From a Chaplain who had served in Iraq

[classicman]

Cic - I'm not sure how to respond to you. I'm just gonna say what I think and let it go from there. I like you and I was/am surprised at your response

I took the standard most common definition of the word "militant." No I didn't need to go back to the middle English derivations of it nor the origins of the word because its application has a very different meaning today. I thought the most common widely accepted definition was fine. I would further submit that the negative connotations associated with the word "militant" were intentional. If you meant soldier, you would have used soldier, not militant. You meant exactly what you said and thats fine. For someone with such a broad vocabulary like yourself, there were certainly many other words you could have chosen. Its ok, we just disagree - great thing about this country, we can agree to disagree and not get shot for it by any militants.

General statement - To answer why they did what they did I'll just list a few words that come to mind off the cuff. Honor, respect, dedication, pride, duty, desire, tradition, camaraderie, sacrifice.