Soldiers

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this particular language shift, but it just jumped out at me again this morning, in this post by Pam Spaulding at AmericaBlog. (Pam seems to be a regular there these days, although she doesn't seem to have made it to the masthead.)

...Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit suicide, according to the report.

I'm not sure when serving in the military became a "job," but that's what it seems to be now. When I was of draft age, it was a duty, a responsibility, an adjunct of citizenship, almost a sacred calling. These days, soldiers are no longer discharged, they are "fired."

We keep hearing reports of morale problems in the armed forces, of which the one cited in Pam's blog is one of the latest (and most extreme). Of course, this is in large part because the war in Iraq is a shambles. Maybe it also has something to do with the fact that 82% of Americans hate their jobs. If the Pentagon wants to rebrand itself, maybe it should go back to being the military, and not just an employer.

Welcome to the corporate state.