I agree with you, I don't think there is a reason to justify most of the military action taken nowdays. I think this ties into the point made by other posters that kids joining the military do not have a clue as to what they are signing up for. Not to many of them have been taught how the world really works, they only know what they have been told by parents and teachers. And yes, as another person stated that these kids do have the internet available to them and can research for themselves, but do you really think they are going to take the word of some blog or story or are they going to instintivley go by what they have been told by mentors? Teenagers are also stubborn humans and it takes a while (if ever) for them to lose that.
It's really sad because they are not really fighting for you and me, they are fighting for oil companies, big corporations, and politics to make money.
There are a lot of men and women getting orders to go over to Africa. The gov tells us its to help third world countries to strengthen their forces and to make their homeland safe from terrorists. What they dont tell you is the real reason why after so many years we only decided recently amp up "our" efforts. It is particially because China started putting a hand in to help and of course we can't have them opening up shop and making money. And the other reason is because oil has been found. Oil has been found in Kenya, although, at this point, (if I remember correctly) they are not sure how much, it's still in exploration. And I also believe there are plans to explore in other northern/central African nations.
The world is screwed up because people are greedy and the greediness has put the U.S. and others in the hole. It's only going to get worse.