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Hate to break it to you, but your husband didnt fight for anyones "freedom", if we pull all our troops out of every foreign country tomorrow, I"m not going to lose my "freedom".
I believe you need to take a good course on political science. Freedom need to be protected. Protecting freedom requires preventive action. Preventive action could require having warriors stationed in strategic places to answer the call for action as soon as possible.
The reason we have bases around the world is because our nation has pacts with other nations. One pact could be that a small nation is threatened by another bigger and stronger neighboring nation. That small nation may provide something that we as a nation need and further our national interests.
One very important national interest is to ensure that millions of people get some type of commodity that is important to all of us for our way of life, protection is another one of them.
It is something similar like let us say getting a flu shot. Will you get the flu for sure if you do not take it? Hard to tell. It is very difficult to predict results in Preventive Measures. Why? Because the prevented results that can never be measured. That is why is it difficult for many to support preventive measures.
Another example is preventive maintenance. I worked as electrical technician before I enlisted and in the Army. In the civilian world maintenance tends to be disregarded very often because it costs money. Maintenance tends to be the program that gets the funding cuts. However, once a disaster happens, then money is poured after the fact.
In the Army the Preventive Maintenance Program is a big issue. Have you seen in the news when some piece of equipment failed in combat? Very often it was because some commander did not pay close attention to the Preventive Maintenance Program. Every week we had to dedicate a day to PMCS (Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services) to every piece of equipment in our company inventory. Those units with a poor PMCS program are the ones that in combat or in training have equipment failure and loose lives. The units are supposed to do Soldier care also to ensure the Soldier is ready to perform. This includes programs to take care of his family so he has the full support from them also without worries.
So when you write "I"m not going to lose my "freedom" your logic is flawed. Protecting freedom only when someone attack you is a very poor strategy. Preventing is less expensive regarding loosing lives. History (read history) shows that when people take freedom for granted protecting it becomes very expensive in money, equipment, and most importantly in lives.
Lastly, I share a saying I read when I cover the Political Science class when I attended The U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.
Friendship binds men but national interests binds countries.
Read more about history, political science, and sociology and you may be able to understand those issues better. I am not saying that you will agree but at least you can understand why some world decisions are made. It is not the same to decide what pair of shoes you want to buy than deciding whether to send troops in harms way or not to protect our national interests. I as a former Army leader was responsible to the loved one back home for the live of their husband, wives, sons, daughters, etc. so I did my best to send them back home alive. I am glad you enjoy your freedom even if you think the warriors did nothing to protect it. Take care.
What bugs me about the "thank you for your service" thing is it seems like an apology. I served 8 years in the Navy in the 90s, my dad served in the Navy in Vietnam, my two uncles served (army during Cuban Missile Crisis, Navy during Korea), and grandfather served in Army in WW2 France (spoke fluent Cajun French). My FIL served in the Navy in WW2 Pearl Harbor, BIL retired Navy as a warrant officer, BIL served in the Army, and my wife's nephew served in the Navy in the current war. We don't need to be thanked for our service. We just don't want to be treated the way Vietnam veterans were treated when they returned. We don't want to see signs of "Dogs and Sailors keep off the grass", we don't want to see signs saying "we don't serve ____" (enter branch of service), we don't want people spitting on returning veterans and calling them "murderers" and "baby killers" (like the island city of Bainbridge during a July 4 parade towards a veteran marching in the parade, Veteran gets rude welcome on Bainbridge - seattlepi.com ), we don't want to have service members scared to wear their uniform out in public in USA, we don't want our military recruiters attacked doing their job at schools and universities, and we don't want elected city/state politicians making official government statements against the military (see Berkeley city council January 2008).
It is an apology, of sorts I guess. To me it feels like the kind of apology that is basically meaningless - a get out of jail free card. I imagine many vets would trade that "thank you for your service" line for access to healthcare, jobs, counseling, loans, school etc -- everything promised. My attitude is definitely colored by VietNam era vets, young people quickly & likely imperfectly turned into combatants, then as imperfectly left as civilians, dealing with the demons they'd acquired to survive.
