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Actually through most of our history we did quite well with a small army and navy. No one is coming over here to get us. WE have been the people who started most of our wars, they were of OUR choosing.
Our collective national ego makes us act like modern day Romans, thinking military power makes us great. Like the Romans we like to have client kingdoms but whereas Rome drew strength from their clients our clients draw strength from us; that's getting things ass backwards.
Meanwhile our economic power, something far more important, erodes. And much of that erosion is caused by the expense of a huge and unneeded military.
Well, small army and navy deserve to be respected. That is the whole point of the thread. NO?
The following is a list of states that have admitted the possession of nuclear weapons, the approximate number of warheads under their control, and the year they tested their first weapon.
Country Warheads active/total[nb 1] Date of first test CTBT status[5]
The five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT
United States 2,150 / 7,700[3] 16 July 1945 ("Trinity") Signatory
Russia 1,800 / 8,500[3] 29 August 1949 ("RDS-1") Ratifier
United Kingdom 160 / 225[3] 3 October 1952 ("Hurricane") Ratifier
France 290 / 300[3] 13 February 1960 ("Gerboise Bleue") Ratifier
China n.a. / 250[3] 16 October 1964 ("596") Signatory
Non-NPT nuclear powers
India n.a. / 90–110[3] 18 May 1974 ("Smiling Buddha") Non-signatory
Pakistan n.a. / 100–120[3] 28 May 1998 ("Chagai-I") Non-signatory
North Korea n.a. / <10[3] 9 October 2006[6] Non-signatory
Undeclared nuclear powers
Israel
You don't need a big army when you have the most nukes.
Irrelevant.
Regardless how big or small the size of the military, these men and women deserve to be respected. Respect and appreciation is not "worship."
Plus, earlier you posted, "NOBODY has strong military" now you changed your words into "None of those pose a threat." How do you know that? I guess nobody could have predicted Hitler could have changed the world history, nobody could have predicted Pearl Harbor either. Don't know what point you are trying to make at this point.
Regardless how big or small the size of the military, these men and women deserve to be respected. Respect and appreciation is not "worship."
Don't start a conversation if you're just going to try and change direction when you don't have an answer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilyflower3191981
Plus, earlier you posted, "NOBODY has strong military" now you changed your words into "None of those pose a threat." How do you know that? I guess nobody could have predicted Hitler could have changed the world history, nobody could have predicted Pearl Harbor either. Don't know what point you are trying to make at this point.
Regardless how big or small the size of the military, these men and women deserve to be respected. Respect and appreciation is not "worship."
Plus, earlier you posted, "NOBODY has strong military" now you changed your words into "None of those pose a threat." How do you know that? I guess nobody could have predicted Hitler could have changed the world history, nobody could have predicted Pearl Harbor either. Don't know what point you are trying to make at this point.
I agree with you on that, they deserve the respect and appreciation.
I do not glorify war or the soldiers who volunteer to join the military--mainly because I do not know what it's like to be in their shoes. But...I want to make one simple point. If we, their countrymen and women, don't recognize and support them when they return home to civilian life, who will? Our elected and appointed leaders (and the profit-from-war corporations they prop up), surely do not. At least not to the point that is humane and decent. At minimum, take some time to learn some hard facts that only soldiers/vets can really know.
Did you know it took over 50 years for our gov't to recognize the effects of the herbicide Agent Orange on over 200,000 Vietnam vets? Fifty years to accept viable, scientific medical research. Every Vietnam vet (and their families) should boycott any and all products made by or connected to Monsanto and Dow Chemical (and companies like them. They produced AO for the government's war--and they and their shareholders profited handsomely from those gov't contracts. What did the vets get? Cancer, neurological, digestive, skin, lung and heart disorders, along with about $240 a month for compensation. Wow, too generous Uncle Sam!
Did you know that 1/3 of all Gulf War vets suffer from what's known as Gulf War Illness? While Haliburton (Dick Cheney's company) and other companies of this ilk made gazillions in the various Gulf wars, what did the soldiers suffering from exposure to wartime toxins get? The lovely gifts of mood disorders, cognition and memory problems, disorders of every physical system as well as birth defects of the veterans' children. Thanks Daddy Bush and Uncle Dick! You make us so proud.
Did you know that more than 200,000 veterans are homeless, and 1.5 million veterans are considered at risk? Veterans without homes have served in WW II, the Korean War, the Cold War, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, the 1991 Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq. A whopping 56% of the homeless vets are black and Hispanic. The next time you see a homeless person, think twice about how they got there. Do you thank those black or Hispanic vets on skid row? Perhaps you should, or at least don't judge them until you've walked a mile in their shoes.
Did you know that every day 5 soldiers attempt suicide--up 500% since 2001? And, every day 18 veterans attempt suicide (4X the national average). These numbers are mind-boggling!
If the OP is still reading this thread--s/he may want to think a little deeper about the veteran/soldier topic as a whole. After all, things are almost NEVER what they seem. I do not condone war, nor do I glorify it or the participants. But I do not judge--even for a second--what the volunteer men and women go through while in a war/conflict, or when they come home. Knowing who deserves your critical judgment isn't so hard if you dig deeper and follow the almighty dollar. Hint: It isn't the soldiers and vets, my friends.
I kind of agree, I get a little irritated over the whole worship attitude towards veterans. I think it is just society swinging the other way after the Vietnam BS veterans went through.
While they did sing up, many people should be thankful for that as if it were not for these people signing up, the gov would have to force people into it. Also, they volunteered to do the BS, and unlike other dangerous jobs, a person in the military cannot quit, and the job description changes to where you are sometimes not doing what you signed up to do.
Companies do hire on merit; that would be a combination of hard and soft skills. The military is work experience all the same as a civilian job. So whether the person is a mechanic for ten years in Germany, or a civilian job at Ford, that is still ten years of experience.
However, the military mechanic will have soft skills the civilian mechanic does not have; this can make the difference between two equal jab candidates.
I agree. In the days of the draft, young men were hauled out of the lives they wanted to lead and forced to serve in the military. It was a serious sacrifice. Current military personnel are all volunteer, and are well paid. Heck, they get an enlistment bonus of thousands of dollars. That's a whole lot different from the bus ticket and $87.90 a month I got.
A few years ago, somebody thanked me for my service. I was speechless. In over 45 years, that was the first time I had heard that. We did what we had to do, even though we didn't want to. When we were done, all we wanted to do was forget the whole thing.
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