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Something which has been brought up by my friends and on another forum I frequent is this notion: that if you willingly join the military, an organisation where you are expected to kill your fellow human beings, and you are okay with that, then there is "something wrong with you".

What do we think? Is the will to kill a sign of possible mental issues?

I doubt most people join the military to kill people. Certainly, there are people who do want to join the military for that purpose, but that's why the military psych tests people and moth balls them if they fail certain points (a famous one being the occasional idiot who answers "yes" to 'will you kill your wife when you get back from deployment?').

Sure the military can't catch everyone with a messed up head, and there's probably a few psychos running around in the military, I think the more common motivations are an interest in civic duty, the benefits packages, or just not having anywhere else to go with one's life. Lots of reasons other than "kill the other guys."

 LordofHats wrote:
I doubt most people join the military to kill people. Certainly, there are people who do want to join the military for that purpose, but that's why the military psych tests people and moth balls them if they fail certain points (a famous one being the occasional idiot who answers "yes" to 'will you kill your wife when you get back from deployment?').

Sure the military can't catch everyone with a messed up head, and there's probably a few psychos running around in the military, I think the more common motivations are an interest in civic duty, the benefits packages, or just not having anywhere else to go with one's life. Lots of reasons other than "kill the other guys."

There really is a question like that?

I don't know Might just be one of those stories people tell, but that's the purpose of the psych tests soldiers get. To see if they can handle the stress of service and to make sure they don't have any underlying conditions that might hinder it. Someone who wants to 'kill people' as a primary motivation, makes for a bad soldier (really they should seek employment as a serial killer... Kind of a bad market for that I hear).

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:
I doubt most people join the military to kill people. Certainly, there are people who do want to join the military for that purpose, but that's why the military psych tests people and moth balls them if they fail certain points (a famous one being the occasional idiot who answers "yes" to 'will you kill your wife when you get back from deployment?').

Sure the military can't catch everyone with a messed up head, and there's probably a few psychos running around in the military, I think the more common motivations are an interest in civic duty, the benefits packages, or just not having anywhere else to go with one's life. Lots of reasons other than "kill the other guys."

There really is a question like that?

I doubt it, but a friend of mine volunteered for arctic duty, and had to have a psyc eval. The questions he found amusing was when he was asked a few questions about "that one thing everyone does, but no one talks about on a public forum"

I joined for the college money, and the free money for the rest of my life. I never had to kill anyone, and oddly enough the one time I did get to pull my gun during a drill, I got to point it at my wife.

They say there's no such thing as a stupid question. I just found one.
The notion of defending your homeland and freedoms is not a mental illness. Yes, that might mean taking a life, but its in defense of their country. Like self defense, only I hold my freedom higher than my life.
You might say that we aren't actually defending freedom, but for the most part, we think we are. I'd die to defend my country's freedom, and I'd also kill if someone tries to take it away.
I joined the Army because I wanted to serve the country that gave me so much. I learned more about duty, honor, self sacrifice and courage in the army than anywhere else. It's hard for a civilian to understand the mindset of a soldier because their experiences are so fundamentally different. War is a horrible thing and I never want to go through another.

sirlynchmob wrote:
I never had to kill anyone, and oddly enough the one time I did get to pull my gun during a drill, I got to point it at my wife.

I'd love to see someone walk in on that story half way through Priceless.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

There really is a question like that?

I took a psych test for the DoC a few years back, and there was one question in a similar vein to that one hidden in amongst the flood of other questions. It was obviously there to weed out the smartasses (who would answer "yes" ironically, man) and the idiots who would honestly answer "yes" to something like that. Of course, every question on a psych test is there to weed out unsuitable candidates, its just that some are more obvious than others.

 LordofHats wrote:

sirlynchmob wrote:
I never had to kill anyone, and oddly enough the one time I did get to pull my gun during a drill, I got to point it at my wife.

I'd love to see someone walk in on that story half way through Priceless.

trust me, the full story is quite entertaining

In my experience, which is now out of date, most people used to join the military because they either wanted a steady job and/or they wanted GI Bill benefits.

If you joined soley to kill people, then you are sick, if you did so for other reasons (job, money, benefits, serving country, ect.) than I don't see anything wrong.

 Sturmtruppen wrote:
Something which has been brought up by my friends and on another forum I frequent is this notion: that if you willingly join the military, an organisation where you are expected to kill your fellow human beings, and you are okay with that, then there is "something wrong with you".

What do we think? Is the will to kill a sign of possible mental issues?

I think you need to find yourself better friends.

Dad joined because it sure beat jail...

