Why?

Why was Trooper David Pearce, 41, over in Afghanistan fighting in a war zone in the Australian Army?

To my mind there's something wrong with the fact that my nation firstly recruited a man in his late thirties into the Army Reserve, took him into the army after he'd turned 40, and now will fly his body home from a 'hot' warzone a year later.

I mean no disrespect to the memory of David Pearce. I respect the feelings of his family, loved ones, and his comrades. These things don't detract from my disbelief that he was there in the first place. Not so much Australia's involvement in the occupation of Afghanistan, that's an issue for another day.

But the fact that this nation is sending men to war who a decade ago wouldn't have been accepted into the services unless in time of national emergency, and even then who would have been steered away from the front line. There's plenty of base jobs for each soldier in a tank.

Which is where David Pearce was when the bomb went off. My question, why are we sending men to war who wouldn't make third cut on the draft? Is our need to be there so strong? To whose end?