I hate to bring fiction into it. But some of it is based on some sort of fact, I 'spose. But the movie '300' and the way Spartans raised their warrior children. Disassociated from normal life and treated the way someone without conscience needs to operate. Conscience slows you down. Conscience comes from a learned right and wrong.

'Normal' society just doesn't get military society. They are at complete opposite ends of the social spectrum. But 'normal' society expects the military to exist by their morals. That's where the clash happens, I believe. Like the 'Klan' headgear at xmas photo in north QLD. Things like that isn't something society 'gets'.

Hi team... well.. CJ :) ol faithful.. so just because I often quote 'one' article.. it is the sum total of my reading ? good 1

I think what you mentioned was one possible aspect.. not all soldiers need to be stripped of humanity and re-constructed as mindless drones.

Muslim soldiers are nothing like that. They are fuelled by the dual motivation of 'glorifying Allah' and establishing his rule..and stamping out the infidel... and also the reward aspect of 'deflowering virgins' if you can believe the Islamic Q&A site Ive quoted from. (which quotes Ibn Katheer)

I rather doubt Hindu soldiers.. or soldiers of any major belief system have been dehumanized.. THAT...sounds more like the practical application of Nietzschian/Sartrian philosophy than anything else.
Truly "Christian" soldiers.. (as in.. those who are born again, and in the Armed services.. as the Centurians of Acts and the Gospels were)I rather doubt they would comply with any dehumanizing.

Amphetamines eh ? :) don't make me a passenger in the plane THAT pilot is flying.

Actually mate i've heard that the USAAF does the same, administers something like 5mg of dextroamphetamine sulfate every 3 hours on long haul flights to its pilots to keep up their concentration. These pilots are the ones that fly those B52H Stratofortresses that can bomb places in the middle east from bases in the North Atlantic.

Interesting, Boazy - but as usual your thinking is clouded by your fundy delusions. I would say that every one of those examples you listed must have some kind of rite of passage that separates the neophyte warrior/soldier from much of (usually) his former socialisation, including such things as the strong inhibitions everybody learns against violence and killing.

Apparently it's really quite difficult to get normal people in any culture or society to kill other people, so they have to be 'transformed' somehow - whether this is through bastardisation, indoctrination, medication or various combinations thereof, invariably experienced in some ritual.

In the Australian military this is glossed as "training", and I suspect it's done a bit more formally these days than in the anecdotes above - but the object is still the same: to brutalise the new recruits so that they are obedient and capable of extreme violence on command.

This, of course, is one reason why many ex-military personnel have difficulty in readjusting to normal civility - as evidenced by some of the tripe that gets posted here by purported ex-military forum members.

Nah no brutality

Nah no bullying

Not even any swearing anymore.

CJ's lies evaporate with the truth.

The worst thing about my training was I didnt get a beer for the first 4 months. You can if you wish have a couple of hours off on a Sunday to go to church, most do for the free bikkies and a chance to sit down. Even then its all pretty hands off and if you want to go to mosque or whatever the good people of Wagga will accomodate you.
Pretty scary so far CJ.

Basic training teaches the fundamentals of first aid, drill, basic shooting skills getting fit at a slow pace beacause your unfit to start with. Its a glorified boy scout or girl guides jamboree.

No drugs not even coca cola or chocolate.

Politics, potential enemies or what have you are banned and are not big topics anyway. The boys would rather get pissed and have a good time. When your in most would rather be out.

You get told what to do and you do it to the best of your ability period, this is why soldiers are sought after when they discharge.

What I can not understand is why some people have a problem with soldiers?

Are they jealous they didnt get to entertain thier military fantasies or are they the same scum that threw pigs blood on our soldiers when they returned from Vietnam?

I suspect the latter of these leftist traitors.

Recommended reading:

"On the psychology of Military Incompetence" by Dr Norman Dixon, London University, RE, MBE. An ex bomb disposal Captain. http://tinyurl.com/3b5hwt might work

And http://www.killology.com/ for recent work by Prof (Ex Lt Col) Dave Grossman

Then "Her Privates We" by David Manning, fiction by a soldier who served 1914-19, brilliant, if you can get your hands on a copy. Try http://tinyurl.com/2ocmzj

Then speak to a Veteran who has struggled to get a disability compensation claim approved by the Department of Veterans' Affairs.