///I must admit that I find it hard to get inside of the heads of soldiers.////

They are often guys who think exactly like you but who either:

a. Didn't have the good luck to be able to avoid service.
b. Felt that they should do their time instead expecting someone else to do it.

///When you become a soldier, you give up the right to think for yourself,////

That's not true. You ARE responsible for knowing an illegal order from a legal one and you are required NOT to follow an illegal one.

////and must be prepared to kill on the orders of politicians from whom - in day-to-day life- you wouldn't even buy a used car.////

There's only one that gets any real say and that is the president. Who could have known what Bush was going to do when he got in office? And it was largely civilians who out him there--twice.

////But, then again, at 19 I did consider joining the army but by 25, I was an out-and-out pacifist.////

Nice luxury to have, isn't it? That's because others went willingly so you didn't have to. Try expressing that belief in Israel.