Soldiers in a Totalitarian Regime

This quote is from the book,
From A to X by John Berger

"I felt old, I could still remember the time when soldiers were warriors, when mothers, however anxious, were proud of their soldier sons.
Across the world, uniformed, highly armed, commanded soldiers operate against unarmed civilians, temporarily isolated and surrounded. This is the new military profession. Soldiers have been transformed into bastards.
The old military orders of Advance or Withdraw or Offer Covering Fire have become obsolete because there is no front line and no opposing army. Nobody will say of one of these bastards that he died nobly.
If one of them happens to get killed, those close to him will mourn his death, but about its circumstances they will keep quiet, and say nothing.
The single word that counted on Wednesday was the one that came from the muzzle of a gun, addressed to somebody on their knees."