I hope they would not but was discouraged when I asked my son (a disabled combat infantryman from the Iraq war)if he thought the American troops would fire on civilians and he instantly answered “Oh, of course!” His contention is that the higher-up brass will convince them to fight by claiming that other army units are in peril and that they have to be “rescued”. The soldiers’ loyalty to each other will trump their reluctance to fire on civilians.
I think they would as well - history in 1932 showed they will burn out even fellow veterans. See The Bonus Army: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army
The Army response was led by none other than Macarthur and Patton.
There are a number of holes in that reasoning, but, make no mistake, if a unit takes fire, they will respond.
I hope they would not but was discouraged when I asked my son (a disabled combat infantryman from the Iraq war)if he thought the American troops would fire on civilians and he instantly answered “Oh, of course!” His contention is that the higher-up brass will convince them to fight by claiming that other army units are in peril and that they have to be “rescued”. The soldiers’ loyalty to each other will trump their reluctance to fire on civilians.
I think you are correct, but what about when the soldiers start finding out that somebody’s “Uncle Bob” or “Cousin Jim” was killed by XXX unit. Or maybe even some of theri own family? It doesn’t take long before the questions start being asked and doubt sets in.
Did you ask your son if he would fire upon U.S. civilians?