The military is a very controversial topic for most people. There seems to be a lot of arguments caused by people’s views and opinions. Some people think the military needs more funding, others think quite the opposite, that funding needs to be cut. 

Senior Ava Meyerhoff sees the need for it but thinks the military is overfunded.

“I don’t think there should be as much funding as it has,” Meyerhoff said. “I understand why we have and need a military. I just don’t think it should be as big as it is. I think that the funding can go into other government programs or something like that.”

Meyerhoff also doesn’t see a point in our military’s size.

“I know that we’re the strongest military power but the other military powers who are almost as strong as us are mainly our allies, so there’s not really a reason for our military to be as big as it is,” Meyerhoff said.

Senior Rowan Farha understands we need a military but is upset by the need to use it and thinks they overstep. 

“I’m not necessarily for or against the military, it’s just really hard to see a world where there’s so much fighting and so much death and anger,” Farha said. “I’m not anti-military, it’s just more anti-war and I think our military is necessary but it’s disappointing in the world that we have to use it so often, have to send so many people off to countries and interfering in things maybe we shouldn’t be interfering.”

However, junior Daniel Palacio is very pro-military and thinks the military deserves respect.

“I think the military is very important and they are not treated the way they should be,” Palacio said. “While on one hand they make mistakes because they’re not perfect, without the military we wouldn’t be a country in general, we’d probably just be Nazi’s right now. Before that, we wouldn’t even be a country because we wouldn’t have gotten freedom [for] the thirteen colonies. Military needs to be respected more.”

The environment also sometimes helps to shape someone’s view or opinion on certain topics. 

“I don’t know for sure [if my home environment affected my views] just because it’s hard to see that from being in that position yourself,” Meyerhoff said. “I don’t think it was the main attribute to my political views because my political view is kind of different from my family’s. It’s not extreme though, so I don’t think  so.”

For all three, most of their friends and family share the same views as them. 

Palacio decided to take the initiative in becoming educated about the military.

“There are no direct family members of mine that have been in the military,” Palacio said. “I kind of just went out on my own and learned.”