What we ask of our soldiers

Following are some comments I made on someone else's blog today. Since many of its readers seem to be primarily interested in eradicating Islam and the people who practice it, I decided to bring the conversation here to my blog. Responses welcomed.

"I want the American public to recognize and take responsibility for what we send our soldiers to do. If we think they should be sent to war, fine--send them to war. But don't pretend that war is a glorious, sanitized undertaking done cheerfully by pure-hearted, pie-loving young men and women who regretfully shoot only "bad guys" and come home again healthy, happy, and whole. In some cases that may be true, but we have plenty of evidence that often it's not. Don't misunderstand me--I respect the heck out of soldiers and the jobs they do. But Americans need to fully face what those jobs are, not dwell in a false innocence that shrieks 'Oh, I'm shocked' when they find out that real soldiers pull the trigger that kills real human beings, as opposed to fuzzy statements such as 'we removed 45 enemy combatants today.'" American public, own up to what you are asking soldiers to do on your behalf.