I made a reference in another thread to a report which concludes that the British Army attracts "Rambo Types"
Ake quoted Samuel "...the repeated assertion that the best, bravest and most admirable citizens are those who seek employment in which part of the job is to maim and kill an enemy not of ones choosing is perhaps the most harmful falsehood in Western civilisation..."

The compexities of the Human Nature are manifold, boys & girls...

Three or four years ago I was travelling on the London Underground late one mid-week evening, and somewhere around Monument or Tower Hill, a reasonably well-attired young man in his mid-Twenties, maybe, got on the train.
The first thing he did when he slumped into a window seat on his own, was to rip the knot of his light blue tie, and open the top button of his rose coloured shirt. He closed his eyes and was silent for about 30 seconds.
He then turned to his reflection in the dark glass beside him, and in scene that immediately reminded me of the Travis Bickle character in 'Taxi Driver', he proceeded to re-enact an argument he had either had, or was preparing himself for..., with person or persons unknown. It sounded like his Boss, from what I could hear.. "Bastard", "Cunt", "Kill you, you fucker".

It had to be one of the saddest sights I have ever witnessed.... on one level; the breaking of the Human spirit

He still hadn't got it all out by the time I stepped off at West Ham

This tortured soul seemed to be at the end of his tether.
The poor chap tries his best, I'm sure..., why would he be only coming home from the Office at 9.30 in the evening.
He was probably going to have to be up before Dawn to come back into town and go through all of this again.
If one thinks a week is a long time in Politics, pity the poor cogs in the wheel who have to live with the pressures and try to handle the frustrations that a wet week stuck behind some computer, dealing with people equally as pissed off with their lot as they are with their own, does for them.

Friday night, quite a lot of them are out there, though.
All these Travis Bickles'.
All of them poised to really give somebody "some". Doesn't matter who. All that is needed is the slightest of 'reasons'

Quite a lot of them spend the weekend locked up, as a result.
Then its back to the real World again on Monday morning...

We have a Society, Ladies & Gentlemen, that unfortunately breeds this kind of behaviour.
The strive to get on in Life has become so competitive these days, that gone are the days when most people can leave work behind them at 5.00, go home to the meat and 2 veg, and have some quality neuclear 2.4 time.

Teachers are being killed in classrooms, instead.
The Elderly are having their homes broken into, and are being robbed of their life-savings.

In a competitive World, the fittest survives.
The more competitive that World gets, the fitter you have to be.

I think the point being made by Samuel, and from that Radio 4 article I heard, is that The British Army takes quite a lot of the Travis Bickles' of this World, who either can't handle that rat-race, and encourages them instead to direct their frustrations into their new job.
Oddly enough, in any other line of work, this would be considered sound advice.

In the British Army however, it is kicking a naked fellow-Marine unconscious, getting stoned, as Teribus so rightly pointed out, and bullying comrades to the point of suicide that seem to make a 'Man' out of one, these days.
Whether kicking kids unconscious is part of the overall Master Plan or not, I don't know
("... Burn Motherfucker, Burn....")

Although because of what I, and my compatriots have witnessed in our own back yard, I can see distinct correalations between the grieviously heavy-handed approach by the ex-cons of The Paras, The Black Watch, and the rest of that, what was even then, scum, I am not being made any more optimistic about the re-percussions of all these new revelations.
We know, 'cos we've experienced it all before...

There is also a point that no British Army apologist has considered here, yet....

Point in case being that even non-combatants hated the British presence in my Country.
Not everyone who hates you and your sort, carries a gun, Teribus.

But the more indiscriminate one is, the more you lose the peace, Teribus.
And, in turn, the more you piss off the locals....

Statistically speaking therefore, one would have to kill all the Muslims on the planet to ensure Iraq and Afghanistan would be pacified.

That's not part of the overall plan is it, do you think....?