Personal Honour is indeed a relevant issue in this context. There are other factors the need be considered too. My experience is somewhat unusual. I was drafted and served one tour in Vietnam, yet because of my family's religion, was allowed Conscientious Objector status. I served as an unarmed chopper evac medic. Even though I served on the battlefield, and many times came under hostile fire, I never once acted out of motivation to kill any human, and instead my duty was to preserve human life whenever possible.

There are two major lies usually told to soldiers in training: 1) that there are no atheists in foxholes; 2) that personal honour possesses a sort of materiality, and is easily acquired on the battlefield, almost as if it was manna that fell from the heavens above. My experience led me to believe that if you found your god on a battlefield, then assuredly you worship manifest evil; and that Personal Honour is not a fungible commodity, it cannot be acquired externally, and can only be created inside by each specific individual. Others can help to explain the methods, and direct towards the proper paths, but honour can only be created from propriety in one's willed actions. It is shameful that this is not properly explained to new recruits who were not fortunate enough in their nurturing to understand it inherently, because far too often, soldiers on the battlefield have exchanged their honour for a pittance, believing more will be easily obtainable in the future, only to discover upon their return home, there is only that which remains.

Still it is very important not to forget that even a nineteen year old youth generally possesses the maturity making them responsible for their own actions. To deny this, is to deny free will, and to degrade all humans by stripping away their humanity. There is no modern nation in western civilisation which allows for members of its military an affirmative defense of "just following orders". There is much weight given to obeying the orders of a superior, yet at these same time, legitimate orders have clear limitations, and it is a violation for any soldier to obey orders that have crossed over those demarcations.

I view the conviction of Lynndie England with great incredulity, because I am unsure if she actually had any understanding that what she was doing was in fact criminal, and caused The Nation shame. I am less troubled by Charles Graner's conviction, because in the end, he stepped up and admitted that he should not have acted the way he did at Abu Ghraib, and knew that what he was doing violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, yet Graner still has been wronged, because his prosecution was not resultant from an equal application of the law. This should have been walked straight up the ranks, following the bloody boot tracks to the White House front door.

Both the American Military and the IDF suffer from a dereliction of their officer corps in its duty to honour, and this dereliction is rampant throughout the whole chains of command up to the highest levels of elective office in both countries. It is unrealistic to expect a front-line grunt to act on a higher moral plane than their superiors, and heads of state. Vengeance is a horrible emotion, and is something that should rightfully be left up to deities, yet it is also understandable, when it was fomented by the unrighteous death of Kilth and Kin. It is the duty of the officers corps to assure that front-line fighters are not also tasked with policing duties over civilian populations. That path can only lead into the darkness.

Israel, and to be fair, America too, has seen an corruption of their military's religious officers. When the chaplains, rabbis and priests teach an inequality of humaneness based solely upon citizenry, and that this inequality also carries with it a differing valuation placed upon individual life, it is unsurprising this would lead to some soldiers engaging in war crimes. Nowhere within the real teachings of Christianity, Judaism or Islam is there found an assertion that 20 eyes for 1 eye is just.

It is difficult for me to actually access blame fairly, and if forced to judge, it would extend out farther than just the military and elective officials in both Israel and America. Both nations are supposed to be democratically based governments of, by, and for the people. The blame extends out to each and every citizen, or the Nations are not in reality free, just brutally deluded by fantasy.

God is the solitude of men.
There was only me:
I alone decided to commit Evil; alone,
I invented Good.
I am the one who cheated,
I am the one who performed miracles,
I am the one accusing myself today,
I alone can absolve myself; me, the man.

Jean-Paul Sartre, "The Devil and the Good Lord", act 10, sc. 4

No, I'm not sure what you're referring to. Could you be a bit more explicit with your innuendo?

FWIW, I recall reading that one of Jack Abramov's pet projects was supporting a "sniper school" in Israel.

You should be ashamed that you are saying that anything Israel is doing or ever has done is remotely comparable to what the Nazis did.

Your ignorance of history is stunning, and your moral compass is deeply askew. And I don't believe you for one moment about your grandparents in the Holocaust or your ex-Israeli soldier nonsense. If you feel the need to make such claims to back up your unsupportable posts, why don't you post verifiable documentation.