I did - because it's good manners and, though I feel most soldiers should disobey orders to kill other human beings, I know there are some situations where to destroy the enemy is a good, rather than bad, act.

As I've got older I've realised how much spin all governments put on coverage and the justification for media caricatures ("it's a good story").

I'm against killing people unless the reason is very good indeed. And most times it simply is not.

Yes, I find it a moving sight to see people behaving - or at least appearing to behave - respectfully en masse - it's such a rare sight.

JK2006 wrote:
I did - because it's good manners and, though I feel most soldiers should disobey orders to kill other human beings, I know there are some situations where to destroy the enemy is a good, rather than bad, act.

As I've got older I've realised how much spin all governments put on coverage and the justification for media caricatures ("it's a good story").

I'm against killing people unless the reason is very good indeed. And most times it simply is not.

From the history books I've read, the men who refused to fight in the first world war were either shot by their officers for cowardice or else, if they claimed to be disabled or required for essential work and stayed at home, saw their doors daubed with yellow paint and white feathers by Emiline Pankhurst and her brave suffragettes.

Although I do agree with the gist of your sentiment JK, I'm not sure, for example, that the Russians facing genocide at the hands of the German army should simply have refused to fight.