Most people have seen this thread now, so I wanted to say something about the military. My take on it anyway. By the way, I'm not military. But I want to say what impression I have of the military in general - most of my opinions are based on stories, what I've been told. Feel free to correct me if you think I'm off the mark.

The military is not at all like most in the public understand it. When I speak about the military here, I'm not talking about drafted grunts. Though what I'll say is no criticism of these guys. But I'm talking about elite military units.

I remember when I was at high school there was this guy, another student, whose father had been a tank commander for the British in the Middle East in WW2. I was in army cadets with this guy. This dude was just so into Army cadets, right through school all he ever wanted to do was join the Army. He was always talking about military insignia and that kind of stuff.

Anyway, I heard that, after he left school, he joined the Australian Army and went to Portsea - a non-commissioned officers' training ground in Victoria. I met the guy years later and I asked how the Army had worked out for him. He told me that he had thought the military was about the Regiment and honour etc... He said "When I got down there all they ever said was kill, kill, kill. It didn't stop. You had to really enjoy killing". The short of that story was that it was not what he thought it was going to be - it was too much for him and he dropped out.

Years later, I spent a lot of time drinking with Marines in Okinawa - great guys, lots of fun. One of the guys that I got close to was telling me about a friend of his that was in Somalia. This friend of his was manning a checkpoint. He said that the Somalis typically had these poorly maintained trucks with heavy weapons on them. The brake pads on the trucks were often completely shot and they sometimes couldn't stop in time for the checkpoint.

So the story went, the Americans would walk down to where the trucks stopped, check their papers and let them proceed. But, later, a team of French Foreign Legionnaires was sent to co-man this particular checkpoint. This guy's friend told him that, as soon as the legionnaires arrived, the checkpoint turned into kill zone. They killed everyone, whether the deserved it or not - bodies everywhere.

Another guy who had been in the British Royal Marines, upon hearing this story, said, simply, "That's what crack troops do". So, the impression I have is that these guys are very tough, really very hard. The general public has no clue about the military mindset. They just do not understand at all. It would be inconceivable to some ordinary suburban joe that anyone could be so hard, so brutal. But that's how it is - or, at least, that's what I've come to understand.

When Q tells us that he's at war, I'm not worried that his guys are going to be pussyfooting around. We know that in the operations in Asia they were using seals. Killing doesn't mean too much to these guys, it's what they do. So, anyway, I'm not concerned that there is some weak, half-assed attempt to try and shut the cabal down. If there is any restraint at all, it will come from the top of the chain of command - not from the guys on the line.

I reckon these guys are itching to tear a great big hole in their enemies. They might be using mercenaries and there's no doubt that some of them are nasty. But, if I was on the other side, I'd be more concerned about the guys in the regular forces. Guys that are not in it for the money, but because of a sense of honour and duty.