A Dangerous Job

Being in the military is one of the most a dangerous and hardest jobs. How many other jobs are there were getting shot at is part of your job? Probably police officers, but the don't have the same potential of getting shot at. How about being away from your friends and family for months or years at a time? I can't think of any. What about were doing your job could be so close to illegal that swaying, even just a little, from what you are doing could send you to prison?

Sometimes the laws of war are so vague that it is hard to tell what is legal or illegal. Sometimes people just make mistakes or do the wrong things knowing what they are doing also. Like what happened at Abu Ghraib Prison. The Iraqi prisoners were not just imprisoned but also tortured. The soldiers who did this know they were wrong.

But other times situations like the Navy Seals that were recently cleared by a U.S. military judge in another Iraqi abuse case. The Navy Seals in the case were accused of abusing a prisoner while being taken to a prison. The prisoner accusing the Seals was arrested for torturing and murdering 4 U.S. civilian contractors in Iraq. Personally I don't see why they would take this prisoner alive in the first place, but that would also be against laws of war also.

Being a medic in the military, we are trained to triage. This means don't treat if they are going to expire anyway. Basically do the most good for the most people. That means that if I was in an attack were Iraqis attacked us and we injured a few of them, I should treat them while my fellow soldier who is going to die from the attack bleeds out. This is another case were it would be hard to do what is considered the right thing. I would rather make sure my fellow soldier who is going to die is comfortable until his time comes.