Indeed. My sister's first college was a private school, and she was shocked (shocked I say!) when she found out the students were profoundly anti-military. And I'm not talking the hippie college student who believes in peace, I'm talking frothing at the mouth crazy. When she found out the school itself was frothing at the mouth crazy about it too, she was like "gtfo" and went somewhere else at the end of the year.

Some people just aren't worth being around.

 Sturmtruppen wrote:
Something which has been brought up by my friends and on another forum I frequent is this notion: that if you willingly join the military, an organisation where you are expected to kill your fellow human beings, and you are okay with that, then there is "something wrong with you".

What do we think? Is the will to kill a sign of possible mental issues?

The worst part is that once you're in, the only way you can get out is if you're crazy...

Are we being trolled?

It's a definite possibility.

I am fairly certain OP is not a troll.

Agreed. There are lots of hippy ivory tower types in Austin who have that view, despite being located between three bases from San Antonio to Fort Hood.

That's... kind of disgusting.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:


There really is a question like that?

In the British military one of the security questions when applying is 'Are you or have you ever been a member of a terrorist organisation?'

Or at least it was about ten years ago....

 Inquisitor Gonzo wrote:

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:


There really is a question like that?

In the British military one of the security questions when applying is 'Are you or have you ever been a member of a terrorist organisation?'

Or at least it was about ten years ago....

Up until recently you had to answer that question when applying for a lot of jobs even outside of the military.

Oh man, is this ever a popcorn thread!

First page even. This will be good.

 Inquisitor Gonzo wrote:


In the British military one of the security questions when applying is 'Are you or have you ever been a member of a terrorist organisation?'

When I joined the US Army back in 2004, there was a similar question, but it pertained to gangs.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
If you joined soley to kill people, then you are sick, if you did so for other reasons (job, money, benefits, serving country, ect.) than I don't see anything wrong.

What about all our grandfathers who joined up in WW2 to kill the evil Nazis? Pretty sure they weren't in it for the benefits. It was to protect their country and kill Nazis.

Were they "sick"?

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
If you joined soley to kill people, then you are sick, if you did so for other reasons (job, money, benefits, serving country, ect.) than I don't see anything wrong.

What about all our grandfathers who joined up in WW2 to kill the evil Nazis? Pretty sure they weren't in it for the benefits. It was to protect their country and kill Nazis.

Were they "sick"?

That goes under serving country, silly.

I mean someone who just wants to kill people, and not something like "I just want to kill nazis", but who doesn't care who they kill as long as they can kill. People who legitimately have a mental illness and just happen to join the army.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
If you joined soley to kill people, then you are sick, if you did so for other reasons (job, money, benefits, serving country, ect.) than I don't see anything wrong.

What about all our grandfathers who joined up in WW2 to kill the evil Nazis? Pretty sure they weren't in it for the benefits. It was to protect their country and kill Nazis.

Were they "sick"?

That was in the name of apple pies, miniature American flags, and rose tinted spectacles. It doesn't count!

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
If you joined soley to kill people, then you are sick, if you did so for other reasons (job, money, benefits, serving country, ect.) than I don't see anything wrong.

What about all our grandfathers who joined up in WW2 to kill the evil Nazis? Pretty sure they weren't in it for the benefits. It was to protect their country and kill Nazis.

Were they "sick"?

Killing remains killing, no matter how bad said people are. Enjoying killing those bad people is bad.

So you see a difference between joining just to kill nazis and joining just to kill anyone?

While Nazis are bad, they're still people and by your previous definition someone wanting that would be "sick".

My point is that you can join because you want to kill people and not be a sick puppy. If you want to kill bad people I think it could be ok, but it would depend on the situation.

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
If you joined soley to kill people, then you are sick, if you did so for other reasons (job, money, benefits, serving country, ect.) than I don't see anything wrong.

What about all our grandfathers who joined up in WW2 to kill the evil Nazis? Pretty sure they weren't in it for the benefits. It was to protect their country and kill Nazis.

Were they "sick"?

Killing remains killing, no matter how bad said people are. Enjoying killing those bad people is bad.

It depends. If killing one person will save the lives of many, than it is the right thing to do. I'm talking from a utilitarian point of view here, so it's the best possible course of action (unless there is a way to stop those people from dieing without killing anybody.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Grey Templar wrote:
So you see a difference between joining just to kill nazis and joining just to kill anyone?

While Nazis are bad, they're still people and by your previous definition someone wanting that would be "sick".

My point is that you can join because you want to kill people and not be a sick puppy. If you want to kill bad people I think it could be ok, but it would depend on the situation.

Did you read my post or not?

 Grey Templar wrote:
So you see a difference between joining just to kill nazis and joining just to kill anyone?
.

...no, I don't. One group has a different ideology than you (or I) have, and the others vary.