I haven't seen the Clint Eastwood's film, which i've heard is very good.
But it might fit into a category that has been brought up by several social commentators in recent years as to the 'idolization' of the soldier. At a time when fewer and fewer people in the West have had military service, the soldier has become revered icon of perfection, honour, bravery.. heroes.
In fact a much healthier view of them existed in the immediate aftermath of WW2 (when virtually every able bodied young man was in the miltary)... as young men doing their duty, and not confined by stereotypes of a cartoonish 'superhero' beyond critical evaluation.. but as an integral and representative part of the society they fought for.
The commentators i've heard state this has led directly to the misbegotten adventures of the U.S. military in recent years, fighting endless, futile guerilla wars before retreating, leaving the battleground in the same condition as they entered it.
It's an opinion that is increasingly shared by military leaders, who find themselves fighting wars that are undefined as to objectives, unlimited in scale and duration except by that of budget restrictions, and without clear ethical parameters on their conduct. All of those are defined by an incompetent political class pandering to and inflaming the fears of the voting public.
This is one that has the gist. There was one on PBS Newshour last week but i couldn't find it.
The Peril of Idolizing Our MilitaryÂ*|Â*William Astore
