It goes both ways. We should absolutely respect those who joined with only good intentions. And it's very possible we would only be in a worse place today without good people in our military.
However on the other hand we do need to acknowledge what it meant to sign up for the military during a time like the late 2000s early 2010s when the average Joe knew our wars are unjust and our leaders heartless. Signing up to participate in that is not a blameless act, even if you believed it was for the greater good.
Same goes for WWII to a lesser extent. We weren't clear cut good guys by any stretch, but one look at how the Soviets and Japanese treated their own as well as their enemies, and it's clear there was pure evil on all sides. Anyone pretending Hitler and his allies were solidly "the good guys" is just a ridiculous take no less goofy than treating Churchill and Roosevelt like beacons of morality and justice.
It goes both ways. We should absolutely respect those who joined with only good intentions. And it's very possible we would only be in a worse place today without good people in our military. However on the other hand we do need to acknowledge what it meant to sign up for the military during a time like the late 2000s early 2010s when the average Joe knew our wars are unjust and our leaders heartless. Signing up to participate in that is not a blameless act, even if you believed it was for the greater good. Same goes for WWII to a lesser extent. We weren't clear cut good guys by any stretch, but one look at how the Soviets and Japanese treated their own as well as their enemies, and it's clear there was pure evil on all sides. Anyone pretending Hitler and his allies were solidly "the good guys" is just a ridiculous take no less goofy than treating Churchill and Roosevelt like beacons of morality and justice.