How common is it for soldiers to actually enjoy the killing?

[David_Bayer]

[ChrisMaster69]

I seriously cannot believe some of the bollox answers here so far.

one of the biggest reasons people have joined the forces, is for a job, invariably where you live you have poor job prospects or your skills are lacking etc.

you don’t join to kill people, anyone believing that everyone joins up for this is crazy,

another big reason to join up is to learn a trade, to get education.

to explore the world.

a shit load of other reasons none of which are to kill people.

patriotism is another big one.

I joined the Royal Air Force for a couple reasons, my grand father was in it during WW2 and it meant I could get out of poverty and get a job.

A large number of those going away on Ops are married with kids, they don’t want to go away, we just do it, we sign that bit of paper and swear and oath pledging our lives.

these days there are also a large number of girls, these are often also wives of servicemen or women.

The PTSD and suicide rate among front line veterans should speak for its self.

yes you like get the odd ones that live for the rush and the battle but no one lives for the death.

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that most soliders, at least in times like ww2 etc where you are talking about conscripted men, do not fire on the enemy.

Most of the killing is done by a small amount of the people.

The rate might be higher with professional soliders, either due to more conditioning or more people inclined to kill others joining up in the first place.

Pretty sure this is a known problem and that a lot of the 'training' is actually focused on trying to get people to pull the trigger with aimed intent to kill.

[SueShe]

For a person to freely join an offensive army such as the US, UK or Russia, the thrill of killing, assassinating and murdering civilians and armies alike is probably the first motive to want to join such an army.

They do it because they know they have the full support of the imperialistic government. An army without the goal to want to rule the entire or part of the world is not an offensive army but solely a defensive one such as the one of Sweden, Portugal and a number of other ones.

It is because of the megalomaniac views of the leaders of those countries that people do enroll in such armies because they can let misuse their violent and belligerent attitudes with the protection and the blessing of their government.

[Jersey2]

I did it to protect the US. It was my turn.

[SueShe]

@Jersey2 In Djibouti?

[Jersey2]

@sueshe From Antarctic, lol.

[SueShe]

@Jersey2 Yes but I do not pretend to have defended a foreign country :-)

[Jersey2]

I never did defend a foreign country 🙂

[SueShe]

@Jersey2 When you defend the interests of an offensive country that occupies foreign soil in the hope to take control over it on futile grounds, then you do defend the attacking country and thus you are defending the offensive (foreign) country.

Example: The US invading Iraq hoping to get control over that country and possibly annexing it, then the US invader is defending a foreign country (the US) in Iraq.

[Jersey2]

Non one wanted Iraq. We didn’t even steal their oil to pay for the war. Sad am should have allowed inspections everywhere, instead he was captured and hung with his sons shot to pieces. Don’t fuck with the US is the message. Bin Laden learned that too. Even the Taliban leaned the hard way over twenty years and if necessary we will kill them again. Simply put, don’t fuck with the US. We are a good nation but don’t jerk us around.

[Jersey2]

Sadam*

[David_Bayer]

Toppling governments whenever they go...
*we are a good nation

[SueShe]

Thanks for the MHO

[Jersey2]

@David_Bayer We saved Czech too. I am sure the Czech’s appreciate it.

[David_Bayer]

We still do appreciate that but most of the Czech was freed by SSSR whose soldiers were known to be more brutal than nazis.

[Jersey2]

The Soviets buckled under the strain of the Cold War. We gave them no peace. They didn’t quit because they wanted to.

[Jersey2]

They quit because the had to.

[BCA6010]

A lot of people join for that reason, especially in the combat roles. I'd wager it's about 1/3 of all soldiers who voluntarily joined a combat MOS like Infantry, Tanks, and Artillery do, no matter what they may say if asked. As far as actually enjoying it after they've been put in that position... I'm going to say it's very few- less than 10%, probably even lower than that. The military lifestyle and combat itself are pretty much never what people expect going in. Some end up liking it for different reasons than they originally joined up for (ie stable income, family support), but the reality is that getting shot at sucks, and being in that situation in the first place is statistically unlikely, even at the height of our most recent wars.

[jshm2]

As the old saying goes

"The difference between a soldier and serial killer? One gets a pension and parade for what they do".

[Bluemax]

Read All Quiet on the Western Front. A major theme is that war often makes people unrecognizable even to themselves.

[Yellovv]

Nobody enjoy to kill another person in the War, but if you don't kill them they will kill you, you need to kill to survive..

[Anonymous]

It's important to love what you do. If you want to be truly excellent at it, you have to really love it.

[Chthou95]

There are such things as psychopaths in the army