This alleged "quote" is a misrepresentation of Mill's thought and is widely used by the US military when indoctrinating soldiers. The "quote" is a paraphrase of what J.S. Mill wrote in an article supporting the Union's fight against the Confederacy. Not only is the paraphrase taken out of context, but it eliminates the following sentence that qualifies Mill's overall meaning: "When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people." That sentence is one of two appearing between the two sentences in the paraphrase, but both were deleted without elipses or other indications of editing. The paraphrase also exagerates Mill's meaning by adding the word "much" in the first sentence. (You can find the full article at http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?root=/moa/harp/harp0024/&tif=00693.TIF&cite=http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABK4014-0024-103&coll=moa&frames=1&view=50 ). Should we be surprised that the US military so widely uses this "doctored" quote to inspire a sense of pride and purpose in its recruits? I think not ... it's just another of the half-truths that have accompanied outright lies in the military's propoganda arsenal.