I recently got into an argument about one of my cousins, 2nd or 3rd I can never keep them straight, who recently left the Australian Army, he's fairly patriotic, and spent time in Afghanistan while on active service, he hardly ever says anything about his time there, but some people (in the family) are on him about his service and how he should have never have gone, and I respond that he didn't have much choice, and they come back with "well you signed up for the Army" as an argument.
It's got me thinking, that's a fairly common argument from both sides of the fence, those who are against the war and those who are for it, both say "well they knew what they were signing up for", when in fact, at least in Australia, not all of them did.
Back in the mid to late 90s when I was finishing highschool I considered joining the ADF (Australian Defence Force), and my cousin did join around the same time, '98 or '99 I think, and this was before "the war on terror" started, at the time the ADF wasn't viewed as an army, navy, or airforce as such, we hadn't taken part in a "real" war since Vietnam, only the occasional combat operations such the first Iraq war and in East-Timor, most of us viewed the ADF as job where you helped people, we saw more Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen doing relief work, building schools, helping disaster victims, etc, then we did with them carrying guns.
After speaking to my cousin I wasn't surprised to view this was the view he also had when he joined up, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that other people had the same view at the time.
So yes, if you joined the army today you know you're likely to see combat, but is it really fair to say that about everyone in the defence forces? How many people who signed up prior to the terror attacks in 2001 did so thinking they would be fighting a war and how many signed up thinking they'd be helping people?
It's got me thinking, that's a fairly common argument from both sides of the fence, those who are against the war and those who are for it, both say "well they knew what they were signing up for", when in fact, at least in Australia, not all of them did.
Back in the mid to late 90s when I was finishing highschool I considered joining the ADF (Australian Defence Force), and my cousin did join around the same time, '98 or '99 I think, and this was before "the war on terror" started, at the time the ADF wasn't viewed as an army, navy, or airforce as such, we hadn't taken part in a "real" war since Vietnam, only the occasional combat operations such the first Iraq war and in East-Timor, most of us viewed the ADF as job where you helped people, we saw more Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen doing relief work, building schools, helping disaster victims, etc, then we did with them carrying guns.
After speaking to my cousin I wasn't surprised to view this was the view he also had when he joined up, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that other people had the same view at the time.
So yes, if you joined the army today you know you're likely to see combat, but is it really fair to say that about everyone in the defence forces? How many people who signed up prior to the terror attacks in 2001 did so thinking they would be fighting a war and how many signed up thinking they'd be helping people?
