You know, it's commendable to post links to examples of our soldiers who went above and beyond the call of duty, some of them giving their lives to defend our country. And it's certainly politically correct to praise their sacrifice and patriotically beat our breasts and thank them for "protecting our freedoms" and "the American way of life".
But let's be honest here... since WWII, we've put our youth in harm's way in Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan and Iraq, TWICE, and really, our "way of life" has in no way been threatened. With the exception of Korea, which may or not have been a just war, we've put our soldiers in harm's way for political interests that have had NO bearing on our freedoms.
9/11 was horrendous... nobody can deny it; but did it affect our way of life? Did it change our government or influence how we do business?
Instead of spouting patriotic dogma, we should be closely examining WHY we're putting our brave military personnel in danger, and if we can't really justify the reasons, we should be shouting from the highest mountains to bring them home.
Furthermore, we should be screaming at Congress to provide our soldiers with proper equipment... better armor for the Humvees they drive, better and more flak jackets, fuel cells for their vehicles that prevent them from exploding...
It's so politically correct to honor our military, but it's all smoke and mirrors... if you really care about them, let Washington know that you don't want them giving their lives for oil, or a political philosophy, or to keep your gas cheep.
I'm actually offended when someone posts a link to some site that talks about a heroic soldier... NOT to take anything away from his bravery or sacrifice; but I feel that people on this board do it for selfish reasons.
I KNOW this is going to piss a lot of people off, but before you respond, do some soul searching and examine your motivations...
It's amazing the wonderful gift our soldiers give to us, and it even more amazing how politicians use them for their own narrow and selfish benefit.
I like this idea: get rid of the selective service, and bring back the draft, but only have rich kids serve. When it's one of their own, then maybe our soldiers won't be so horribly misused.
I didn't know it was possible for one person to come up with so many ridiculous, nonsensical and insulting ideas.
...Gee, what a surprise. You guys really don't want me to play nice, do you?
You insulted yourself with that ridiculous comment about only allowing the rich to be drafted.
...instead of addressing my point on it's merits you opted to insult me...AGAIN.
Now, before you say it has no merits, then maybe, just maybe...
written by a general and you call it the gospel.
And you wonder why people have a tendency to insult you???
''Instead of spouting patriotic dogma, we should be closely examining WHY we're putting our brave military personnel in danger, and if we can't really justify the reasons, we should be shouting from the highest mountains to bring them home.''
If you think radical islam hasnt effected our economy, jobs, and the application of our constitution, or lack there of, in an effort to secure us, or lack there of...I HAVE TO SAY, GET YOUR HEAD OUTTA YOUR ASS...
This post was written by someone who has never served, ITS OBVIOUS!! WAY OBVIOUS, I cant speak on all the other wars, BU I CAN DEFFINITLY TELL YOUR BLIND HINE PARTS, TERROR EFFECTS OUR LIFE HERE ON THE HOME FRONT..In every way, AND IS ABOUT TO EFFECT OUR LIVES IN WAYS YOU CANT BEGIN TO IMAGINE RIGHT NOW....
Geesh eddie, THIS POST WAS CLUELESS, and it was sooo entirely clueless, it made my stomach knot up, outta sympathy for you and your utter lack of will..The will, every soul needs, to be an independent thinker..
I say this in love eddie. Not with an attitude, or smart assed mouth, or with malice.. YOU HAVE NO CLUE, and you have never served, or been close to someone who has..
Not close enough to where you learned things from the experiences they may have shared with you..But then again, you think your so right about A LOT of things, and then you dont listen, when someone tries to tell you a better, or more accurate view on the world, and you think your sooo right about things YOU HAVE NOT SEEN, that you dont listen..Becauseyour not a listener, I just wont explain it to you..
I love it when people who havent seen the country's they speak about, KNOW THEY ARE RIGHT ABOUT THEIR OPPINIONS..It also goes back down to having a closed mind babe..
xoxo
-- Modified on 2/5/2010 1:14:16 AM
If GaG and I can agree to be civil, then all of us can agree to be civil. Be emotional in your response if you like, but insulting language like telling Eddie "to pull his head out of his ass" is rude and insulting.
Gov. Palin's little boy a "retard" is not rude or insulting?????????????
You're the biggest fucking hypocrite I have ever encountered.
Now I will get another post back from you with yet another definition of the word hypocrite . . . . . . blah, blah, blah.
-- Modified on 2/5/2010 8:49:09 AM
...it's called civility.
And last I checked, Palin's children weren't posting on this board.
And when will you be napping????
-- Modified on 2/5/2010 4:46:04 PM
I served two tours of duty in Viet Nam, and my post is BECAUSE I value our troops.
