Next you'll be saying, 'they volunteered so they should expect to get killed',
No, there's a risk that they may get killed, different thing.
I'm being Devil's advocate a bit, sorry if I sound mean. I still have very close contact with the RAF and know what is happening at grass roots and above. I hear what you say.
I genuinely think that a lot of guys never consider that it's something that they can actually stop doing if they wish. JTO mentions prison sentences, I sometimes hear guys talking about it as if it were. It's not. You can walk away at any time.
I did 22 years as well, but the truth be known after all those years of constant stints of separation I also had enough by the end. It wasn't me really, I loved all the detachments and the ops, it was watching my family suffer that made me finally pull the plug.
What do you propose?
I propose that people should do as they are doing and vote with their feet. I'd had enough by 22 as well. Thoroughly enjoyed (well most of the time) it. But it's a young man's game and by the time I was 39 I wanted to be a grown up.
Edit: Yeah I know, I never achieved it...
