I'd say, the media has made soldiers look like a bunch of jerk-offs for a long time... I didn't realise until I got here, but there is a LOT of shit we do that they don't talk about in the news. But as soon as some random military guy does something stupid, it gets plastered on every paper, website, and tv channel.
I'd say I hate the media for supporting such concepts, but they're getting ratings for it because people buy into this crap. Do people want to know specifically about soldiers being jackasses? It's not a godamn blooper reel, assholes.
Just keep in mind, for every thing you see in the news about one shitbag... There are countless times where one of us has watched a friend die, had to stay up for hours watching some road, walk for miles though shit-mud, go days without sleep on high alert because someone THOUGHT they saw a vehicle full of explosives somewhere at sometime... The list goes on FOREVER.
I understand that during off-time, some soldiers can be dicks, but don't disrespect one for what they do until you KNOW what they do.