I didn't join the forces.
I didn't join because I knew that there was a very real and serious risk of being shot at, blown up, maimed or otherwise hurt in a bad way and didn't want that. Every single forces applicant has that same choice. There is no conscription.

I respect people in the forces who do a difficult job, which I would never do. That is in the same way I respect those who care for people, save lives and others who make the world a better place. But! This doesn't make soldiers special above and beyond everyone else. They CHOSE to join up. By implication they CHOSE to risk life and limb.

They deserve the same sympathy and treatment anyone who has suffered serious injury does, but ask yourself how many other people have been left disabled and on lifes scrapheap from civilian jobs?

Construction workers do a dangerous job with potentially lethal risks, so do civilian pilots, firemen, oilrig workers, chemical plant workers and many more. They all choose to do it.

Do they get special treatment? Does the builder who's paralysed and unable to work not deserve charity? Do the family of a rig worker not need comfort when their loved one is lost in a helicopter accident as happened recently? Doesn't everyone deserve a chance to rebuild?
(The man with the flan swashed his buckle on, Thu 4 Feb 2010, 15:42, 1 reply)

^this^

( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 4 Feb 2010, 20:20, closed)