Armed and defenceless

I have been racking my brains about what it was that I was going to blog about today. Something to do with defence forces and their modes of training. Something that was inspired by the opening clip from Full Metal Jacket that somebody showed me.

I think it had to do with the fact that training that was deemed appropriate for defence personnel in the mid-1990s is still in vogue, albeit with some modifications. About how such training was targeted both then and now to break a (wo)man down and rebuild (her) him from scratch. To create a persona that wanted to kill and hunt down the 'enemy'. That obeyed commands without a question.

I think that was it. And I think what bothered me was that despite the many advances that the civilized world has supposedly made, the blood lust of the wild beast is still such a glorified trait. That the one aim of defending your country can drive so many to arms.

I wonder if it differs by culture and to some extent, by motive. If the army of a country that is primarily aggressive as opposed to defensive would train differently. If a country that has compulsory conscription would train its defence forces differently compared to one that does not. A potential area that could be explored.

But this is a wishy-washy post. I know this is what I was thinking about but I can't pinpoint exactly what it was that had bothered me. Maybe, I'll remember later.