[Gaberdeen]

The US Military has a worldwide bad press for behaviour in foreign countries.

Sorry, but that is a fact and if you want citation, I can get it for you in bucketloads.

The problem isn't just lack of discipline within the Military - it is the structure and substance of the Military itself.


In the instance of America's support to the South Vietnamese Government - It is evident through recollection of historical events that the Army, Navy and Airforce required bolstering through conscriptionalthough it's relatively less well known that anyone who was well educated, or of esteemed character & family influence in America would not join the Military as a Ranked Soldier.

Todays scenario regarding troops differs slightly in that the bulk of US troop deployments are not conscripts, but volunteers. Volunteers from economically deprived areas of America where the Military is quite often the only option avaialble to them. These volunteers tend not to be as well educated nor as socially well-adjusted and as a result, instances like gang-rapes, murders, drug abuse and general lack of discipline is observed on a periodic basis.

It would be a great insult to label all American Military personal as lumbering, ingracious rapists and I'd castigate anyone who made that generalisation. I am however purplexed as to why such poor discipline is not dealt with in a more assertive manner - A manner that effectively deters any further deviation from the status quo. In some people's opinion, including my own, it makes Americans look like they think they are above the law of the country in which they are residing.