Personally, I think this song is NOT criticizing soldiers. Yes bad things happen in war, and people do the wrong thing sometimes, but I think that is exactly Rise Against's point. War is a cruel and horrible thing that makes people do things that they would never even think of doing. The prisoner, the woman being shot, they are both things that a VERY LARGE majority of soldiers would never do. Yet in times of war, they do it. Rise Against wants people to see that, they want everyone to know what war can do to a person.
Personally, I think this song is NOT criticizing soldiers. Yes bad things happen in war, and people do the wrong thing sometimes, but I think that is exactly Rise Against's point. War is a cruel and horrible thing that makes people do things that they would never even think of doing. The prisoner, the woman being shot, they are both things that a VERY LARGE majority of soldiers would never do. Yet in times of war, they do it. Rise Against wants people to see that, they want everyone to know what war can do to a person.