people are present in numbers on another board I visit (ref. on request).

They seem to vary about like the general population, except that the median is skewed a bit toward the "active" rather than couch potatoes, as you might expect. (I was Navy during Viet Nam. I still think the draft should be used, not as a way to fill the ranks with mindless killers -- not so many of those available, really, here in the U.S. -- as a way to keep the military looking more like the society in general.)

But the, er., general ethic seems to be much like the EM mentioned -- "kill people and smash things, and damn good at it." Sounds horrid, I suppose, but the intent, really, is to emphasize civilian control. Our military kills people and smashes things; they do not assert the privilege of selecting who and/or what, and in fact insist that the politicians do that -- and on their privilege of bitching about the selections and applicable rules.