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I didn't have a choice, genius. I was drafted. My father enlisted because his country was frigging attacked and 2,000 plus people died.
My dad, healthy when he left, came back with malaria, the nervous shakes, and memories of the concentration camps he "visited".
Me, I left a good piece of one of my kidneys on a hill in Dak To.
You called this nation's service men and women murderers. Pardon me if I take offense.
No, I don't think we should have been in Viet Nam, and I think we should stay the hell out of the Middle East and let them forge their own destiny, but that is NOT the fault of the men and women who risk (and sometimes lose) thier lives in the service of their country.
This shows an appalling lack of respect.
My story sounds like yours except I came back with all my parts attached. Many people back then called us murderers as well. I never saw it that way. We were survivors. I never wanted to kill anyone, just stay alive and get back to the real world. And all I got out of it was to get out of it. The war for us was defensive in a personal way. Looking back now, I realize it was the same for Charlie. We were all just kids sent off to do dirty work for the greed of our nations and the ambitions of our political leaders. So yeah, call Exxon or Johnson or somebody the murderer. But respect those sent in the name of their country to do its dirty work. Especially the ones who never came home.
My story sounds like yours except I came back with all my parts attached. Many people back then called us murderers as well. I never saw it that way. We were survivors. I never wanted to kill anyone, just stay alive and get back to the real world. And all I got out of it was to get out of it. The war for us was defensive in a personal way. Looking back now, I realize it was the same for Charlie. We were all just kids sent off to do dirty work for the greed of our nations and the ambitions of our political leaders. So yeah, call Exxon or Johnson or somebody the murderer. But respect those sent in the name of their country to do its dirty work. Especially the ones who never came home.
Yep. if it were left up to the people put in harms way, not a shot would be fired.
These poor souls are drawn in to serve into the armed forces at a young age by use of loosely made promises of "money for their education", "find better jobs", "getting honor & respect".. the list goes on.
Ask yourself, did they die for a good cause or were they simply tricked into becoming murderers?
I'm asking myself how it is that you don't know about the draft.
If I am wrong, then why is the world SO hateful & angry towards Americans & their allies?
Because we are the ones holding the money and the power - and they resent it. It's kind of like a classroom, where the teacher holds all the power and the grades. Some students will try to buddy up to teacher so they can get special privileges, some will do what is required by the teacher so they don't have conflict and can get by, some will act out because they don't want to do what someone else wants them to, some will practice a little passive-aggression, and still others will do everything in their power just to try to make the teacher as miserable as possible, including trying to rile up other students. The whole world doesn't hate us, just some of the ones that do are pretty spectacular in their demonstration of their hatred and engage in some mighty sabre rattling.
My story sounds like yours except I came back with all my parts attached. Many people back then called us murderers as well. I never saw it that way. We were survivors. I never wanted to kill anyone, just stay alive and get back to the real world. And all I got out of it was to get out of it. The war for us was defensive in a personal way. Looking back now, I realize it was the same for Charlie. We were all just kids sent off to do dirty work for the greed of our nations and the ambitions of our political leaders. So yeah, call Exxon or Johnson or somebody the murderer. But respect those sent in the name of their country to do its dirty work. Especially the ones who never came home.
My story sounds like yours except I came back with all my parts attached. Many people back then called us murderers as well. I never saw it that way. We were survivors. I never wanted to kill anyone, just stay alive and get back to the real world. And all I got out of it was to get out of it. The war for us was defensive in a personal way. Looking back now, I realize it was the same for Charlie. We were all just kids sent off to do dirty work for the greed of our nations and the ambitions of our political leaders. So yeah, call Exxon or Johnson or somebody the murderer. But respect those sent in the name of their country to do its dirty work. Especially the ones who never came home.
We usually avoided the cowboys. They had a bad habit of getting those around them killed.
In a very few cases, it could be that serving in the armed services, is safer than living in their neighborhood.
They could get training in a field that could provide them a living once they are out of the armed services and get paid while receiving this training.
Brilliant post. Unless you wind up as front-line infantry you are absolutely statistically safer in the military than sticking around an urban neighborhood as a young black male.
Heck, the death rate in Iraq was typically been around 1 in 250 military personnel per year but you'd want to gross that up for severe manglings and future suicides etc. So call it even 1 in 100 dead.
Riders of supersport motorcycles have a death rate of about 1 in 44 per year. And that's just their motorcycle death rate and of course they have other deaths on top of that.
If I am wrong, then why is the world SO hateful & angry towards Americans & their allies?
You think OUR guys are brain-washed yet you can't see the same in others?
Ok, imagine your typical Syrian male prior to the civil war.
Age: 20
Education: Religious schooling for years
Employment: None (>30% unemployment)
Government: Brutal Corrupt Dicatorship
Marital Prospects: Little to None
Marital prospects of elite: multiple wives
Free Press: You have to be kidding...
Most hated Enemy: Jews and the west, because his government and media told him that's why his life sucks.
We do stuff to them...and vice versa. Painting us as the badguy is laughable....we are all badguys. Even the gutless europeans are badguys for not wanting to get their hands dirty and help fix the damage THEY caused with thier colonialism and warfare which laid the seeds of many of these conflicts.
Now they just want everyone to get along meaning they want to wash their hands of the mess and leave it for everyone else to clean up....*cough* bosnia? Punjab? Israel? Most of Africa?
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And that's just their motorcycle death rate and of course they have other deaths on top of that.
