system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[ATLA] How were soldiers chosen for Zuko's ship after he was exiled? Were they volunteers who were loyal to him over the Fire Lord? Could they return to the Fire Nation or were they banished too?
gpt
In the hundred years that the Fire Nation had been trying, and failing, to find the Avatar, the search itself became largely ceremonial.  Ozai didn't invent this wild goose chase just for Zuko, it was already ongoing and he just made completing it the requirement for Zuko's return.  A token force was already assigned to the task, Zuko was just put in charge of it and when his uncle went along his name brought some volunteers who could probably have found a more glamorous posting if they'd tried.

They eventually came to respect Zuko, when he risked his own life to save a member of the crew, but this was after coming to resent him for putting their lives in danger to find the Avatar in the first place.