[Madmartagen]

Bullshit, and before your cheerleaders start chiming in, I would like to point out that you can pick your battles in the military. They have concientous objection status for people who dont want to fight. You can get reassigned or serve your time in jail. I belive its a risk you take when you join, but look at the track record of the military actually giving a shit about its own soldiers. You get injured, you get the good old rim job of fighting for medication just like HMOs. You get poisoned or exposed to toxins or agents, good luck getting anyone to help you after the war. You sign up to serve your country, and yes that means whenever they call you, but you do have a right to choose between serving or doing jail time. i dont know about desertion, but nobody wants you in your unit after youve made it obvious you arent willing to fight for the cause. You going to mow down a group of women and children just becuause your seargent or Lt tell you to? you going to take that truck and humvee 45 miles to a checkpoint w/o a convoy? like someone else said, its their loss. what is the point of spending millions of dollars training these people if you send them in combat with shitty equiptment, divided support from home, an unclear and possibly fraudulent reason for going to war in the first place, and rampant war profiteering. The war on terrorism is in Afghanistan, not Iraq. I bet these people wouldnt have deserted if they were assigned there instead. We have orders in our lives to do, but just because you are in the military, it doesnt mean you have to go against your convictions. take the penalty and move on with your life.