Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.
While I was spell-checking, D Squared got a post in. She's wrong; ignore her. ;D
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Oh reccetroop......
~sigh~ Where to start......
First off, by your "recap," absent any comment, I assume you accept everything written in this book as gospel? The story about soldiers using heads as soccer balls, for example, you
know to be true? This book is the basis of your condemnation of the US military?
That story has been making the circuit of the anti-war sites, often attributed to different units (so maybe it's official military doctrine! )...but there has been no evidence that I've found that it's true. Would something that horrific not have been investigated? It would only be condoned if you live in a world of conspiracy theorists.
This, like the rest of his "tale" -- the beatings, murders through boredom, killing for spite -- is designed to stir compassion for this poor deserter; apparently the only person in his world with a heart or compassion.
Make no mistake, this story is "
as told to Lawrence Hill" - - an author who, according to his
website, "came to Canada hoping to escape the enduring racism of [his] native United States," and who makes his money writing about the discriminatory evil that is the US :
He knows how to write a tale to evoke emotion; one would expect no less from someone with a Johns Hopkins' MA in writing.
As for the rest of your opinions.....
The Canadian forces is very different than the American army. The recruiting process try's to weed out those Rambo wannabe's who are very prominant throughout the book. After what happened in Somalia in 1993 our military is highly sensitive to any beatings of civilians
This isn't intended as an insult, but I really don't believe you are qualified to judge. Both systems strive to weed out undesirables...in their many forms. Both militaries are also sensitive about beating civilians...and have been long before Somalia. Reporting an "officer who goes crazy" (as happens so often), and orders the murder of a child would not involve "circumventing the chain of command." You are obligated to report such a thing; I believe the overwhelming percentage of troops in the CF
and the US military would do just that.
Your training seems to be instilling or reinforcing the right values, despite some dubious terminology or examples (which may just be your translation, given your boycotting of spell check). I would suggest, however, that you restrict making public judgements on areas well outside your realm of competence or experience. From my experience I've found US troops to be every bit as competent, moral, and patriotic as your average Canadian soldier. (And not
just those high-speed BCD troops with a few weeks of BMQ training.
)
Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, like American troops in Iraq, are all about "genuinely trying to do good over there."
This dubious work by Joshua Key ("assisted" by Lawrence Hill), however, demeans them all.
