America's Military - A Noble Cause or a Modern Meatgrinder?

With the pseudo-patriotic milieu permeating our nation in the midst of a war on terror, we should take pause to critically evaluate our American military.
While the current leadership in our country seems to tout the virtues of military service, a critic might ask, what does military service really mean these days? As a soldier, one is at the mercy of a chain of command. One's life is essentially in the hands of others, specifically a civilian leadership elected by a slim majority of Americans. What might happen if America elects a madman as commander-in-chief, someone who does not believe any casualties would result from war?
This reality exists today. We have a commander-in-chief, elected to serve all Americans, yet given power by only a slim majority, who is egging on a war on terror with an obstinate will. Iraq today likely harbors more than 200,000 insurgents or insurgent supporters, against a US military force of about 158,000. Sure, our military has sophisticated weapons that no other country or scrubby insurgency could match, but they have advantages we will never have - being able to melt into the civilian population, familiarity with their home turf, and a population growing more and more weary of an occupational force capable of miscreant and abusive behavior.
For those looking for historic parallels, I would recommend watching "The Battle of Algiers" by Gillo Pontecorvo.
It's also quite apparent that America's efforts against the Iraqi insurgency are nowhere near as effective as Colonel Mathieu's efforts on behalf of French colonialism in Algeria.
The reality on the ground, it appears, is that Iraq has become a modern meatgrinder for our American military, and our leadership has no plans to make it any better. We have already spilled lots of blood, so we don't want such sacrifice to go in vein, so we keep trudging along, sacrificing more blood.
The other critical lens to view our military with is to see that it has its share of psychopaths. Examples of such individuals and their behavior include the outrageous abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the murders of innocent Iraqi civilians by our military, and the comments of certain military leadership, such as Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who says it's "fun" to shoot people.
Would you want people like this to babysit your children?
In order to win the hearts and minds of any people, we need a military that exemplifies what is good about America. To maintain such a military, we should have swift and severe punishment towards those in military service who undermine our values and help spread fear and hatred in those we are trying to help.
Let us not forget, as well, that the man behind the largest domestic terrorist attack in our country's history, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on Oklahoma City, was the decorated Army veteran Timothy McVeigh.
One would hope the current crucible of military duty in Iraq does not breed more McVeighs for our country to deal with in future years.
Advise for young, impressionable men and women who might consider service in our armed forces - think twice, unless you like taking your chances in a modern meatgrinder, under the orders of a faith-based commander-in-chief.