Thank you for your perspective. I always appreciate hearing from those who've been there. I think you make a good argument, and I agree every action has a reaction (and not all of them are good), but calling military service "just a job" is difficult for me (an outsider) to understand when the stated purpose of that job seems to involve (from my perspective) violence, death, and machines of destruction. People in IT and chemistry don't have the same stated goals or use tools specifically designed and used to end life (though there may be secondary, often unforeseen consequences in those lines of work as well).
Couldn't saying "It's just a job" also be a scapegoat?
Everyone always forgets that the majority of those in the military have nothing to do with directly causing the death of anyone. They're support personnel, clerks, cooks, analysts, etc. A veterinarian working at the animal shelter ends up killing a lot of innocent animals whose only crime was being unwanted. We call that guy's job "just a job". It's the same concept.
Yeah saying "it's just a job" can be used as a scapegoat. Everything can be used as a scapegoat by those who want to avoid taking personal responsibility for their actions. The woman who calls the cops on a teenage kid stealing bubble gum and ruins his life is just doing her job. But when she picks up the phone she makes that decision; ruin a life or not. Everyone is equally as responsible for their actions as everyone else. Ignorance is no excuse, even if your chosen profession doesn't directly involve holding a firearm. That's my take on it.
Well said. I also think there is a moral difference between someone with a firearm who plans to use it on another individual and someone making a phone call. That said, I agree, those who support police who also often use violent force instead of more practical/successful solutions like non-violent communication should be held somewhat accountable, just as those support personnel are responsible for the actions they support within the war machine.
It's all about being personally responsible for your own choices and not being wilfully ignorant.