A disturbing video. These supposedly crack shots needed five shots to kill a dog from less than 10 paces. And a funny one, in a sort of Richardesque way (I sure hope the puppy was alive, the video wouldn't be nearly as funny otherwise).

Yeah. I'm being insensitive. Being bored isn't a good reason to kill anything. Bored soldiers going around killing things is a disturbing concept. But is it surprising?

You have a bunch of kids. They aren't really smart, otherwise they wouldn't be volunteering to become ordinary soldiers. They mostly come from the lower classes and less than ideal social conditions. Some of them have been expressing anti-social and violent tendencies even before they joined the military. So you take those kids and spend a few months training them to kill and to not think, Keep telling them how shit they were before the training, and how great they'll be after they've been trained to kill and to not think. Then you take them to a far-away land, and set them to killing people who will do their best to kill them in turn.

I'd think that nobody in their right mind would expect those kids, after being put through the afore-mentioned process, to become sensitive daisies who will spend their time writing poems about the beauty of the rainbows. Certainly, nobody with one functioning brain cell should be shocked and surprised that they don't. Apparently, I'm wrong. On both counts.