youre not getting away with that alan. I'm from a military family on both sides. I'm not being "naive", mate. And I've been too close to comfort to what they do for a living on half a dozen occasions, closer than many soldiers, although, unlike them, I wasnt getting paid to be shot at (Jordan) or having my car blown up (Derry) or (fortunately failed)attempt to have our plane blown up (Abu Dhabi) or to be chased through the streets by gunmen trying to blow my head off for being Western (Beirut). So I've seen the risks without having a tin hat on. And I wasnt impressed with the participants - on either side. And I don't recall saying I have no respect for those in WW11 or WW1? Most of those guys thought they had no choice. And that took more bravery because they werent professionals. And the conshies were even braver because they dared to go against convention. My dad was blown to smithereens in Germany (he survived), my cousin was shot down over hamburg(he didnt), one grandad spent 4 years in WW1 trenches and the other had to swim for it at Jutland. And my cousin Frank got killed in some naval escapade in the sixties or seventies. So don't suppose you have the knowledge to judge me in that way. Fact is that this coun try is a little country trying to act big. In 2005 we do not need a huge army; we do not need independent deterrence (we havent got it anyway - we are US puppets). If we scrapped most of it tomorrow we would be no less secure. Who's going to invade us? Andorra? Why do we need a bigger army than Switzerland? We don't, not if our aim is to defend ourselves adequately. As for "distasteful", call me old-fashioned, but I find killing people is rather distasteful, personally. And that, Alan, is ultimately what a professional soldier agrees to do. He may well be brave, but so were the guys flying planes into the twin towers. There's plenty of people who call them heroes too, rather than the mass murderers that they actually were.

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