About the morality of it... we're all to some extent supporting the US military and supporting a force that has had a net negative effect on the world in the last 50 years. I could not live with myself if I were to actively and so directly support the US military. I don't see a physician's role in the US military much differently than aiding and abetting murder. I'm sorry I just don't see how any physician could view our military as anything other than an inhumane and unjust force of destruction that goes against the most basic ethical principles of physicians.
OP, As for the air force being the "cleanest" of the military... There was a relatively recent US military involvement in a certain country where a very extensive bombing campaign was the only real military action against the target country. There were no US military deaths. Civilians were killed and sometimes targeted (perhaps accidentally, perhaps not). Between 500 and 2000 died at the hands of American pilots and their clean bombs. Now, more of those country's civilians are dieing prematurely due to the radiation years later. I will not say the name of the country - its easy enough to figure out. Find the sources yourself if you care.
Our country murders innocent people without giving it a thought, the public accepts it, generally doesn't care, and people like you obviously support it. I would die before serving our despicable military. It shames this country and the world hates us for it.
If you are interested in serving people in war-zones or former war-zones, then why do you not join a more humane organization?
Listen, kid, I've got to believe that you are stupid. You are stupid because what you just wrote is perhaps the most evil thing I have ever read, right up there next to the proceedings of the Wannsee Conference. But you profess the intent of righteousness, which is why I have to believe that you must actually be that stupid, because there are only two ways to read what you just wrote:
1. That you are that stupid, and totally ignorant of what was implied in what you just wrote.
2. That you are fully aware of what you wrote and therefore represent one of the vilest evils known to mankind.
I have to believe that you are in the first category, in which case, please read what I am going to write here in my vain attempt to educate you:
You started by mentioning morality. Lets define morality in the context of our country, America. This is what we, as Americans hold to be moral values:
1. The right to life. Nobody has the right to take our lives from us. A moral and just government works to protect the lives of its citizens, that is, those who pay for it.
2. The right to property. People who work hard and produce have a right to reap the rewards of their productivity. Such a system promotes invention and industrial progress and encourages the development of the best products. It is natural selection applied to economics. It is a beautiful thing. It is called capitalism. It is what makes America the greatest country in the world. It is the reason that doctors, who put in a massive amount of effort to obtain their training, earn much more money than others. Given that you want to become a doctor, this should be a system you respect, otherwise your decision is totally illogical. There is evil in the world that seeks to redistribute your labor to those who have not earned it. This is detrimental to society and exists as a form of corruption. Leaders emerge seeking redistribution from the high earners (the drivers of society) to those unwilling to put in such effort (in the form of money and intellectual property). These leaders (aka dictators) gain power by promising something for nothing and drive away the producers in the society, thus leaving a society doomed to failure. The most moral thing a man can do is work to produce because it is what drives society to better itself. Giving something to someone who has not earned it is not a moral thing to do because it perverts the system and negatively impacts society (people begin to accepts gifts of others as their right and refuse to put forth effort to become productive members of society).
3. The right to liberty/personal freedom/happiness/whatever you want to call it. No man or government has the right to prevent another from working for his own personal benefit, profit, and happiness. When you work for a profit, you create something out of nothing and you exchange your creation in the form money, which represents the labor put forth by the person paying you. When you do work without monetary reimbursement, you are working as a slave. You are still creating something from nothing, as that is the nature of human labor, but you are not profiting from it. Somebody else is - it is being looted from you. Anytime you produce (i.e., do work), money is created whether or not you are paid. What determines whether or not the system is moral is where the money (the product of that effort) goes. If the money goes to the one who produced it, the system is moral. If it goes to somebody else, the system is immoral.
Those are the three tenets upon which America is based. It is the only country in the world where a man can be totally free to morally work for his own regard. If you don't agree with those, then you are inherently evil, in which case, kindly GTFO out of our country and payback every last cent you have looted from this nation.
Now, lets examine briefly the proper function of government. A moral government exists to protect those three rights of its citizens. By citizens, I mean those who are productive members of society who pay for the protection of those rights through their labors. A branch of the government is its armed forces. The military exists to protect the government from the evil in the world who wish to infringe on the rights of its citizens and cause harm by force.
In case you don't remember, on September 11th, 2001, our country was attacked by evil. This evil was in the form of terrorism that seeks to undermine the capitalistic functions of our government. These religious fanatics don't believe in capitalism, which we regard as the highest moral virtue. Instead they believe in dictatorship, forced religion, stealing by force, and enforcement of their immoral system through the slaughter of innocents. They represent everything that is evil and immoral in this world.
And you are sitting there saying that the actions of our military, those who volunteer to protect the highest moral virtues, those who volunteer with their lives to protect the rights which you so obviously take for granted, are "aiding and abetting murder... inhumane and unjust force of destruction that goes against the most basic ethical principles of physicians."??????????
Can you possibly be that out of touch. Take a long, long time to think about what you just wrote. If you aren't completely horrified at what you just implied, you are an enemy of this state, an enemy of all moral men left on this world, and represent the worst kind of evil there is. Stay the **** out of America, stay the **** out of medicine, and find someone else to steal from, because we as Americans just won't allow it, and we will defend it to our deaths.
I voted for Barack Obama because in an odd twist, the democratic party now best represents the form of limited government and capitalism that is vital to everything that is good, and welcome the change he will bring to this country and to the world.
In regard to your comment about joining more humane organizations, why don't you think about what these type of organizations represent, these type of organizations that give unwarranted aid, loans, and equipment to foreigners at the expense of Americans. These types of organizations that improperly indebt foreign nations to international banks at the expense of their peoples? These types of organizations that encourage and sometimes help setup totalitarian regimes through their corrupt lending and aid practices. Are these the more humane organizations you refer to? Whether you choose to accept it or not, the US military, while not perfect (certainly under its last CIC) is the most moral organization there is.
