If I was in that kind of situation, knowing the savages were beating on the doors, I would be on the front line with the soldiers.
With 100,000 citizens, there has to several thousands of adult males who can pick up a rifle and shoot. Even if you have to pick one up from somebody who has died, you can still defend your family and country. (Hat tip to We Were Soldiers and Enemy at the Gate)"
And now you've highlighted a fundamental difference about the Western, white, Christian mind or world versus the African and the so called Third World nations -- a sense of duty to one's nation and family and future -- a civic duty.
But there still has to be the desire to protect ones family, doesn’t there?
And by asking the question, I realize the difference you talk about. I have spent time in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central America, Afghanistan and Iraq. The only places that didn’t seem to have that desire was Iraq and Afghanistan.
I saw a team come back after a night operation where they were trying to hit a target several klicks from the drop zone. While passing a compound, a dog started barking, which alerted the owner. The owner looked out the door, saw nothing (it was very dark), popped back in, and then sent out a woman with an AK-47 to find out what was going on. They said she had absolutely no idea what she was doing but walked straight into the patrol. And the owner’s action was completely normal for his culture and area.
But I could never imagine myself or any man I have ever known in the other countries I have worked in doing that.