I volunteered for the service because I though it was 'cool'. Not just any cool, Marine Cool!. And I agree with everything that you just said. The majority of my fellow Marines/brothers were very uneducated (drop outs, barely passed their GEDs, their recruiters 'helped' them get in, etc). But as I got to know them they wanted to kill 'rag heads' and other bad guys. They just didn't care. They hoped they would get their orders and off they go. Some officers were younger than me. I'm not that smart of a guy (I question from time to time) but some of the orders these guys would give didn't make any sense, and I suspect it was for their own ego to prove something.

Anyways, my 4 year experience wasn't terrible but it did teach me a lot of what not to do and how not to behave. I just can't figure out why so many people want to kill. What in their lives happened that they one day wake up and want to kill. And by that I mean in every legal sense defined to be within the code of conduct. It's very easy to hide behind 'fighting for my country', 'fight for freedom' etc.