Recently I've been reading through Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942-1943) by Anthony Beevor, an in-depth account of what was possibly the bloodiest battle in human history, including the lead-up to it, Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. Two of the worst regimes in history waged what was essentially a war of extermination on each other on the Eastern Front.

What struck me, besides the scale of the destruction, is just how many millions of young men, 18-25, were sacrificed for the sake of their respective countries' geopolitical aims. Now and then, the prerequisite for war is to throw as many young men into the grinder as possible, let them endure terrible conditions, rile up tribal divisions (us vs. them) and provide them with the means of slaughtering one another. While the Soviet Union had female battalions, they were mostly used as a last resort and out of a sense of desperation, similar to how Germany conscripted children to defend Berlin in 1945; the overwhelming norm was to send the men into machine-gun fire.

Every country was built on the blood and suffering of young men who didn't necessarily have anything to gain from it. The 'soldier' is the apex of the obligations attached to the male gender role.