Do soldiers have a 'right to life'?

[mudskipper]

"Cliche'" is an understatement, sunshine.

You're a bit thick, aren't you? Defend ME? You actually think anyone's going to dare air/sealift an invasion force at a nuclear power which is completely surrounded by water, and whose nearest neighbours are all economic partners?

The reason those guard dogs join the military is a basic lack of morality. The thought of legalised forcefulness turns them on, and they don't give a damn if anyone dies in the execution of that force. The volunteer soldier is the ugliest example of the human race, and when he dies, he leaves it cleaner.

In your humble opinion.

[VectraMan]

Without wanting to feed the troll, but it's an old cliche that those lads have been laying their lives on the line for decades to uphold your basic rights. So someone like this odious turd can come onto an Internet forum and post his views and he isn't at risk of getting his head blown off like young Malala.

Not wanting to feed the troll either, but that's cobblers and you know it. Was there a serious threat of the Taliban restricting our freedom to post on internet forums in Britain? Don't think so. OTOH our government can and do lock people up for internet posts, have been complicit in torture, and New Labour had a really good go at trying to pass legislation to enable detention without trial for 3 months, all in the name of keeping our freedoms.

[JaybeeInCUK]

In your humble opinion.

Oh I'm actually pretty relaxed in my general indifference to most things.

I'm just letting the hawks here know they have no monopoly on forcefulness. Being a Pacifist doesn't mean you have to be a doormat.

[Moscow Mule]

Oh I'm actually pretty relaxed in my general indifference to most things.

I'm just letting the hawks here know they have no monopoly on forcefulness. Being a Pacifist doesn't mean you have to be a doormat.

A militant pacifist. Lovely.

[Halo Jones]

I think, when you join the forces, accepting that your life may be at risk is part of the deal.

But you're still entitled to expect that every safety precaution will be taken - so if shortage of proper equipment, or crap decision making, or lack of care contribute to that death, IMO your family should be entitled to some redress.

+1

[d000hg]

Surely war by definition is outside the law, otherwise we'd be prosecuting soldiers for murder. If you sign up, then you've accepted that you might have to kill people if ordered to do so, and that other people might (quite reasonably) try to kill you.

But we're not at war in places like Iraq or Afghanistan are we?

[Old Hack]

It does make you think, that we've gone from being too harsh on soldiers, to being too kind. A lot of these soldiers only joined the army as it was pretty much their only real option in life, to get away, be trained, be housed, and be looked after. But the flipside is, that you get told to go to war, get told to do things that may end up killing you. I do get a bit pissed off when I hear soldiers complain about doing tours, for that's their job. One of my brothers did 3 tours to NI in the height of the troubles and came back from the third one a broken man, and is only really coming to terms with it 20 years later. Another brother resigned his commission on returning from the first gulf war, primarily from what they saw when the road to Basra was cleared.

No matter what you'll hear, most soldiers are a wee bit unstable if they've used their weapons in anger. The only ones who aren't, in my opinion, are the ones who've not seen action, for it does screw you up a little.

[mudskipper]

Man arrested for posting image of burning poppy on Twitter - Telegraph

FFS. Police need to learn to differentiate between obnoxious twat and criminal.

[Incognito]

Not wanting to feed the troll either, but that's cobblers and you know it. Was there a serious threat of the Taliban restricting our freedom to post on internet forums in Britain? Don't think so. OTOH our government can and do lock people up for internet posts, have been complicit in torture, and New Labour had a really good go at trying to pass legislation to enable detention without trial for 3 months, all in the name of keeping our freedoms.

You're using a single conflict to justify your argument. I'm talking about the last 100 years. Hundreds of thousands of young lads and lassies have laid their life down to ensure British values and freedoms are protected.

I come at this from two viewpoints. I have served my country and I am now in my last year of a law degree. I understand now the core concepts of the rule of law which has shaped this country and the reasons why I have served where I have.

I'm sure there's a multitude of posters on this forum who would disagree with one conflict or another, however that is something you should take up with your elected representative, not the guy in green sat in a sangar in the middle of some god forsaken barren country where it's boiling during the day and freezing during the night and he's not had a shower for 4 weeks, nor spoken to loved ones, nor been able to have a lie in, not able to log onto CUK and post tulipe because he wants to.

You're right that the lads don't join up with a sense of wanting to right the world, but their basic training covers morality of war as well of the laws of conflict just as much as it does cover section attacks and weapon handling.

I hope it never comes to the Uk being involve in an event where each and every one of you truly understand the sacrifice these guys and girls make.

[cailin maith]

Indeed. It's a shame I was too busy at 11.11am this morning to make a "F**K the troops" post with such a cherished timestamp.

If you're going to volunteer to commit state-sponsored Murder (which is precisly what any unjust war is) upon command then you're nothing but an assassin, and quite honestly, getting your legs blown off is good luck, compared to the tens of thousands of dead Iraqi/Afghan civilians who didn't ask for squaddy-boy to turn up to their countries and kill them.

Every year, we are guaranteed to get one......

Yawn.