#why they joined the military

[sassydefendorflower]

If you give Roy Mustang a child, I need you to realize that on the eve of that child's twelfth birthday (at the latest), Roy is going to call up Edward Elric, sobbing, begging for forgiveness after conscribing a traumatized child to Amestris' military service. Because nothing is gonna suckerpunch this sinner harder than the realization that twelve year olds are supposed to complain about homework and strict parents, instead of having metal grafted to their skin and guilt weighing them down. Roy Mustang as a father would see every order he gave to Fullmetal and realize that he was turning a child into a dog.

And by the time Roy was ready to apologize? Well, Ed might no longer be an alchemist but he has no time for sentimental bullshit and useless confessions of guild while traveling the world. And he can still fight with the best of them. Ed doesn't need Roy's guilt - but you know Roy would soak it up and internalize it.

[sydneighsays]

Roy's his dad and he needs a drink

This vine just has their energy

It's a doodle, idk I'm supposed to be doing homework.

[high-voltage-rat]

Actually I'm still thinking about it. Another interesting way in which RvB is anti-war is the way that the Director fills the role of a villain and antagonist (especially in the Recollections trilogy, where he's a faceless villain we never see but is responsible for everything that happens).

In his memos to the Chairman, the Director emphasizes his sense of duty and obligation to the military- he becomes irate for the first time when he feels that it's being implied that he was derelict in his duty... or that the work he did out of that duty is being criticized for being against the military's interests. He also talks about Allison's death in a way I find... interesting.

"You see; I never had the chance to serve in battle. Nor did fate provide me the opportunity to sacrifice myself for humanity as it did for so many others in the Great War. Someone extremely dear to me was lost very early in my life. My mind has always plagued me with the question: If the choice had been placed in my hands, could I have saved her? [...] But, given the events of these past few weeks, I feel confident that had I been given the chance, I would have made those sacrifices myself... Had I only the chance."

The idea of sacrifice is central to the way he talks about his wife's loss, to the way he talks about the war in general. He talks of sacrifice with a sense of veneration- that it's something he aspires to do, that he longs for. There's a few ways we can interpret "I would have made those sacrifices myself"...

-That in Allison's place, he thinks he would have laid down his life too.

-That if given the chance, he would have given his life to save hers.

But most interestingly...

-That he would have sacrificed Allison's life for the continued survival of humanity, if that was what duty called for.

...And personally, I think all 3 are true.

In most war media, the Director's perspective on sacrifice is very common. Sacrifice is glorious and heroic- to die in battle is an honour- and it's the only way to ensure the group you serve survives. This is a tool of propaganda- nobody wants to go to war just for the sake of it, you have to give them a reason that the risk of dying or being permanently disabled isn't just acceptable, but desirable. Beyond that, most people don't want to do things they think are immoral- you have to convince them it's important, a necessary lesser evil. You teach them to sacrifice their morals, too.

The way they train soldiers to follow orders and to kill, is to convince them that they, and the people around them, and the people they care about, will all die if they don't. It's drilled into your head from day one. It's the way they ensure their commanding officers won't shy away from sending their men off to die. The message is constant- sacrifice is your duty, and duty ensures your people's survival.

In the Director's eyes, the damage Project Freelancer caused was his sacrifice. He never got the opportunity to sacrifice himself during the war- so he sacrificed others, as military brass do. The Freelancers- including his daughter. The countless sim troopers. Any people he considered "collateral damage" on missions. And when the opportunity to do so presented itself, he sacrificed a copy of himself- Alpha- and he sacrificed a copy of Allison- Tex.

The very thing that derailed his life- the loss of his wife- he made it happen again. He put her copy in dangerous situations, let her exist in the position of constant repeated failure, created the circumstances that would eventually lead to her death. He put their daughter in deadly situations that nearly killed her repeatedly, provided her with impossible expectations leading to self-destructive behaviours in the name of duty, implanted her with two AI knowing they could cause her permanent harm. He was confident he "would have made those sacrifices himself" because he did.

The Director is the embodiment of the military war machine. As an antagonist, he is a warning against buying into the glorification of sacrifice. He's a condemnation of the idea that one should be willing to do anything to win a war- that duty to the military is the thing that ensures survival... All the messages that are pushed to ensure recruitment and obedience of soldiers.

He's a reminder that swallowing the propaganda leads to you doing terrible things... and in the end, you're a broken man left mourning the losses that you suffered even as you repeated them, convinced that it was all necessary.

[dykedvonte]

I dislike takes that Danse would be just as conservative in modernized aus when it's clearly shown his staunch views of things come from his time in the Brotherhood and his deep-rooted desire to belong to something with a greater purpose.

