Anyone who thinks he’s indispensable, ain’t!

– General George S. Patton Jr.

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

- Matthew 20:20-28 (NIV)

Certainly most of the people serving in today’s military don’t like to contemplate the fact that they are “cannon fodder”. But that is indeed what we all are, from buck private to four star general. We exist to be expended, like a round of ammunition. Anybody who is too important to lose will not be allowed to join the military in the first place. At the same time, comparing them to “slaves” strikes the members of the current military as being quite preposterous. They volunteered for service after all, and in their minds there is no way they are treated as harshly as the chattel slaves of old.

The modern military is much more egalitarian than the militaries of the past and much more risk adverse when it comes to suffering casualties. There are many more legal protections for service members, and the pay, benefits and living conditions are much better as well, even better than it is for most of the wage slaves in today’s economy.

For example, if a soldier showed up late for work, not wearing the proper duty uniform and talked back to his supervisor when he was chastised, he might face punishment (fines, extra duty, confinement to post and/or demotion), but in no way would he be faced with immediate dismissal and the loss of his only source of income. As he would be if he was working for the “ghetto grocer”, right?

Consider that a hundred years ago someone like Bradley “Chelsea” Manning would have been executed forthwith upon conviction of treason. Today, though, the U.S. Government is even paying for his “gender reassignment” treatments.

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In fact the military legal system today is so easy to game, that anyone in the service who wanted to get out of fighting could do so, especially if he or she were willing to endure a modicum of social opprobrium. For example, merely getting arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence (not even a conviction is necessary) will get you excused from having to bear arms, under the federal “Lautenberg Act”. Even if it is part of your “job” to bear arms you will be prohibited from doing so, and further, your superiors will be prohibited by law from making you bear arms.

At the same time, nobody wants to be “objectified”, thought of as just a thing, a servant, a tool, a commodity, a sex object, a bank account or a sugar daddy. We want to be our own person, independent and appreciated by others for who we are as a “person”, even though we seldom hesitate to use other people for our own selfish pleasures. So keep in mind that, as a purely practical matter, if you cannot be used, you are USELESS. You will be discarded. You will not be protected or preserved. Consider that none of the species of animals that human beings eat are in danger of extinction.