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Protester shot in chest by live police round during Hong Kong protests

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628 points nodea2345 | 5 comments | 01 Oct 19 11:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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nvahalik ◴[01 Oct 19 13:30 UTC] No.21125093[source]▶
> Imagine if the US suddenly had a dictator

This is why we have the second amendment. And the constitution as the thing to which office-holders swear allegiance to rather than to "the party" or "the president".

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Fezzik ◴[01 Oct 19 15:03 UTC] No.21126073[source]▶
I always find this sentiment a little silly - if the US President went in to full dictator mode and had the support of the military, do you really think a militia of armed citizens would be anything but gnats against the windshield of the United States Armed Forces? And if s/he did not have the support of the Armed Forces, it would not be a very effective dictatorship and you would not even need guns for a rebellion. I truly do not get it.
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1. JoeAltmaier ◴[01 Oct 19 15:19 UTC] No.21126294[source]▶
The US military is made up of Citizen Soldiers. Not clear that 'full dictator mode' would get anywhere.
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2. ivanbakel ◴[01 Oct 19 15:40 UTC] No.21126599[source]▶
The US military is made up of professional soldiers. Citizen soldiers are citizens first, and soldiers only when civic duty calls them up.
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3. JoeAltmaier ◴[01 Oct 19 15:41 UTC] No.21126624[source]▶
That's pretty much describing the vast bulk of US military. Citizen Soldiers.
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4. ivanbakel ◴[01 Oct 19 16:04 UTC] No.21126976{3}[source]▶
In what way are they citizen soldiers? The statistics I can find suggest that active duty personnel majorly out reserve personnel.

Active duty personnel cannot be considered citizen soldiers because their service is not compulsory and they are full-time professionals, not merely civilians in service.

Reservists might be considered citizen soldiers, if you're a bit loose with the criteria that service must be a compulsory civic duty.

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5. javagram ◴[01 Oct 19 16:22 UTC] No.21127228{4}[source]▶
Army Active Duty 472,047

Army National Guard 345,153

Army Reserve 219,054

I believe a significant number of soldiers also only do 4 or 8 years and then return to civilian life, they aren’t a permanent military class like the Roman legions or whatever. As you mention a lot depends on what you consider a “citizen soldier” though.