The US military probably cannot be compared to any other nation’s military outside of China. They simply aren’t that trigger happy, and with no civil war and a strongly enforced set of national laws, ain’t no way that’s happening here.

Speaking as a Brit, there were regular jokes about how bad US troops were during the Iraq war as a result of numerous friendly fire incidents. You also only have to go on Youtube to see jokes around US Marines and sticking crayons up their nose to realise your faith in the ability of the average soldier's mental faculties is higher than that displayed by the armed forces themselves.

Even the British Army, generally regarded for professionalism, make a lot of jokes about how unintelligent and trigger happy the average squaddie is.

Do you think that marines doing silly things when bored and murdering their fellow citizens for entertainment are in ANY way actually related? I’m not sure we can continue this conversation if you can’t tell how unrelated “guy sticks crayons up his nose for a joke” and “guy kills his own fellow citizens” are.

Man I’m obviously not saying they have perfect discipline, I’m saying you clearly cannot compare them to a nation dealing with an ACTIVE CIVIL WAR.

Ok let me tell you a story from the British Army where my friend was an officer. Officers have to be driven everywhere by a squaddie for insurance reasons (to keep it simple).

One day he’s being driven in Germany and a cyclist is keeping pace with them. Officer tells the driver to “fuck him off,” meaning to drive away really quickly. The squaddie mishears this as “knock him off,” and promptly swerves into the rider.

Granted this was British but, as I pointed out, we’re pretty highly regarded for professionalism. So, do I think US troops are any brighter or more ethical? If ordered to shoot, will a significant number say “sir, no sir!”

No, I don’t think either of those things are true.

Man, the inability to see how unrelated this story is to civil war militants murdering fellow citizens for fun, especially when your example doesn’t even concern Americans, is disheartening.

> They simply aren’t that trigger happy

I already addressed this with my comments on American troops lighting up British tanks during Iraq.

> and with no civil war and a strongly enforced set of national laws

Er… have you read the news? The first part of the quote is a concern of many commentators and the second part of your comment is a fucking bad joke given your President has ignored multiple laws and judicial rulings, including sending the marines into LA without the permission of the governor!

> I already addressed this with my comments on

No, you didn’t lol. You showed how American soldiers could shoot at some other military members who were in a tank. I gotta say, if you think I care even half as much about any random Brit more than any American, you’re crazy.

Also, are you under the impression that a random soldier going on a killing spree against innocent Americans would be treated the same as the President playing legal games, albeit ones with very serious consequences?

> No, you didn’t lol.

Just because you don’t like getting schooled doesn’t change the fact that you were.

> Also, are you under the impression that a random soldier going on a killing spree against innocent Americans would be treated the same as the President playing legal games, albeit ones with very serious consequences?

A president that pardoned murderers from January 6th? A president that said there were good people in a group of neonazi rioters? A president that sent those military people in there against the legal restrictions on sending the military in? A president that fired all people in the chain of command who would say “no?”

Yes, I think it’ll be treated differently, just not the same way you will.

Oh, you’re acting like a toddler in a schoolyard now. Okay, you’re very clever and I’m not - you’re so big brain and I’m dumb.

> A president that pardoned murderers from January 6th? A president that said there were good people in a group of neonazi rioters? A president that

Yes? Why do you think this is a gotcha? I already said they were games with serious consequences. Are you ok dude?

This really feels like one of those

”””conversations””” where the other person is in fact arguing against someone else, and I’m just a proxy for whatever you’re actually mad about.

Well since you asked nicely, Legal Eagle obliged and reminded me that the NG shot at protesters during the Vietnam War: https://youtu.be/CT8_IV42AM8?si=HCyQNBpJ7T9pfodS

Skip ahead to about 10 minutes. So yes, I’m still right and the US military are as trigger happy as any other military.

Are soldiers dumb automatons though? I struggle to imagine them looking forward to the prospect of firing on American citizens.

Yes, soldiers are frequent perpetrators of atrocities and proud about comiting those atrocities. They are also easy to convince civilians are their enemies. Especially when frustrated, bored, hungry and sleep deprived.

It stems from leadership - and current leadership wants them to be like that. So, they will become like that.

Well they're training on that now. With rubber bullets they are breaking down the emotional barriers to pointing assault weapons at US Citizens, feeling the hate flow through them, and pulling the trigger

If you read 'ordinary men' or watch the documentary, basically anyone can be trained to even execute innocent people by putting them in a suit and promising to name call them or feed them worse food if they don't do it. Something like 2M jews were killed outside of the gas chambers by essentially regular citizens who would see no worse punishment than social shaming and less desirable duties for refusing, and whom didn't even really want the job in the first place.

'Illegal immigrants' however would sell better, especially if they were 'provocative'