(01-11-2020 10:46 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I have read lots of comments about the killing of Soleimani and the subsequent shooting down of the Ukrainian passenger jet, and I've noticed a fairly significant trend.

People who have never served in the military overwhelmingly believe that killing Soleimani was a mistake and will bring war, and that the downing of the passenger jet was a direct consequence. People who have served in the military overwhelmingly believe that killing Soleimani was a giant step toward peace and that shooting down the passenger jet was either unrelated or intentional on the part of the Iranians. It's not 100% either way, but there do seem to be two pretty strong trends.

Tanq (who I don't think did serve, so he would be one of the exceptions to the rule) poses an interesting question. There seems to be a tendency in some quarters to posit the killing of Soleimani as the proximate cause of shooting down the passenger jet, but to this point there has been no showing of any causal link, much less proximate causation.

I am another exception.

Saw an article saying that the majority of current enlistees are children of veterans. If this trend continues, I can see an even greater divide developing between veterans and nonveterans.