What Do Soldiers Do?

Today a picture of a soldier came up in a video clip we were watching. One of my first grade boys asked, "What do soldiers do?". I didn't really stop to think of an appropriate answer, and since I'd just finished reading Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10(in my spare time, not to first graders.), I said, "They shoot people." He asked, "until they're dead?" I stammered, "They shoot the bad guys." I didn't know if this was an appropriate or acceptable answer, but the boy seemed to agree, "I'm gonna be a soldier." Now I'm wondering if he was interested in just killing people, or had some other motive. Ideas of video games are coming to mind, or violent war movies that glorify killing, then, as I must have given him a quisitive look, he expounded, "Soldiers are good guys, and they shoot the bad guys because they're trying to destroy our world." YES! This kid is a genuis. This conversation had nothing to do with the lesson going on, and if the clipboards had observed it, who knows what would have happened, but this conversation was one of the greatest lessons of the year. Now that's fun, don't tell anyone!