[quote=BGinRB][quote=CA renter] The government can train a 17-year old dropout to kill people using very expensive equipment in several weeks, yet it cannot teach him how to handle a hose?

[/quote]

Utter gibberish. I was an instructor and a military advisor during my time in the Army and I can tell you that it doesn’t take weeks to train soldiers, it’s a constant, on-going process.

The Army spends as much to train a Green Beret or Ranger as the USAF or USN will spend to train a jet pilot (about $1MM). Granted, not all soldiers are trained to that standard, but I guarantee you the Army and Marine Corps are spending considerably more time and money than you realize to train all those 17 year old drop outs to kill people.

A good friend of mine, who is now with the FBI, was former SDPD and worked Patrol, Homicide and SWAT in his time there. As bad as Homicide was, Patrol was worse and due to the vehicular accidents he witnessed. He would talk about the images staying with him and the resultant nightmares and he’s battled alcoholism on and off for years as a result.

Suffering from PTSD myself, I will tell you that dealing with what you’ve seen and done can be brutal. You look at the number of law enforcement officers that commit suicide, abuse alcohol and drugs and have suffered through more than one divorce; the numbers are pretty bad.