Well, when you are fighting secretly to support and sustain a genocidal neo-Nazi regime, I would say you are no hero.
And don't bother to give me the loyalty shakedown. My great-great-grandfather fought on the Union side to end slavery. My grandfather was mustered into the Army for the Spanish-American War. My father went into the Navy to fight World War II and the Korean War. My uncle went into the Army Air Corps to fight World War II and stayed in until retirement. My brother went into the Navy.
Fighting in Ukraine, as I understand it, is a volunteer effort whereby the fighter simply resigns his commission as a U.S. soldier and then signs up as a mercenary. If it is voluntary, all aspects of morality apply. If it is not voluntary, you are being dragooned into illegal homicide...and still not a hero.
I don't much care about rank or station. The Russians have had some success killing large numbers of officer-rank Ukrainians at combat headquarters...including foreign advisors. You say they are not going to do this, yet there they are. Who comes back alive? There are families who may want answers to what happened to their sons, husbands, and brothers.
Well, when you are fighting secretly to support and sustain a genocidal neo-Nazi regime, I would say you are no hero.
And don't bother to give me the loyalty shakedown. My great-great-grandfather fought on the Union side to end slavery. My grandfather was mustered into the Army for the Spanish-American War. My father went into the Navy to fight World War II and the Korean War. My uncle went into the Army Air Corps to fight World War II and stayed in until retirement. My brother went into the Navy.
Fighting in Ukraine, as I understand it, is a volunteer effort whereby the fighter simply resigns his commission as a U.S. soldier and then signs up as a mercenary. If it is voluntary, all aspects of morality apply. If it is not voluntary, you are being dragooned into illegal homicide...and still not a hero.
CO’s aren’t going to simply resign their commission and become mercenaries. Most CO’s aren’t boots on the ground fighters.
I don't much care about rank or station. The Russians have had some success killing large numbers of officer-rank Ukrainians at combat headquarters...including foreign advisors. You say they are not going to do this, yet there they are. Who comes back alive? There are families who may want answers to what happened to their sons, husbands, and brothers.