I have come up with a better metaphor than “you can’t pour from an empty cup” for burnout. You can’t boil an empty kettle. Pouring from an empty cup just gets you nowhere. Trying to boil an empty kettle can ruin the kettle, the stove, and burn down your house if you keep trying it.
Not only do Americans find every possible reason to justify enlisting in the army, but they are brazen enough to think it’s appreciate to say it to your face that they contributed to US imperialism. For me and other Iraqis in particular, that manifests in ex soldiers saying things like “oh I’ve been to Iraq!” when they learn you’re Iraqi, as if somehow you’re supposed to be impressed that they’ve directly contributed to the colonization of your country. Anyone is selling a blatant lie by saying that military recruitment is viewed as a “necessary evil” for those who “have no other choice.” US soldiers are proud to be US soldiers—and they have no problem saying that to the face of the people whose countries they’ve wrecked. There is no shame involved in having worked for the US war machine