Patriotic (and perhaps a bit naive) young people join the military to defend the country. Then they end up as sitting ducks in Jordan, Iraq, etc. It’s both crazy and sad.
Naive is right. Naive and mislead. They're not properly informed as to which country they're meant to be defending. And, yes, that is very sad. Craven exploitation always is.
They’re generally poor and poorly educated, with few options, so they gamble with their lives. Neocons exploit their neediness to pursue lucrative adventures in global politics. It’s deeply unjust and disgraceful.
My 14 year old grand daughter has been talking about joining for the last year. It’s her dream upon graduation. Of course, I have mixed feelings about it.