>I know I sure as hell wasn't mature enough at 18 or even a decade later to be in a position where I could be deciding to kill someone in combat

You could easily be a non combatant, and most are not combatants jobs. Its one of the greatest misconceptions of the military. Wars and battles only occur during a failure of diplomacy and negotiation.

Sure, I could easily be a non combatant and likely would be (although I scored in the high 90s on the ASVAB and the recruiters said I could pick my role...) but my understanding is that you don't really get a choice. When you sign the papers they own you and you wouldn't have much of a choice if they decided to put you in that position.

I'm not sure I agree that those are the only situations where wars and battles occur - maybe in great power conflicts but was there really much diplomacy or negotiation before the U.S. invaded Iraq?

I scored a 96. I was supposed to go Navy Nuclear Power School and become a nuclear power plant technician of some kind. Either a Machinist's Mate (MM Nuclear), Electronics Technician (ET Nuclear), or Electrician's Mate (EM Nuclear).

Turns out I'm color blind. I already had the top secret clearance, ended up as a quartermaster (QM) for Patrol Coastal Crew Charlie at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach, under command of SOSCOM (Special Operations Support Command).

A lot of driving around spec ops units on a RHIB (Ridged Hull Inflatable Boat) up and down the Um Qasr river (which is actually more an estuary and canal system, and actually has a lot of different names as it shifts... but that's another story - everyone just calls it 'Um Qasr').

Bottom line, the military will put you where they need you most. Smart people get put into advanced training for very technical ratings. I would probably be working in a nuclear power plant today had I been born with normal color vision. Such is life. Smart people are too rare to waste on shit like infantry. There's plenty of people that can hold a rifle.

>>>Smart people are too rare to waste on shit like infantry.

Nitpick: the infantry needs intelligent people too, especially in the officer ranks. McNamarra's Morons suffered massively-higher casualty rates than "normal" draftee infantry, for example.

I cannot say for sure, but it wasn't the only place with conflicts. I also got high on the ASVAB, but I didn't end up joining because I was too nervous and scared like you.

People need to stop seeing the military as the problem and rather the electorate that votes for politicians that lead us into wars. The military without a war is just a big gun club.