Originally Posted by Guest

I don't know about you, but when I joined the USMC, it wasn't volunteering for the Peace Corps. They never taught us nation building, they taught us how to exterminate the opposition in the most efficient manner.

As for torture, it has been part of war for centuries, and I did see it in Vietnam too. I did not participate in it, but it was there. Whether or not you wish to argue the value of it, is a moot point. Personally, I believe in the Geneva Convention ONLY if the opposing entity wishes to abide by it. Otherwise, you cannot win a war if you are handicapped. In Vietnam, we were issued Geneva Convention cards to show the enemy if captured. We know how that went. Like I said before, whether or not torture has a place in war is not for those of us back home to determine. We want our wars won as fast as possible to save money and lives. But, we also seem to want to put stipulations on how OUR warriors can fight the war. Nosy Americans seem to want to observe how the sausage is made, and also wish to tell the chef their version of the recipe to use. They don't wish to cook though.

Our children join the service knowing fully that they may be called on to fight and die for their country. They do not decide whether or not the fight/war is worthy. They leave that up to our politicians to make the right decision. But, they join the service to learn how to fight and win. I do not know of anyone that joins the service that does not understand that they might be sent to war.

Like Patton, I believe that Gen Mattis will/has earned the confidence of those that he leads. It will be refreshing to have someone that understands the military being nominated to lead it, instead of a civilian with no military experience. Too bad we don't have more former military running for political office. It would be interesting to see how that would work in the White House today.