Why Russian & Ukrainian Men Make Great Soldiers and Cannon Fodder Too…

The Military is all about following orders with no thought of self preservation. Discipline and machine like adherence to superior officer’s orders, without question, is the strength of a fighting force.

Insurance companies, just like politicians and military leaders, know that young men are their market.

Check out the insurance premiums charged to young men and compare that to the premiums charged for young women or older people.

But young men drive like lunatics, I hear you say in protest, and yes I agree. The actuaries that work in the insurance companies calculate the risk of each driver and adjust premiums accordingly, working out a tidy profit for the insurance company, because it’s their job.

It is this impulsive attitude that makes them good soldiers.

What do I mean by that?

Well, young men are a lot less risk averse. Meaning they don’t mind risk. In fact, they don’t fully comprehend risk, or consequence.

When I enlisted in the military (I had to. They conscripted me,) I was 17 years old and served until I was 19 years old. I did a lot of growing up in the military, but my life after the military is evidence that I was not a thinking person. Consequences were not top of mind for me. Even post my military experience, I ended up one evening in a bar brawl with the head of the Hell’s Angels. So I was obviously not calculating consequence in my younger years.

At least I lived to tell the tale..

A study by Rochester University concluded that adolescent brains do not fully develop until age 25. Prior to that, teenagers and young adults think more emotionally than rationally, using the amygdala part of their brain rather than the prefrontal cortex, which is the rational part of the brain.

Thinking with the prefrontal cortex allows for more sound judgement and less emotion, more rationality, less impulsive decision making. This is not what the military needs in its soldiers, perhaps in the higher ranks, but not in the expendable youth.

I quote. ‘Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by suboptimal decisions and actions that are associated with an increased incidence of unintentional injuries, violence, substance abuse, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.’ This quote is from the NCBI link below.

The above mentioned suboptimal decisions and actions is exactly why insurance companies charge higher premiums for younger drivers and specifically young men.

Young men are trying to find their way in the world and although I am generalising, this type of mindset is something that prevails.

I quote further from the article linked below.

‘We provide evidence from recent human brain imaging and animal studies that there is a heightened responsiveness to incentives and socioemotional contexts during this time, when impulse control is still relatively immature.’

It is the immaturity in the young male’s brain that makes them ideal candidates for following orders after an emotional message, something like national pride and protection of your family, friends and homeland. Pride of a nation. They respond without thought, with little regard for personal safety, therefore they are brave, but this is also why they are cannon fodder for older men who have moulded their minds and manipulated their thought patterns.

I recently saw a meme that was rather profound in its simplicity.

“War is fought by young men who don’t know each other, for old men who hate each other.”

Or this version.

‘War: a massacre of people who don’t know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don’t massacre each other.’

Paul Valery (source https://www.brainyquote.com)

It was more eloquently stated here.

“Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.”

Herbert Hoover (source: https://www.brainyquote.com)

I may be controversial in stating this but what I think we have in the Russia Ukraine conflict is an East versus West clash brought on by the ambitions of world domination from both sides and the power balance is upset, one side is looking to hold on to power, and the other to expand power, and there is the rub… In the meantime the people suffer.

I hate war because the people suffer for the greed, egos, or visions of the ruling class, think about every war in recent history then take a step back and ask yourself who benefited, financially or politically, those are always the questions we need to ask ourselves.