suffice in getting you close to the gruelling reality of war. Training is just that: training. Unless you start employing methods used during Hitler's Germany to prepare the SS soldiers for the task - i.e. grooming a pet dog and then killing it, torturing people during your training and such - you are not getting close.Originally posted by Hobbit:
The military, during a time of war, has the toughest, most grueling job on the face of the planet. Very few other occupations involve risk of life and pushing one's self beyond your percieved limits simply by nature. That being said, the U.S. military tries to prepare its soldiers for these conditions. In basic training, the soldiers are broken down both physically and mentally. Their limits are pushed and surpassed. As they are forced to do and endure more than they think they are capable of, those limits get higher and higher. Then, when faced with the real thing, the soldier pushing his body to its limits comes as second nature.
True, but for the fact that to obey insane orders is insane. There are many examples through history where sergeants or corporals or other higher ups got frustrated with the enemy, and decided to send the grunts into a certain death strategy. Originally intended to surprise the enemy, many of these decisions based on frustration (corporals are also merely humans) have succeeded in senseless sacrifices of scores of fine soldiers.Originally posted by Hobbit:
Second, a military needs discipline. Very few things take precedence over the direct orders of a superior officer. Another part of basic training is to teach recruits that they are to follow their orders to the exclusion of anything else unless those orders go against the rules or laws of that army. That being said, disobeying those orders carries an immediate and fairly harsh punishment of taking on an undesirable duty.
That is why it is never a bad thing to question an insane order. And if there is one situation where insanity rides high, it is the frontline of a bloody groundwar.
That said, scrubbing toilets to learn discipline in wartime does not really match the situation well. It would be more of a medic job than that of a real dedicated soldier. Of course soldiers need discipline for a military to function; but there are guidelines as to when an order becomes insane.
That'm my take on the situation.