Teribus - that's ok.. my bubble burst many years ago.. I can cope with it...

I'm certainly no historian, but I am aware of some of the gist what you point out, if not the detailed facts,
contradicting my hyperbolic statememt..

I confess I was guilty of indulging in the rash debating style
of a newly issue concious precocious 14 year old,
just to take the piss out of GUEST,AC and his ilk's mode of communication..

[I could/should have been more circumspect and simply said
"Being mustard gassed or blown to atoms is a bloody outrage !!!", or something similarly emotive..]

Though I still hold firm in my personal belief that conscription is a deplorable,
[perhaps even evil] manifistation of authoritarian state control & cohersion...