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Once upon a time, a group people decided that a thing called democracy should exist and since then it has been believed to be a strong promoter of freedom.

Some years later, the freedom preached by it is still found wanton. So then, this bags the freedom,is freedom truly free?

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DISCLAIMER: This is not a political nor war post, as I do not preach nor encourage politics nor war as it could be detrimental to growth if abused.

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Someone once said "freedom is never truly free"Do you know that even on the battlefield, there are some rules concerning war? I know it sounds weird and quite the opposite of war is supposed to be, but believe me those rules are put in place so that some maniac does not get the bright idea of annihilating everyone on Earth as a last attempt to win a war.

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The rules surrounding such battles are known as the Rules of Engagement and basically it is in simple terms known as how much force is considered too much force even in war.

Imagine two countries at war and one with the capacity to decimate the other, but holds back because of rules put in place to checkmate certain unfair advantages.

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Let's go to war...or not

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If we review a list of the top three military forces in the world, we discover that they are capable of not only nuclear abilities, but also chemical and biological warfare, which puts them at an unfair advantage over most of their opponents.

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I once read somewhere sometime ago that during a battle, the opponents used poisoned bullets and no matter where he enemy soldier was shot, death was inevitable. Normally one would believe that the death should be a normal part of war since it should be a free for all, but even then, certain things are illegal.

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Okay wait, so you mean I cant just go to war, gather a lot of phosphene and mustard gas and drop them on my enemies, celebrate my victory over a couple of drinks with my troops and call it a day? That is exactly what I am saying.

But if those gases are illegal for use in war, how come nuclear weapons and Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles which also causes inevitable death within a blast radius are still technically available?

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The answer is simple, freedom is not free. You have the ability to run does not give you the right to compete in an Olympic's event. There are protocols which screens the good from the bad and those protocols must be strictly adhered to.

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Being a fan of Einstein and physics, I picked up a quote from him (although the quote is believed to have been heard from an external source). He said "I don't know what weapons world war III would be fought with, but world war IV would be fought with sticks and stones."

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Is war ever a good thing?

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There are so many reasons why wars are fought, but at the end of the day, the effect of such wars are never good.

In August 1945, when the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked, the face of warfare changed. Earlier on, in a battlefield, soldiers had the option of coming back from war with maybe a single leg or an eye, but if you are unfortunate to get wrapped up in the middle of the nuclear strike, say bye bye because the soldier's body might never be recovered talk more or less of identified.

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Apart from nuclear strikes, we look at psychological damages being done to the soldiers who return from war. We look at damages such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as P.T.S.D.

My grandfather was a soldier and till date, he has never remained the same, there's a way he looks at things that leaves you wondering what he might do next.

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We hear of cases where soldiers return from war which were supposedly fought to promote freedom and at the end of the day, the wars end of breaking their free will upstairs. Such men usually take drastic steps such as drinking, whoring and in most cases, many become suicidal and murderous.

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I have heard so many tales from men in the uniform who went to war and watched their best friends die, so many who were lucky to have survived by chance after watching so many gallant people fall right in front of them.

In war, you never know who's next, your best friend could drop dead right in front of you, the person whom you were laughing with on your way to the battlefield could be next...it could even be you.

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In war, unlike video games, there is no reset button, there is no skip, there are no cheats, you either live or die and when death comes knocking, you might end up bring carried by the legendary "six strong men."

In some cases, you go to war based on orders and directives even when you feel it is not right, but orders are orders and must be executed and you wonder is freedom truly free?

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War is so complicated that there is technically no winner at the end of the day. I remember in the terminator series "The Sarah Connor chronicles" I saw about six or so years ago, someone said he witnessed a fight between two people and the loser went home with a few broken teeth while the winner died of a blood infection as a result of the punch he unleashed on the other guy's mouth.

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Imagine the winner dying and the loser having frequent visits to the dentist, that goes to show that there is really no winner in war.

Respect the men and women in the uniform, they are awesome.

So then I ask again: Is freedom truly free?

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Thanks to @camzy and @elyaque for the animated art and badge

Images are from pixabay

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