"You're going to war for 12 hours, shooting weapons at targets, directing kills on enemy combatants... and then you get in the car, and you drive home. Within 20 minutes you are sitting at the dinner table talking to your kids about their homework."
I've read some science fiction novels where mankind is pitted against an alien race with superior technology and machines. The protagonist says something along the lines of: "I'm so glad humans spent centuries developing new ways to kill themselves so that today we could get this far against an enemy that is far superior to us."
This is a live fire range, and we are soldiers directed to crawl through it. Fear and panic is barely held under control. If one of us breaks or fails to go through with it, the whole group is going to die.
Don't break or we will die.
We chose this path. The time line is made with our blood, and we navigate this thin trail through damnation and destruction because though peace will enable us to thrive and survive...
Peace won't prepare us for someone who want's war.
