On The One Hand, I'm Glad They're Getting the Training...

on the other hand, I'm wondering about the motive for it.

Soldiers are receiving additional training in hand-to-hand combat, based on situations in Afghanistan that indicate it is necessary.

I don't object to the training per se, as I think that hand-to-hand combat should be in every soldier's repertoire; but I worry that the reasoning for it has less to do with preserving the lives of our soldiers than it does with capturing insurgents alive, as if the focus has shifted from a war viewpoint to a law enforcement viewpoint; soldiers are trained to kill enemies, and police are trained to arrest lawbreakers. I hope that we aren't treating our soldiers as police out of some notion of being "nice" to the insurgents.