Greedy people are pro-war.

I guess there are at least some cases where can one consider being "pro-involvement", even though that's technically not "pro-war". There are certain things that happen around the globe where the populace that falls victim to it protect themselves against it, where outside forces can lend assistance. Although even this then begs the question of whether military involvement is actually necessary.

What part of "Only Congress or the President has the authority to declare war under varying timelines" do you not understand? Hate them, don't hate those who risk themselves as part of their job. According to your thought process, if you hate criminals, you must hate cops too.

I understand both, it doesn't have to make it right though. What's happening in Syria is from the "legitimate" rules, using the soldiers to kill children. Now, the soldiers in Syria probably don't have much wiggle room to avoid being target of the army if she or he quits. In the US though, you have a very good option. You will not be tortured or killed for not signing up and thus you can directly avoid being apart of for instance invading Iraq based on lies. That you wrote about cops-criminals just doesn't make any sense to me. If you weren't just trying to score an easy point by using a flawed figure of speech please feel free to try to explain what you meant.

"War"isn't the only thing the military does, though. For example, I'm in the US Navy, and my squadron fights pirates who murder, rape, kidnap, and sell innocent people into slavery. I doubt even the anti-war types can rightfully hate someone who fights pirates.

Don't be ridiculous #31, we cannot just decide we don't want to play war anymore. There will always be a need for the military to protect our own country at least and we have a certain duty to protect others who cannot help themselves or have a corrupt regime in place. If you disagree with the reason for military action being taken then fair enough but the brave men and women who are there, want to help. Don't hate the soldier(sailor/air crew).

An job chosen by them. The implications are very clear on "you might die"!!

Way to ignore what I'm saying #52. I'm not saying there should be no army (well of course that would be nice but not with how the world currently looks). I'm not saying that everyone in the army is an asshole or a murderer. I'm also not saying that everything the navy and/or the army is doing is all out wrong. What I'm saying is that each individual has a responsibility. The larger your freedom the larger the responsibility. For instance the members of the Syrian army, who by your logic are heroes since they are members of the army, I don't consider heroes. I consider them criminals. However, they would probably lose their life if they tried to leave the Syrian army, and are thus of course less accomplice to the crimes, as a consequence of their limited freedom. In the USA though no one is forcing anyone by gunpoint saying "Be a part of a war that is based on lies and will kill (indirectly mostly) hundreds of thousands of civilians, or we'll shoot you and your family". Rather in the USA everyone has a chance (and a democratic responsibility) to study and to say "No, I will not take part in this mindless killing. I love my country and I'm ready to die for it, but I'm not ready to die for the profit of a few companies". If soldiers (or would be soldiers) actually did that there would be no army to commit war crimes with. That's why I think sentiments like "God bless the veterans" and "They sign up because that's the right thing to do." is utter crap. No it's not right to follow your leaders blindly, and it's not heroic either. It can be but it's not automatically so.

Dear 31, I have an intelligent, rational argument against your "hate war, hate solders" statements. However, you don't seam to have the cognitive capacity for it so allow me to put it into very simple terms... Pull your fat head out of your self-righteous ass!

Service members can't decide what is and isn't a worthy cause once they are enlisted or commissioned, though. As in the case of Syria, those who will be involved in that conflict have been in the military for some time before that, and had no way of knowing that a conflict with Syria would arise. Likewise in the case of the Iraq war, many people involved in that joined the miliary to fight Al Qaeda in response to 9/11, and then the US declared war on Iraq later. And once something like that happens, one can't simply decide to no longer be in the military, because all service members are under contract, and can't choose to leave the military until their term of enlistment is up. No matter what reason a service member chooses to enlist, he or she is obligated to go wherever and do whatever their leaders decide is necessary.

Very right Gra-with the penalty of imprisonment or execution if they don't. American soldiers give up a lot of their own personal freedoms when they decide to protect ours. (Granted, death by firing squad is not a common occurrence, but it's still on the books)

National Guard units get deployed, too.

Seriously? I didn't know that. That seems really weird to me... but then I'm not from the US so I'm probably just misinformed.

They might consider being police officers

@44. Yes, seriously. They get deployed and shipped off. They also get shot at, blown up, and even sent home in boxes just like the rest of the military branches.

There are lots of different reasons why people join the military. I joined for the GI Bill and training. I am student loan free and possess certifications that can't be earned in the civilian sector. I served during OIF and OEF, however, I never had to deploy. There were always enough volunteers willing to deploy so those of us who didn't want to go, didn't have to. I thank those who had the courage to step forward so I could stay safe at home with my kids. I certainly didn't agree with everything Bush did, but I did my job anyway. God bless our vets.

Clearly I was talking of people who join in because they truly believe that invading another country is going to bring freedom and peace to theirs. I think 9/11 proved otherwise. The US fiercest enemies are born from its aggressive foreign policies. I was not talking about people who sign up for the benefits. Anyway everyone should be allowed an education without having no other choice than joining the military but that's another debate. Being a patriot is lovely but no country attacks another for freedom ideals, the goal of wars as I said before is to acquire resources and expand geopolitical influence. Otherwise, how come North Korea is still oppressing its people? They have been threatening openly the US as well. The Middle East has petrol, which is why it gets so much attention from the Occident. At least know what you sign up for. War is economics and the freedom ideal politicians feed you with is pure propaganda. Period.

Which country is threatening American democracy so your brother has to be there?