Comments by "Comm0ut" (@Comm0ut) on "The Fentanyl War is Worse Than You Think" video.

  1. One way to reduce the number of vets who end up on the street is to have (MUCH) higher enlistment standards then PAY enough to attract higher quality recruits. Remember the vast majority of the armed forces never personally engage in combat. Then remember many otherwise barely employable people are able to enlist during strong job markets (if you have a real skill there are plenty of jobs in most of the US, even in backwaters like the Southeast) which attract higher intelligence categories away from the "less selective" (gotta be diplomatic about that to avoid inter-service rivalry accusations) branches. There are many, many very sharp troops but we've all served with some total waterheads like the one who used a .50 round for a hammer gaining notoriety on a safety poster. This has happened before (Project 100,000 under SecDef McNamara being the most famous because it was formal and open) with unfortunate results. Armed forces are designed to use the clay they are given but the moral thing to do would be ensure recruits are (all) of high quality for superior outcomes all around. Military drinking culture used to be much worse and produced many alcoholics who began as social drinkers. Booze and nicotine kill more veterans by far than wars. I had no idea of the scale until delivering an Airman to the Norfolk naval rehab facility. It was not small.
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  2. What did those dead fools have in common? No one forced them to be drunks or junkies.
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  3. Do NOT blame externalities for typical human stupidity. While your naive view is popular because it implies outside agency for a personal choice. Many humans are simply unintelligent, ignorant and stupid such that they do not make good choices with or without chemical assistance. Implying all use of drugs is escapist is also mistaken. For example shamanistic use of natural hallucinogens for thousands of years for spiritual exploration are very different than some weakminded junkie ruining their life on drugs, solvents etc..
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