Do members of the military get too much respect? What profession do you respect the most?

[Spud of Doom]

I don't think they get too much respect, and I see people going on about how much they love the US army all the time. In saying that, I share the feelings of some other posters that it's not soldiers getting too much respect, it's other professions getting too little. Especially in very direct service fields like healthcare or emergency services, the staff have to be fully committed to what they do and usually try very hard to get things done the best way they can. Teaching is a similar story; I'm sure most of us can think of some really great teachers who have impacted us a lot for the better.

That is the same respect I have for soldiers. None of this "fighting for our freedom!" crap, because that simply isn't the case at all. I respect their dedication and commitment to what they are doing and who they are doing it for.

 

[Shadowkire]

....Last I checked surgeons get paid a WHOLE LOT. not as much for the military my friend. Pretty sure surgeons also don't ever really have the need for anything so much as ..well the knife they use for work.

1: After a decade of accumulating debt while learning to be a surgeon people then need to pay malpractice insurance against the certainty that someone will sue them for the slightest complication, whether they were at fault or not. After about a decade of being paid "a WHOLE LOT" a surgeon may have those debts paid, and now needs to build up for retirement which at this point is only 15-20 years away unless an accident or Carpal Tunnel renders his/er hands slightly less than perfectly dexterous.

2: Surgeon may not be a life threatening career, unless you count constant exposure to diseases, but it is dangerous. My brother is a security guard and works at a hospital a few nights each week and not a single week has gone by that he hasn't had a story about a patient striking the staff, or some thug beating on the patients and/or the staff.

3: Military pay is pretty bad, though not that terrible considering soldiers don't need to pay for food or board while working.


I have a lot of respect for the military, but I find the argument that surgeons(or just doctors in general) should be respected less because they get paid "a WHOLE LOT" to be weak and groundless.

 

[cavebear56]

First timer here, I've lurked off and on though.

To answer the topic question...Yes and no.

I'm a bit in agreement with what Shock and Awe stated about the individual rather than dealing with broad generalizations towards recognition. An individual should garner respect from the merit and actions of there own making, rather than through titles.

I served 2 tours in Iraq. I was actually there when we engaged first with Iraqi military and later with insurgents. Originally I was an 0341 in the USMC, though as we quickly learned it soon became 03-everything.

I was attatched periodically to Marine Recon, Army Special Forces and Navy Seals throughout my two tours to help alongside missions. I was awarded a NAM with a Combat "V" for exposing myself to income enemy fire to direct counter battery mortar fire, drawn sniper fire away from a gun that jammed, as well as applying a tourniquet using my belt to a young man who had just lost both his legs.

I've had to take lives, save lives and witness the loss of the lvies to those close to me.I've seen the true stretches of how heroic a human being can be while seeing the otherside of how despicable they can act.

Do I think I should be given more credit and respect? Well sure, I'd like to just be given it but you know what? Respect isn't something you get from doing something in the past, it's something you must continuously receive through your current actions.

Atleast that's how I see it.

Shortly after my Medical discharge I tried cutting my teeth in the local police force as well as teaching for a short time. In both my experiences I found the same thing...some of the most amazing people I've ever known working with some of the most disappointing people I hope to never meet again.

Sorry this ended up longer than it should be, I didn't really have this planned, but just for future reference. Ask the service member some questions...atleast after you hear about what they've done, or didn't do, atleast then you can justify to yourself the respect (or disappointingly, the lack of respect) that indivudal deserves.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

You're turning this into a debate on the merits of the military's presence in the Middle East. You're forgetting that there are many potential enemies in many other places that we have to be prepared to defend against. The battleground of the present and future isn't somewhere you can send a battalion of soldiers.

Do we get too much respect? Some of us do. I just joined the Navy and my first tour of duty is in Hawaii. But civilians will look at me the same way they look at a Marine who has done five tours overseas. That's not fair; I haven't earned that. Some of us aren't humble enough to recognize that and get all smarmy and cocky because they wear a uniform to work. But that is a very small minority, and everybody hates them.

