Reply to Trump to widow of Sgt. La David Johnson: 'He knew what he signed up for'

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Reply to "Trump to widow of Sgt. La David Johnson: 'He knew what he signed up for'"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This premise of "knew what s/he signed up for" is faulty. Here is an excellent thread on this from a former service member with infantry combat tours:

https://twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/920491808634888193

"[b]There's often a misconception among non-veterans that service members sign up with the expectation that they may die.[/b] I did two tours in combat as an infantry officer and I never met a soldier who thought dying was a reasonable result of their service. Take the numbers: Since 9/11, roughly 1 out of every 5,000 troops to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan died there. I'll say that again: 1. Out of every 5,000. Dying in combat is neither common nor expected. But when things *do* get dicey, troops expect leaders (at every level) to do everything in their power to keep death from happening. Take roadside bombs. When they began killing U.S. troops, President Bush never said, "they knew what they signed up for." Instead, DoD designed MRAPs. It was a concerted effort to keep more people from getting killed unnecessarily. And that's what keeps troops going. The knowledge that your life is valuable. That it's not to be wasted. That air support is inbound..."

Etc.[/quote]

I really hope this isn't true. The fact is that Americans who sign up for the military during a time of war run a non-negligible risk of getting killed. (This is true under both R and D presidents.) It does no one any good to pretend that this is not the case. [/quote]

Don't be stupid.  The chance of dying in a car crash is 1 in 645 (much higher than dying in combat).  Yet people get in cars everyday.  Never once have I heard of someone saying to a person whose family member died in a car crash "they knew what they signed up for when they got into a car."  It's always a tragedy.[/quote]

Exactly. To PP - nothing carries negligible risk, including military service. But as he states, the risk is lower by the numbers than other mundane activities, making it more rare than people realize. People join the military to serve their country, and while they know it is a POSSIBILITY they will give their life to do so, they do not "sign up" to die. [/quote]

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