Poll: Do you automatically respect people in the military?

[Shadowstar38]

Well, no. They havn't actually earned it.

Until I've gotten to know a person and make sure they're not a ponce, they're just another person to me. Military or not. Though the few members I have met have been pretty great guys.

 

[Zhukov]

Nope.

Funny thing is, I actually used to. Then I got a job that involved meeting a lot of soldiers. After that, not so much.

what were they like? and what country?

Country is Australia.

What were they like? Angry, young racists not overburdened with education and desperate for a chance to shoot at somebody or anybody.

One fellow that sticks out in my memory was young white guy in his early twenties named Cooper. I asked him why he joined up, y'know, just to make conversation, and he replied, in between sips of beer, "I wanted the chance to defend my country by killing ragheads." Yeah... the conversation didn't get far.

Some of the older guys were alright, once they'd calmed down and stopped thinking they had something to prove.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

I respect what they do, but just like anyone else, they have to earn my respect. Assholes can be soldiers too. They are human, after all.

So... no.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

kinda. they have a very basic respect that they are putting there risking there life which is something i am not willing to do. but i would have to know a person and find that there good people to have deep respect for them.

 

[Vault101]

[snip.

ah..not surprising

thanks for the info..I have a bit of a weird fascination with the military

 

[saintdane05]

\
Country is Australia.
\

Oh. That explains it quite well.

 

[WanderingFool]

I generally respect anyone in the military. Course, you only have two options to chose from. Im more of a thrid option: My respect for a person in the military is not automatic, its based on if they have already served overseas and other factors; if someone is expecting me to respect them because they competed basic training and that its, HAHA no.

In fact, I have a very general respect for the US military, based on its history and currant power. I dont give the soldiers much respect unless they have earned it in some way.

 

[Winthrop]

I have a respect for soldiers in that they would lay down their lives for what they believe in just as I respect the police and firefighters. I do not have respect for bureaucrats who decide where they go. And regardless of your own views, the military is responsible for a degree of your freedom. You can say "By invading Iraq" as a comeback if you like, but the military has, obviously, done things in the past that make the world we live in what it is. Life would be a hell of a lot worse for you if the military did not exist in the past regardless of your views of current wars.

 

[Platypus540]

Being in the military basically gives someone a big boost for their first impression on me. It's just like of the person was a police officer or a firefighter or something. Obviously this only works as a first impression, however. If the guy's a dick, the guy's a dick.

 

[BanicRhys]

I somewhat respect World War 2 (and to a lesser extent, Vietnam/Korea etc) veterans because there was actually a legitimate threat to my country at those times.
But I'm more likely to pity those who serve in the military than respect them nowadays.

 

[Berithil]

If I see someone in a uniform, they will automatically gain more respect from me than your average joe on the street. I know that not everyone going into the military has the noble ideals of defending our country. If I find out someone is going into the service just to "shoot stuff" or because "it's cool", I will lose respect for them. But until I find out more about a certain person, in my eyes they represent the military, and I do respect the military as a whole.


So, in general, yes. But if I find out someone wearing a uniform is a complete jerk, they lose that respect.

HOWEVER.... Just because I respect the military, does not mean I support the war they're fighting. Anyways, this is the government's war, not the military's.

 

[Matthew Kjonaas]

Not really, I can see why a person could respect them because they are risking their life but not everyone is constantly risking their life. For example a cook is not in the same amount of danger an infantryman is in because the cook spend most of their time in a fortified base. Secondly just because a person is in the military does not mean they can not be a bigot.

 

[zumbledum]

not really, tends to be a negative they have to overcome really. but then all the people i know that went into the military and there are not many of them are the less intelligent/evolved/enlightened kids at school that went to shoot brown people hone their racism to a fine level and group up with like minded people.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Automatically? No. However, I do find that most of the military personnel I encounter - be they friends, family, strangers, whatever - tend to earn my respect quickly by the way they deport themselves, the honorable way they have carried themselves through some serious shit, and the polite and humble manner they interact with us civilians. I say most because, on the odd occasion, there are some complete ass-hat wastes of oxygen in the military who come back into the world as shit as they went in and no, they don't get my respect for simply having been shot at for the country.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Nope. If someone wants my respect they have to personally earn it.

 

[In Search of Username]

I respect them less, generally. They're hired killers. Why people think that's worthy of respect is beyond me.