I have news for some of you: servicemembers aren't bloodthirsty savages, or the stoic, heavily decorated people you typically see performing color guard duties at sporting events. We're people, just like you. Living on base or on a ship is like high school, if high school were 24/7. We don't daydream of "killing towelies" or whatever. We daydream of one day affording a really nice sports car, or the newest HDTV. We dream of raising a family and providing for them, and hoping our name is never selected to go overseas and be away from that family for over a year.

If you ever forget why we get the respect we do, remember that every one of us is trained to give our lives for you without hesitation. For any civilian, even just one. Even one who spits in our face and calls us a murderer. That is our job. Nothing you say or do will ever stop that from being true, so believe me when I say I'm not appealing for your respect. I just want you to understand us a little better, that your decision might be better informed.

If this was directed at my post (I'm going to guess it was directed at the general sentiment in the thread), that's not what I (and I assume many others) meant at all and I personally didn't want to debate the issue of the Middle East specifically, only to point out that most of what we've been doing has been protecting US interests rather than the country itself for quite a while. It's not like Iraq was gearing up to invade the US and there aren't many countries that are really in a position to even consider such a course of action. I meant only to contrast this with other historical periods, where part of the respect afforded the military was in the realization that they were actively keeping people from taking your possessions, changing your form of government, and killing you.

In a certain light, I respect the military because I respect the view that those within it hold. I get your viewpoint and, given your viewpoint, what you're doing is definitely worthy of respect. In this sense, I really do respect soldiers, even if I don't the military (though as I said, I respect most professions). It probably helps that I know so many people who have gone into the armed services that I'm more or less obligated to be at least a little bit supportive

On the other hand, if a stranger walked up to me on the street and told me I should respect them because they were willing to die for me, I'd be more worried for them than respecful. I don't want people taking bullets for me and the fact that they're willing to do so despite the fact that I don't want them to doesn't really change the situation for me. More importantly for me, I also don't want people using bullets to protect me. These are, however, issues of personal morality.

 

[Furioso]

Teachers don't get enough respect, of course, like any profession, there are exceptions, but if you think kids are a pain, wait until you see their parents, who of course see their kids as the second coming of Christ

 

[Gudrests]

....Last I checked surgeons get paid a WHOLE LOT. not as much for the military my friend. Pretty sure surgeons also don't ever really have the need for anything so much as ..well the knife they use for work.

1: After a decade of accumulating debt while learning to be a surgeon people then need to pay malpractice insurance against the certainty that someone will sue them for the slightest complication, whether they were at fault or not. After about a decade of being paid "a WHOLE LOT" a surgeon may have those debts paid, and now needs to build up for retirement which at this point is only 15-20 years away unless an accident or Carpal Tunnel renders his/er hands slightly less than perfectly dexterous.

2: Surgeon may not be a life threatening career, unless you count constant exposure to diseases, but it is dangerous. My brother is a security guard and works at a hospital a few nights each week and not a single week has gone by that he hasn't had a story about a patient striking the staff, or some thug beating on the patients and/or the staff.

3: Military pay is pretty bad, though not that terrible considering soldiers don't need to pay for food or board while working.


I have a lot of respect for the military, but I find the argument that surgeons(or just doctors in general) should be respected less because they get paid "a WHOLE LOT" to be weak and groundless.

A few thugs(when you have security there to protect you and orderly's), debt that can be paid back really quickly with the amount of money they make, and exposure to diseases when you clean up before and after surgery and have every part of your skin covers and hole in your body covered so you can't catch the disesses.....VS. you are your own security and you are in a foreign place where you NEED weapons that if used to there full potential can kill hundreds in a matter of seconds, where you cannot go under 40 while driving and HAVE TO crash into other vehicles to move them for the fear of explosives going off in your face that are not only meant to kill you but you maim you as much as possible? Last I checked...no matter how often a surgeon works, They still eventually get to go home and won't stay at a hospital for months at a time on constant alert that someone might try and kill them and the people they work with.

I'm not saying it's an easy job...but if debt and a few high thugs = a war...you have your priorities really really messed up.

 

[AlphaEcho]

I've never really been swayed by the whole "soldiers are heroes" argument.

