Why do soldiers receive so much respect and praise, when they are essentially just going out to kill people?

My answer to Why do soldiers receive so much respect and praise, when they are essentially just going out to kill p…

Answer by Abbey Laurel-Smith:

If you look at soldiers the way Donald Trump does – regard them, their trade and their chosen profession as nothing short of criminals waiting to be unleashed on an enemy, then you have a right to this opinionated question.

If you think like Madeline Albright – now pushing Hillary Clinton to look at American soldiers as fine bodies of men to be unleashed on Russia, rather than keep up with the war on terrorism – because their Sunni sponsors are “allies’ and are good for business and overseas trade, then you have a right to this nauseating query.

Nonetheless, I will control my boiling rage and trepidation. I will not blame you for posting this question. After all Quora’s policy is to inform the uniformed.

See, in the English speaking world, soldiers and their profession have come a long way. And because we (in the English speaking world) have evolved a system that denies the likes of Moses, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, the Sword of Allah (nickname for Prophet Mohammed’s general), Hitler, etc, from taking the realm, it is difficult for our soldiers to be used to simply go out to maim and kill – men, women, children and animals, like all the above named fellows did. Oh! I forgot to add Gazza and Benjamin Netanyahu to the list.

In fact, one silent reason Sir Thomas Moore was beheaded was because he looked at English (Yeomen) soldiers and regard their profession as nothing short of a thief in training. Why? Because they (soldiers) stood up to protect the English/Irish public from a million and one landed Barons/tyrants protected by the magna carta and the church. With tax and tenth alone, he (Sir Thomas Moore) was part of a system that would have used the name of the Lord, rather than Grace, to starve them to death. His opinion about soldiers and their trade was expressed in some of his writings and maybe in his Utopia as well.

But unlike Sir Thomas Moore, you’ll never hear of those soldiers and their deeds. It is the same as now. Soldiers do more in the English speaking world than fighting.

You’ll never hear of soldiers who deploy (without weapons) after every single nuke blast/accidents in North Korea, Japan, Russia, Ukraine or those who are now checking up on newly contracted (twenty two) German coal/energy plants.

You’ll never hear about those soldiers who have been checking up on chemical weapon leakage in Syria, Iran, Iraq, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia and a few other places.

You’ll never hear about those checking up on Uranium and other bio agents that might get into food processing farms via unregulated and sub standard practices in Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, India and other areas.

There are many more professional (life saving) areas of the military (Army, Air Force and Navy) that i don't even know about.

What I can certainly tell you is, they are live guinea pigs – expected to test samples by living off the land and documenting every little bit of their experience.

You won't hear about them because they are the true professionals going about their professional lives. And we certainly don't release them (with contracted diseases) into the public like Alexander the Great and Napoleon did to his own public.

Please feel free to send this to Hillary or Trump. They both need to see the military and our law enforcement officers in a different light.