Living with pacifists: how has this affected your life?

Most of my British cousins are pacifists and my parents were pacifists having survived WWII in London. Living with irrational pacifists is very challenging; but, living with rational pacifists can be a great way to sharpen your debating skills.
I learned to take many things with the proverbial grain of salt. I love my cousins even though we disagree on many things. In 1983 I stayed at a commune in London which was very interesting to say the least. I was a 1LT in the Infantry at the time and everybody there was a pacifist - some were notional pacifists while a coupe were of the fire-breathing type who seemed to relish any conflict with war mongers as I was affectionately known.

I can't say I've dealt with this personally Sir. I know about the "sudden" war objectors, but they don't fit the criteria you laid out. They just want out of a deployment and run somewhere in TRADOC or Canada. But to be fair, wouldn't we need to listen to their side provided they are being factual rather than "running scared"?

I was raised in a pro-military environment as well as my extended family so I never lived with a pacifist. Anyhow this how I view the mindset and its merit.

Some tyrant gets out of hand - pacifists complain/protest - brutal crackdown - violence erupts. The Syrian conflict is a prime example of how this happens. The civil uprising phase created the platform for the emergence of militant opposition movements and massive defections from the Syrian Army, which gradually transformed the conflict from a civil uprising into an armed rebellion, and later a civil war and ISIS. Pacifists are more than likely the first ones seeking peaceful reform in cases social injustice - however in many instances the idea of reform via peaceful measures is unrealistic and leads to an escalation in violence. In many cases peaceful pacifists are in fact a catalyst in acts of aggression.