I'm not into lionizing, fantasizing, or glamorizing the military. Our family has had military in every generation since ?? forever I guess, from grunt to general. [Until now to be honest. Not a single VietNam era vet encouraged their kids to sign up.] For whatever reasons they were attracted to it [can't find a decent job, tradition, drafted, patriotism, go to jail or the military, get an education in a certain field, finances]. A soldier does not always become one because they want to fight for your freedom. In some cases they are then called on to do a job many wouldn't sign up for. I appreciate it when they do it anyway. But instead of some formulaic 'thank you for your service' which I generally find meaningless, put your money & efforts where your mouth is and see that combat vets and their families get the kind of support they need.
To all the Vets out there, please know that the above ungratful comments are not the way the majority of Americans feel. Thank you all from the depth of my heart for your service to our country. I would surely hate to think where we Americans would be today without your crawling through the trenches and dodging the landmines , leaving the comfort of your warm home, your families to fight for and protect our Country.
God Bless all of you! Most of Americans will continue to honor you and be proud of the dedication you have so willingly showed!
Thank You!
To all the Vets out there, please know that the above ungratful comments are not the way the majority of Americans feel. Thank you all from the depth of my heart for your service to our country. I would surely hate to think where we Americans would be today without your crawling through the trenches and dodging the landmines , leaving the comfort of your warm home, your families to fight for and protect our Country.
God Bless all of you! Most of Americans will continue to honor you and be proud of the dedication you have so willingly showed!
Thank You!
Well, thank you for your kind words. I will say that you sentiment seems to be in the majority. However, I do agree with some of the points of the disenting side. Where I think it would be better is the disdain when addressing the issue. Why? Well, I am not going to guess. There can be as many reasons as there are people. I just listen and see their angles because after all some do have interesting and some valid points also. Take care.
I take it you are part of the Politically Correct police? Walk up to a Marine at the Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington and tell him exactly how you feel. Tell him all about your feelings towards him and his brethren.
Then pack your bags and leave the country you aren't fit to live in.
It is an apology, of sorts I guess. To me it feels like the kind of apology that is basically meaningless - a get out of jail free card. I imagine many vets would trade that "thank you for your service" line for access to healthcare, jobs, counseling, loans, school etc -- everything promised. My attitude is definitely colored by VietNam era vets, young people quickly & likely imperfectly turned into combatants, then as imperfectly left as civilians, dealing with the demons they'd acquired to survive.
I'm not into lionizing, fantasizing, or glamorizing the military. Our family has had military in every generation since ?? forever I guess, from grunt to general. [Until now to be honest. Not a single VietNam era vet encouraged their kids to sign up.] For whatever reasons they were attracted to it [can't find a decent job, tradition, drafted, patriotism, go to jail or the military, get an education in a certain field, finances]. A soldier does not always become one because they want to fight for your freedom. In some cases they are then called on to do a job many wouldn't sign up for. I appreciate it when they do it anyway. But instead of some formulaic 'thank you for your service' which I generally find meaningless, put your money & efforts where your mouth is and see that combat vets and their families get the kind of support they need.
Pretty much nailed it here. Adjusting back into civilian life is hardly a picnic, especially for multiple combat deployment vets and those wounded seriously. Just as it was with Viet Nam, a soldier is on patrol one day, taking and returning fire, the next day he's back in the World, bada bing. I don't feel it's fair, at all, to just throw someone from combat back into civilian life. There needs to be decompression time, access to counseling, for the vets AND their loved ones, and a ventle easing back on the throttle. Not a slam bang, your home, your discharged, when are hou gonna get a job?
A person just can't go from an everyday routine of survival and death to to a 9-5 overnight. And there's always the idiotic question about how many people you killed, what it's like to shoot someone, did you ever see a comrade get killed, what its like "over there" blah blah blah.
Returning combat personnel have a huge burden to carry readjusting. They and their families deserve the proper resources and help to do it.
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So sorry for the ungrateful!
