Am reading historian Ted Morgan's recent memoir of being a 1950s draftee in the French army, "My Battle of Algiers." Morgan, the son of a French diplomat (and bizarrely enough a cousin of John Negroponte), was raised in both the US and France and went to Yale. He won me over early in the book when he said of his Yale experience: "I majored in poli sci and learned that there was no such thing." I haven't gotten to the worst of his experiences in Algeria, but I anticipate they will be very bad indeed. I learned from a review of this book that at one point Morgan confesses to beating an Algerian to death with his fists when the Alergian was being tortured for information.
Morgan offers interesting aperçus about war, e.g.: "It occurred to me that the true nature of war is that your declared enemy is not your only enemy. Your superior officers, who place you in high-risk or reprehensible situations, are also your enemy ...."
And, turning to current events, it occurs to me that "allies" like the demented state of Israel who place you in high-risk or reprehensible situations are your worst enemies of all.
Carl