If they were directly protecting their homeland against foreign invaders, then yes, that would be pretty damn heroic. If WW3 started, then every last soldier who fought to protect my country would earn my eternal respect. Hell, I'd probably enlist myself.

But soldiers fighting in current conflicts? I don't wish to sound ungrateful here, but somebody who goes to far-flung countries to kill the natives and is driven more by the pay than a pressing need to protect the motherland... isn't that the definition of a mercenary?

So you beamed into every single ones head and figured out they all just want money?

Whether or not they are fighting in the east or on your soil, these men and women are willing to lay down their lives for you. Does that not garner respect?

 

[Vindestructable]

But soldiers fighting in current conflicts? I don't wish to sound ungrateful here, but somebody who goes to far-flung countries to kill the natives and is driven more by the pay than a pressing need to protect the motherland... isn't that the definition of a mercenary?

Thats implying that we get paid well which we don't.

 

[Lizardon]

They won't get any respect from me just because they are a soldier or a doctor, it's what they've done that will earn them my respect, regardless of occupation.

 

[ProtoformX]

No. No we do not get too much respect. Actors, doctors (responsible for 70% of homicides in the United States due to negligence), politicians, and firefighters (you'll all probably be shocked, but it's true. Those guys sit around the firehouse 2-3 days a week, and then have 2-3 full weeks off. Their line of work isn't even THAT dangerous either. No worse than a cop. 9/11 gave the Nation an unnatural perception of how dangerous Firefighters have it, and how much they 'sacrifice'.) do.

The coversation you described may occur in SOME places of the United States, but not where I live. I (and my fellow Soldiers) only get condescending statements, and worse than dirt treatment in this liberal state.

We deploy for 12 months (count em) and even spend most of our time training away from our families when we are in the CONUS.

Let's not forget that we're sent over-seas, asked to fight a war, and accomplish a mission... And then criticized every step of the way.

People of America: Do you want the job done? Or do you just want it to look like we're getting the job done? We've made it look like we're getting the job done for ten years now. How much longer do you want us to keep dancing this dance?

 

[go-10]

I get more shit than respect but either way I don't do it for respect I do it because is what I believe. Even if I'm not changing the world myself I'm at least a grain of salt in a step towards it

 

[La Barata]

That's a negative, ghost rider.

 

[ProtoformX]

No. No we do not get too much respect. Actors, doctors (responsible for 70% of homicides in the United States due to negligence), politicians, and firefighters (you'll all probably be shocked, but it's true. Those guys sit around the firehouse 2-3 days a week, and then have 2-3 full weeks off. Their line of work isn't even THAT dangerous either. No worse than a cop. 9/11 gave the Nation an unnatural perception of how dangerous Firefighters have it, and how much they 'sacrifice'.) do.

The coversation you described may occur in SOME places of the United States, but not where I live. I (and my fellow Soldiers) only get condescending statements, and worse than dirt treatment in this liberal state.

We deploy for 12 months (count em) and even spend most of our time training away from our families when we are in the CONUS.

Let's not forget that we're sent over-seas, asked to fight a war, and accomplish a mission... And then criticized every step of the way.

People of America: Do you want the job done? Or do you just want it to look like we're getting the job done? We've made it look like we're getting the job done for ten years now. How much longer do you want us to keep dancing this dance?

Yea, fuck the doctors. It's not like we need them or anything. :/

Also, I'd like to see a source for that 70% of homicides bit. Because I don't believe it. And what you're calling negligence is more than likely simply a ba situation. Atleast in the UK, actual negligence is fairly low.

You're absolutely right. I misspoke.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/public_health/doctors_cause_death.htm

14,748 murders a year

250,000 deaths from negligence a year.

Doctors are overpaid.

 

[ProtoformX]

doctors (responsible for 70% of homicides in the United States due to negligence)

A friend of mine ( a doctor) was sued for negligence, and threatened with accessory to murder because one of his patients died after he failed to save him after he took a bullet to the head. Your statement is a hate mongering piece of shit. Doctors get fucked in america because family members need someone to be pissed at when uncle johnny's heart gives out. Fuck off and die.

Sorry about your friend. However, the only hate mongering right now is coming from you. Fix yourself, and your jacked up attitude.