Future in the army

Yesterday morning Nathan was playing in his room and he had pulled the blinds up so that he could see what was going on outside. He was pretending to be a cowboy so he had his cowboy hat on, his gun belt, a toy pistol in the holster and a toy rifle in his hands. I happened to be in his room when a couple of army semi's went past the house. He said he was going to go outside and put his rifle over his shoulder (like the veterans carry them in parades) to show them that he was in the army too. I told them that the appropriate thing to do would be to salute them and I showed him how that was done. Then the conversation went like this:

Nathan: I am going to be in the army when I grow up.
Me: Oh yeah?
Nathan: Yeah. I am going to shoot a cannon.
Me: Oh yeah? Shoot a cannon huh? (Trying not to chuckle because how often do they shoot a cannon now days?)
Nathan: And fight bad men.
Me: Well, you fight with your brothers now, so why do you need to join the army to fight?
Nathan: That is practice for when I work for the army.

I hope that this is just a passing child-hood fancy. I greatly appreciate everything the past, present and future military personnel do and sacrafice, but that doesn't mean I want my son to join the army. I guess that makes me a hypocrite, but it just scares me to think of him in the military.