I believe strongly on this subject... and i'm sure that my opine will be looked upon lesser for not being old enough to have been drafted (hell almost not even born)... maybe a bit more because i voluntarily went to the Navy, no concern about what "gulf war" we were in... or hell - even where i'd be stationed... I'm sure it will all be just more youngin talk about what they don't know....
But i've teared up reading this whole thread... and its because of americans who DID go... when they were called... and defended THIS country... not because the media spinned it into a nice lil - "what does Viet Nam have to do w/ the great state of america's defense" diatribes ... I'm just about sick of the media as it is... all the spin is ... odd...
Afganistan (sp?) ... who armed Bin Laden... showed him how to work the system? huh? oh ya us... and then.. we "left" and left them to thier own adventures that inevitably made them hate us for leaving (i'd almost bet my life on this presumption.....) we "left" every time we've lost... ever realize that? WWI and WWII once we commited... we were there till the end... every other time we've taken it in the butt... because we left... we didn't finish the job... try doing that on yer house and then blame the builder that it fell on yer head...
The lot of us think politics is easy... and hell i'll even say i'm one of em... I think it should be a job that one person gets one term and thats it... no career politics... period... there is too much pressure and capital in getting re-ellected or getting that next post.... that it stops being for the people by the people... so every time you go "political war" you act like any of us think war is great and we like seeing our son's and (now) daughters comming home dead.... like someone who supported the war thought "oh ya... i love seeing our boys die..."
Or today... ya i love seeing my boys die... people i might have known in the marines or army... now dead.. like thats a great big "woo hoo" in my head. What i don't want is us not to FINISH... to complete what we started...
How does that all fit in w/ this thread? It fits in because when the country called on its people... to fight something it considered really important... be it intelligence or analysis that YOU personally were not privy to due to its classification... SOMEONE thought it was a good idea... and i have a SERIOUSLY hard time thinking that ANY SANE person would think that w/o a "big picture" look at how the world is... something even CNN doesn't necessarily privy us to. (in a world much different than the viet nam era, albeit still media spun...ratings man... RATINGS matter....then and now)
SO do i ask myself... should someone have served were they "drafted, conscripted, slaved" to the war... and my answer is yes... if they asked me today (told me i mean... draft right?) to go back to the service... i'd go... the freedoms i consider dear are ever harder to guard in a day and age when the world ain't... is not.... and won't go back to the way "it was" ...
I consider it a duty, that americans chose willingly in the past... and do currently... a duty that is often said to my face that "I wouldn't do man - i appreciate you tho!!!" as if that is a compliment... as if I feel like my life is lesser than yours... as if i feel the defense of this nation is more my duty than yours... I consider the runner.. cowardly, the man who accepted his duty, honorable, and the person who in a democratic society that refused and went to jail, honorable in his own right - altho lesser in my eye than those that served and continue to. If those that refused to go out numbered those that chose to go, and went to jail, maybe there would have been a societal shift... to change national policy, a momentum in a different direction that while not necessarily better for the country when you can see it in a world view... is still the chosen direction of the people.
And then who knows... maybe everything would have imploded in nuclear fire... hell... could still happen... ain't like the weapons/science dissapeared.
i blather long enough
Love to my Nation, our Military, our way of life, and the ability to live it that way.
J/Tharg!
But i've teared up reading this whole thread... and its because of americans who DID go... when they were called... and defended THIS country... not because the media spinned it into a nice lil - "what does Viet Nam have to do w/ the great state of america's defense" diatribes ... I'm just about sick of the media as it is... all the spin is ... odd...
Afganistan (sp?) ... who armed Bin Laden... showed him how to work the system? huh? oh ya us... and then.. we "left" and left them to thier own adventures that inevitably made them hate us for leaving (i'd almost bet my life on this presumption.....) we "left" every time we've lost... ever realize that? WWI and WWII once we commited... we were there till the end... every other time we've taken it in the butt... because we left... we didn't finish the job... try doing that on yer house and then blame the builder that it fell on yer head...
The lot of us think politics is easy... and hell i'll even say i'm one of em... I think it should be a job that one person gets one term and thats it... no career politics... period... there is too much pressure and capital in getting re-ellected or getting that next post.... that it stops being for the people by the people... so every time you go "political war" you act like any of us think war is great and we like seeing our son's and (now) daughters comming home dead.... like someone who supported the war thought "oh ya... i love seeing our boys die..."
Or today... ya i love seeing my boys die... people i might have known in the marines or army... now dead.. like thats a great big "woo hoo" in my head. What i don't want is us not to FINISH... to complete what we started...
How does that all fit in w/ this thread? It fits in because when the country called on its people... to fight something it considered really important... be it intelligence or analysis that YOU personally were not privy to due to its classification... SOMEONE thought it was a good idea... and i have a SERIOUSLY hard time thinking that ANY SANE person would think that w/o a "big picture" look at how the world is... something even CNN doesn't necessarily privy us to. (in a world much different than the viet nam era, albeit still media spun...ratings man... RATINGS matter....then and now)
SO do i ask myself... should someone have served were they "drafted, conscripted, slaved" to the war... and my answer is yes... if they asked me today (told me i mean... draft right?) to go back to the service... i'd go... the freedoms i consider dear are ever harder to guard in a day and age when the world ain't... is not.... and won't go back to the way "it was" ...
I consider it a duty, that americans chose willingly in the past... and do currently... a duty that is often said to my face that "I wouldn't do man - i appreciate you tho!!!" as if that is a compliment... as if I feel like my life is lesser than yours... as if i feel the defense of this nation is more my duty than yours... I consider the runner.. cowardly, the man who accepted his duty, honorable, and the person who in a democratic society that refused and went to jail, honorable in his own right - altho lesser in my eye than those that served and continue to. If those that refused to go out numbered those that chose to go, and went to jail, maybe there would have been a societal shift... to change national policy, a momentum in a different direction that while not necessarily better for the country when you can see it in a world view... is still the chosen direction of the people.
And then who knows... maybe everything would have imploded in nuclear fire... hell... could still happen... ain't like the weapons/science dissapeared.
i blather long enough
Love to my Nation, our Military, our way of life, and the ability to live it that way.
J/Tharg!