Of the ethicness of Killing Children and its dependence on context.

You think they'd be overwhelmed by TMI, especially of the gory cynical sort? You mean soldiers always start as idealists and become pragmatic empty shells as they advance? Doesn't the opposite happen? That a soldier starts as a selfish sociopathic asshole and grows into a an of pride and honour?

More often than not it's the first one, at least in my experience.

Started my first deployment with a desire to bring the bad guys to justice and help the indigenous people, now I just want to kill the Taliban.

@Raw: I would not think being shot at would tend to make you less cynical.

Also, we start off as thinking a ton about the duty and honor aspects of the job, and the feeling that our profession is a noble one. Eventually you grow out of that and become more realistic, and see things as just the way they are, without all the idealism attached.

You end up realizing that we're just folks doing a job, for one political reason or another, the government decides someone needs their ass kicked, and when they need that they send us.

And this state of affairs is not the way one should start looking at life? One should learn to be idealistic before learning to be jaded?

Doesn't really matter too much, if you ask me. At the end of the day, the pragmatic, whether they are idealistic or cynical, are the ones who are left standing. The dumb people all got killed, or got smart and learned how to survive.

Sun Tzu said as much, saying that you don't want someone who is blindly courageous since they will likely get themselves killed and your operations compromised.

I think prior to the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia we lost one of our key informants because he killed himself playing Russian roulette.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

What? Everybody else was doing it. I just wanted to be popular.

edited 9th Jan '11 5:07:07 PM by Scrye

{offtopic deleted —Madrugada}

Also, what would be the cutoff age under which you'd say kids are definitely unreliable to use/using them is not fair to those who have to shoot them, their consciousness and their psyche. Sixteen? Fifteen?

I suggest thirty. Yeah, thrity seems enough to assure it's safe, sane and consensual.

edited 9th Jan '11 6:22:07 PM by Madrugada

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

This post was thumped by the Stick of Off-Topic Thumping.
Stay on topic, please.

<Mod Hat ON>

If y'all are done with the topic , which is the ethicality of killing children, (and by extension, child soldiers and children in warfare), fine. The thread can be locked in that case.

If you don't want it locked, STAY ON TOPIC.

<Mod Hat OFF>

@Raw: I don't know that there is an age, warfare breaks grown men too.

We are now extrapolating to how age affects the psychological stability of a soldier.

It does? You'd expect older men to have emotionally settled down...

edited 10th Jan '11 2:52:28 AM by RawPower

War isn't a fuckin high school crush. It has an effect on you no matter how mentally stable you are.

Then why not children, except for the Wouldn't Hurt a Child emotional low-blow to those who have to kill them?

War is something that no-one is emotionally prepared for. The main difference is, does it warp what you already are (adults) or does it twist you as you grow (children)?