those ppl have families and things like that...

no one wants to get court martialed.

more importantly, sometimes folks other than the soldiers themselves have to live off those benefits.

i mean, on one level i do agree with you: it's sad that the 80-90% of those guys/girls who went in only did it to (a) travel, (b) go to school, (c) have a job, or (d) some combination of the 3.

i hate this thing as much as i'm sure you do, and my idea of "supporting" the troops is getting them the hell out of there before any more young lives/spirits are damaged.

but i blame the bullshit administration who got us into this mess FAR more than i blame them. recruiters lie. and who expected us to go into anything resembling a war??!??

i might have a little to say to the parents who encouraged and/or allowed the military to be a clearly viable option. but a lot of these folks dying--at least from what i've seen so far--are college-aged. the same age that a lot of the suicide bombers are when they start thinking about "martyrdom". that says a great deal.

you also have to understand where a lot of those kids come from, too. what else were they going to do with their lives?

there's a lot more to it than where the "blame" falls.