Not to mention lines that show much more open-mindedness that get overlooked for his harsher sentiments when you first meet him. Like the oppurtunity to be a part of something is why Danse fell so far into Brotherhood dogma and it doesn't negate the offense things he does but I feel like it's just lazy to be like "hmmm he'd def be racist" just so it aligns to his BoS beliefs.

[musubiki]

lately ive been thinking about the contrast going on in Early Lime where hes like "tbh im pretty sure i could have any girl i wanted including mochi i mean i guess if she wanted we could give it a shot one day but i dont really care lol" and then very easily becoming completely unhinged for her the second he gets a tinge of romantic affection

[happyk44]

PJO: we need to recognize the value of the minor gods. The Olympians are important, sure, but the minor gods do a lot of work in maintaining and assisting the pantheon, have their own kids and deserve to be seen and valued just as much

HoO: Back at it again with Olympian-only nonsense!

[thought-42]

Writing an outsiders pov (Ezra's) of Thrawn's history is hilariouss because without the context we get as the reader it's like: "I committed a number of war crimes so I was exiled to a planet with no spacefairing capability or technology. But don't worry it was actually a secret mission to go investigate the authoritarian Empire that just rose up literally over night with no explicable explanation from the midst of a civil war in Lesser Space to see if they will come help us against an alien invasion force that I can barely proove exists." and the only rational response is 'you were definitely supposed to die of exposure within three months of being dropped off on that planet bud'

[everywhere-all-around-the-world]

WHAT IF I CRY. WHAT IF I BREAK DOWN SOBBING

[moghedien]

It does genuinely shock me how few people in the DA fandom are willing to acknowledge that the Grey Wardens are kinda extremely horrific and fucked up

[bog-mummies]

god i hate it when someone i'm mutuals with says/reblogs some stupid shit on tumblr. why did you have to do that

[compacflt]

What does Ice (or Mav) think about the Obama gay rumors? Will they be tuning in to hear the story of the man who allegedly fucked Obama? Are they bi Obama truthers? Is Rooster? Is Hangman? Any other Icebama interactions you're hiding from us? His cameo cracked me up and I need to know more...

the obama gay rumors

first im hearing about this

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

hey hey when Paul (or whoever that was writing the book of Hebrews) tells us not to complain or God might strike us dead, how do we separate that from toxic positivity

[itsagrimm]

Something tells me that König did not have a usual childhood not just because of anxiety.

He entered military service with 17, which requires parental permission. Many kids in the german speaking countries still go to school when 17. König's parents being okay with their kid not pursuing education, which is highly socially expected of young people in all german-speaking countries, but instead actively allowing him to join the army, is extremely unusual.

Also, the military does not have the same social standing in Austria or Germany as let's say in the USA. It is not a very common thing people do here - especially minors.

Like, did his parents want him gone? Or did they actually felt like that was the best choice for their son because of circumstances unknown to us? Or did 17-year-old-König convince his parents AND the enlist officer to allow him to join the army somehow, giving an anxiety plagued teen a gun? And what kind of environment would allow that?

[synthe4u]

"Hey Bartholomew, do you think I could get a face reveal if we survive this?"

"Negative."

"What about a hug?"

"N-"

"f^CK!"

"Sergeant, what's happening?"

"aGH! A lot actually."

The sound of whizzing bullets filled the comms. Distant screams could be heard.

"So...what about the hug?"

They had just ran and was out of breathe when asking this question.

.................................................................................

masterlist

a/n: might have to read tags to understand

[118diazs]

the thing about eddie is that he's not even that angry or grumpy of a guy. he just has a dry personality so it comes across as that way sometimes. he really is just a go with the flow kind of guy ( with insane control issues in other aspects ( its because he's a scorpio ) ). plus u know, the autism and not knowing how to interact with people because he never really has. he was a shy kid that hid behind shannon then got her pregnant then ran away to the military then ran away to LA and started an extremely codependent friendship with buck. but anyway. when he's shown being angry or violent it's usually not because he's actually angry but because of anxiety or self hatred or another intense emotion or something else is going on. it's the only way he knows how to let it out. he really is a level headed guy when it comes to his anger towards for other people. like you'll know if he doesn't like you but he's not going to be outwardly mean to you because his abuela would hit him over the head if he was. there's exceptions to this of course because he's also just insane and who knows what he'll do on any given day honestly. but yeah anyway. i don't really know what i'm saying other than anger isn't a default emotion for eddie and it's usually just to cover up whatever else he's feeling. he can be very bitchy though which is not the same thing <3

[deathlonging]

tragic when you agree w a post ideologically but the examples it gives are a neon sign of the op actually is fistfighting your preferences even if theirs cross paths w it in this incident so you can't rb it w slight disagreement the way you usually do.