You of all people should realize that our involvement in Iraq and Aghanistan has NOTHING to do with radial Islam or terrorism, and EVERYTHING to do with Big Corporations and protecting their investments.
If our government really cared about terrorism, they wouldn't have dropped the ball in persuing Bin Laden to invade Iraq, a country ruled by a despicable dictator, yes, but a country ruled by a dictator who actually had no love for Bin Laden and never supporte Al Qeada.
TJ, I say this with all due respet and love, but you've got to get past your emotional response and look at the facts.
I have start switching charities. I started giving to things like USO that literally support the troops by providing things for them.
I feel bad about not giving as much to some of the groups that I had supported as much before - a couple arts and education groups, but at this time I just wanted to shift priorities.
Veterans groups are my only charity.
-- Modified on 2/5/2010 5:57:36 AM
A couple years ago, I started donating to groups that send care packages to the troops.
I feel stupid with my inarticulate "Thank you for your service" comment on the tag, but I can't think of anything clever to say.
I actually got a couple brief notes from people in Iraq thanking me.
I have always given to charity, and get a form letter for tax purposes from what ever group I gave to.
But this was the first time that the actual benificiary ever wrote.
Thats great.
If we only take a narrow view, your post is certainly credible as to what's going on. But, its really a lot more than that. I've lost count now, but a few years back when I investigated this, the US had troops physically located in more than 100 countries around the world.
Often times, we put troops in places, such as Germany, just for financial reasons. Sometimes its because of some under the table agreement with a local government who sees our presence as propping up their government from would be opponents, etc... If we brought all of our troops around the world home, there would not be enough space on our bases to hold them all and if we discharged them from service, there wouldn't be jobs for all of them.
from every single country around the world. The only deterent we need is our nukes. We've got 12 trillion in debt to pay down. Time to start cutting.
well, I believe its time to get out of Iraq. I am also not so sure I like what's happening in Afhanistan. I also don't think we ought to be fighting drug dealers in South America. But bringing everyone home just to be able to say we did doesn't make much sense. What do we gain? Unless of course you are proposing that we reduce the size of the military substantially by kicking a million service folks out of a job? What does that solve?
...just to say we did. I want to bring them home to save money in the federal budget. There's no reason for us to have troops anywhere in the world. No nation is threating to invade us. It's costs a hell of a lot of money to have a military presence in over 100 different countries, and it's money we don't have anymore.
Im sorry if my post: 'Say a Prayer for Peace' offended you. It was not a selfish act on my part, as it was a tribute to those who serve this country "in harms way". IMHO we should all be praying every day for our troops, thanking them every day and praying every day for peace so that they would not have to pay such an enormous price. They do it out of love for this country and the love to preserve our freedoms. Oh sure... there are some who are only in it for the education they can obtain, but they are a minority. If you'd take the time to visit those troops who have served or are serving as they come through our airports, or better yet, as they lay in a hospital bed, or try to learn how to function again at a Veterans hospital, you might gain a different perspective from their reasons for serving.
IMHO we cannot support our troop enough. We cannot cut the defense budget and stop providing for them as we did during Mr. Clintons administration and leave them totally unprepared to go defend our liberties and securities at the drop of a hat. We were so unprepared to go into Iraq that we paid an enormous price. We should not allow that type of circumstance to ever happen again. So I agree that we should be demanding from Congress the absolute best for our troops. We must provide the best for them in personal protection, weapons and equipment at all times, during times of war and during times of peace.
I would love to see all of our troops able to return home and enjoy the benefits that they have provided to us and not be in harms way, but as long as the extremist exists in this world that murder their own and murder our troops and commit horrendous crimes, those extremists must be stopped. I would have hated to see the US stand by and watch Hitler, so I would also hate to see the US stand by and watch the extremist of the Muslim faith continue their path unchecked.
Your post did not piss me off...it made me sit and ponder your motivations. As I stated it left me completely bewildered.
and I'm sorry if you took it that way. There are heros in every war, and it's good to see people appreciate them.
What bothers me is people who hide behind the "support our troops" rhetoric while at the same time defend the government who puts our brave young military people in harm's way for reasons that IN NO WAY threaten our "way of life".
I won't point fingers because I don't want to make this a "liberal vs. oonservative" issue, but I just hate the cookie-cutter posts about how our troops are giving their lives to keep us free and allow us to voice our opinions freely, yada, yada, yada... It's all politically correct bullshit, foisted on a guilt-ridden public by the likes of Beck, Coulter and Limbaugh. The fact is that NO war since WWII has had anything to do with preserving our freedons or lifestyle.
If someone REALLY cares about our brave young military personnel, then they should forget about party affiliations and take a long, hard look at the reasons we're in Afghanistan and Iraq... Are they preserving our "way of life", or are they protecting the interests of Big Oil?
