2. There's often a misconception among non-veterans that service members sign up with the expectation that they may die.
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1. Let's talk for a minute about "he knew what he signed up for."
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3. I did two tours in combat as an infantry officer and I never met a soldier who thought dying was a reasonable result of their service.
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4. Take the numbers: Since 9/11, roughly 1 out of every 5,000 troops to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan died there.
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5. I'll say that again: 1. Out of every 5,000. Dying in combat is neither common nor expected.
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6. But when things *do* get dicey, troops expect leaders (at every level) to do everything in their power to keep death from happening.
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7. Take roadside bombs. When they began killing U.S. troops, President Bush never said, "they knew what they signed up for."
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8. Instead, DoD designed MRAPs. It was a concerted effort to keep more people from getting killed unnecessarily.
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9. And that's what keeps troops going. The knowledge that your life is valuable. That it's not to be wasted. That air support is inbound.
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10. Today we say, "I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy."
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11. It's long been a thing in the U.S. military. Here's how Robert Heinlein characterized it in his 1959 military classic Starship Troopers:pic.twitter.com/kcTdRhORe3
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12. After a KIA, no one in the military ever, EVER, says "he knew what he signed up for." Instead they reflect.
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13. "What could we have done differently? How could we have prevented this from happening?" No one shrugs death off as an inevitability.
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14. So when we have a Commander in Chief respond to a combat death with, "he knew what he signed up for," it tells us a few things.
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15. First, it tells us the President has no idea how the military works or what his role and responsibilities are.
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16. More importantly, it sends this message to troops: If you're looking for support from the White House, you know what you signed up for.
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End of conversation
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