This video has been out since October, but for those of you who have not seen it, the video is a tribute to those who gave their lives so we may enjoy our freedoms to "speak our hearts and minds" in simple forums like TERs P&R board. Even if you are not a fan of Country Music, it does bare viewing. The song is entitled: Say a Prayer for Peace.
http://media.causes.com/611645?p_id=44185871
That crowd BETTER give that young man a fucking standing ovation. The price he has paid for americans, to have our voices heard,is damn sight worthy of a standing O.
Thanx TX for this reminder.
My own family lost our two remaining 'wounded(pow),decorated,branded and yet multi-war veterans' this past year. Where our nation would be if not for those who SERVE is beyond me.
Red face not for anger;but for emotion within the moment.
Liberals? Where the fuck was your boy BILL(Clinton)when our country needed someone to step up to the plate?
I'm done here before i lose my fucking mind!!!!!!
...but I think in all fairness, I should mention that Bill Clinton wasn't the only draft dodger who got into office.
One could say where was G. Bush and Dick Cheney as well. Patriotism doesn't belong to one party, and neither does cowardice nor hypocrisy.
Oops, I got nothing, except to maybe say you can include Obama in that same category as well, but that certainly does not invalidate your statement.
To his credit, I would not consider Clinton's lack of military service to be hypocritical in his case, I can't say as much for the next two men to hold his office.
...being a draft dodger who sends other people to war by choice is quite another.
A draft dodger is someone that never served, such as Cassius Clay, or Mohammed Ali, if you prefer. Or Carl Wilson, of the Beach Boys. And these both suffered the consequences, as opposed to the ones that ran off to Canada. GWB went to basic training, got a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant after completing OTS, went to flight training, and became qualified as an F-102 Delta Dart aircraft commander. Having been associated with the F-102, I can personally vouch for anyone that had the balls to fly that plane. The J-57-23A engine left much to be desired. As far as GWB not going to war in southeast Asia, there were no F-102's deployed there when he was in the Texas Air National Guard. There was a Guard F-102 unit deployed to South Vietnam, but it was not his, and their deployment was for a very short duration.
If you're going to call someone a draft dodger, at least get them in the correct category. Otherwise, you demean the service of ALL those who serve, or have served, in the Guard.
a draft DODGER is someone who evades the draft by going to Canada. Cassius Clay objected to the war and manned up and paid the price for his convictions.
As for GWB, you're ASSUMING he became qualified as a Delta Dart aircraft commander. There is significant evidence that he did no such thing.
Not all draft dodgers run off to Canada. We jokingly caled them members of the ROTC. Many stayed put in the USA, or went to Mexico, or else where. A classmate of mine actually went to Sweden. He was the All-American boy in school, but turned tail and ran when he got his draft notice. There was an article last year of a man from Atlanta that went to England to avoid the draft, and lived there for 40 years, becoming a professor at Oxford. He came back to the USA, and applied for dismissal of the charges against him. They were dismissed, and now he is back in ATL, teaching. IMHO, anyone that refused at that time to be inducted when they got their notice, was a draft dodger, regardless of their situation. Including Cassius Clay. He refused on grounds of religion. He did go to prison, and paid his debt to society, as did Carl Wilson. I have no problem with that.
My grandmother had a saying, and I never really knew what she meant, when I was a child. She would say: "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away."
It's up to us to make certain that they don't fade from our memory and care.
I'm sure I could say a lot here that would tick off a lot of the people here. So I'll take it easy, given the topic.
There are many wonderful Americans who gave their blood, sweat, tears, limbs, and lives to make this country free. I once read about what happened to the people who signed the Declaration of Independence and what happened to them as a result of that in the Revolutionary War. Many of those men had to send family members into hiding never to see them again to keep them from the British. Many of them died as paupers giving their wealth to the war effort. Americans soldiers who fought without shoes or food, and pulled cannons by hand across entire colonies for a single battle.
I think of the thousands who died in the Phillipines War and in WW1. The people who died in WW2 and Korea. In Vietnam and Iraq. No matter what one can say about the wars themselves, no one can deny the sacriface these men gave to us.
There are plenty of monuments in D.C. Some acknowledge certain historic leaders in this country. These monuments stand as a legacy to them and their efforts. But there are millions of Americans who have fought and died, millions of our fellow countrymen whose names we will never know who made this country free. This nation and our freedom is their legacy. It is their gift to us. It is a gift that we should never let go.
Wow Willy, sometimes you are downright eloquent. I'm groovin on it.
It's good to see that you would share that side of you with us.