If they truly care, why aren't they demanding that congress directs funds to give them better body armour and better protection for Humvees? Why aren't they demanding better health care coverage and financial support for their families while our military personnel are deployed? Why aren't they demanding that once their contracts are completed, they don't FORCE them to do another tour? Why don't they demand better veteran's benefits and medical assistance for returning Vets?
Why? Because they're hyporites hinding behind the illusion of patriotism, and in my opinion are despicable human beings...
Good, I'm glad that it did not.
I too am concerned when I hear what I would refer to as "support our troops rhetoric". For some IT IS just rhetoric. Actions are what matters.
I don't think properly equipping our troop with the latest in equipment, weapons, personal body armor and armored vehicles should cause a division in party lines, but it does. Historically one side will maintain or increase the spending for defense, and the other party keeps cutting defense budgets. I don't think I need to tell you which party does which. As I said in my earlier post, IMO we sent ill equipped troops into Iraq due to defense budget cuts made in the earlier administration. The budget may have been balanced, but at the expense of our troops safety and preparedness. I guess to say "we didn't see it coming" might be a logical answer, but we did see it coming and ignored it.
I would also agree that better health care is needed for our troops. They should be afforded the same health coverage as our Legislators. And I also would agree that the Veterans Hospitals need to be the model of care facilities. As for their "tour of duty", at this point it is my understanding that it is because of a lack of numbers. Maybe I'm incorrect in that thinking. But I would agree that they should allow the troops to either "re-up" or "resign" when they return home, and not force them into another tour. But if their tenure of service is not up, that is a choice they made themselves when they enlisted.
But which party would you be referring to as the "hypocrites hiding behind the illusion of patriotism"? No need to answer that...it's a rhetorical question. IMO, it is the responsibility of everyone in the Executive and Legislative Branches that our military has the state of the art, and is the best supported medically. Again, I dont think I have to point a finger, as it is our responsibility as voters to ensure that Congress and the White House supports and maintains the preparedness and the welfare of our troops regardless of the expense and not just pay it "lip service".
But Eddie, I have to disagree with this statement: "The fact is that NO war since WWII has had anything to do with preserving our freedoms or lifestyle." I still contend that the War of Terror is a war to protect our freedoms and lifestyles. It is obvious to me that the extreme Islamic fascists are fighting to take those away. I'll give you Korea and I'll give you Vietnam, but the extremist of the Islamic faith are after our way of government, our freedoms and our liberties. They are fighting with terror and they are fighting a better fight for the hearts and minds of the people in the countries where they dominate. But look at those counties. Would you really want to see the US become like them? They provide hospitals and schools and infrastructure that make the people feel good about what they do in that regard, but the way they govern by tyranny is not something I'd like to see happen to us. I say...no thank you!
-- Modified on 2/5/2010 8:13:40 PM
Terrorists, Islamic or otherwise, are terrorists simply because the don't have the ability to wage a true war and/or effect our way of life. Bin Ladin's "troups" aren't going to land on U.S. soil and overthrow our government, I don't care how many of them there are or will be. Hey, our trump card is thousands of nukes... we just need the resolve to use them when it becomes necessary.
You're buying into the rhetoric that we're "at war" with terrorists... it's NOT a war, it's a struggle of ideaologies and terrorism is a tactic used by a frustrated people who know that they ultimately can't hurt us in a significant way. For example, if we pulled every troop out of the middle east and let Al-Qaeda have free reign, what will the end result be? Will we become an Islamic country? Will democracy and the rule of law fail? Will we lose our freedoms?
If Islamic fundamentalists/terrorists someday manage to detonate a nuclear device on U.S. soil is that going to change the fundamental way we live? Apparently not, if 9/11 is any indication. If anything, it will increase our resolve and make us stronger as a nation.
The ONLY way we'll lose any freedoms is if we willingly give them up, i.e. the Patriot Act.
Bush's administration in particular and republican's in general have supported increases in military spending while at the same time blocking funds that specifically support increased protection and/or benefits for our troops and their families.
Contrary to what many believe, the grunts, NCOs and ground-forces are NOT, as a whole, conservatives; they've seen first-hand what conservative priorities are when it comes to military spending.
in a failed neoconservative attempt to introduce Democracy in the Middle East ? Against a country that had NOTHING to do with 9/11 ?! The party of "no" is still as paranoid as ever, which is manifested today by many of its "teabagger" adherants. The ghost of Senator Joe Mccarthy is alive & well today within the GOP; next they'll start re-instituting witchunts against"commies in the state dept", after their attempt to say the 1969 Moon landing was staged & Neil Armstrong isn't a U.S. citizen : (