As President Donald Trump viciously attacked his perceived political foes, he whipped up boos from the gathered troops directed at California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Well, I certainly hope the other marines soldiers around them are now fully aware that these scum bags have placed their political views above their oath to the Constitution. I certainly would not trust any of them to have my back.
There sure are fucking truck loads of them in that picture.
I remember when the French helped us beat some tyranny away from our borders, and although I wouldn't ask them to get their hands dirty when we start wrestling ourselves, I sure wish we could channel some of their energy into the people who "oppose" things like this.... From their couch.
I long to see French level of protesting here in the states.
I'm genuinely curious to what extend the societal divide extends into the armed forces. How can can there be trust among soldiers in combat situations if they are diametrically opposed on fundamental things like this.
Opposite statements. Either they follow orders or they are loyal to the constitution. Can't do both right now.
I can't fathom the industrial amounts of pure propagandium that Americans must have been huffing to think the military will ever be on their side. Blind and unconditional obedience is literally the only way militaries can function properly and everything about them is organized to promote that.
US military apologists (even before Trump) will say "but soldiers are legally obligated to follow the constitution first and must refuse unlawful orders" like Abu Ghraib didn't happen in my lifetime. We all know that 90 % of soldiers will wipe themselves with the original copy of the declaration of independence if Trump orders them to. And those that refuse will be dishonorably discharged, or worse.
The divide absolutely exists. There is a lot of conditioning for following orders and working as a team. That doesn't erase conflicting ideologies, beliefs, or even personality conflict. At the extreme the military will remove outliers from the military, but at the individual level you learn who you trust and who you can rely on. Then you do what you can to mitigate those who you don't trust.
Militaries all over the world also have a long history of killing their own people for not fitting whatever the group around them wants. Sometimes for justifiable reasons, like incompetent leaders likely to get their subordinates killed. Other times for things like someone being uncomfortable with blatant war crimes.
There is nothing magical or special about the military. They just have more weapons. So the solutions are violent more often than the average office job.
I watched some bit of this earlier in horror and while I was playing a hard game of "spot the differences between this and nazi speeches" I heard Trump mistaking WW1 for WW2. This is the lunatic in charge of the world's biggest army. We are so cooked...