Why is it not OK to have a negative opinion about the military? (ethical, illegal)
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I know what you said has been said all the time but is it really true? Especially after WWII. Think about it. If we never intervened in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq (twice), even Afghanistan, will our "freedoms" be taken away? I hardly think so. Just face it, today America fights abroad for political and economic purposes. Sure you can say our standard of living is the way it is because of the wars we wage overseas, but to say they "protect our freedom to hate them". Not true at all. Another thing is that most military personnel aren't on the front lines risking their lives. To me it's just another occupation and it doesn't earn my respect just by itself. I will judge each one of them individually, just like I do everyone else.
Thank you for this. I agree with that thought precisely- since WWII, none of our military involvements have had anything to do with freedom. I wrote out a long response to further agree, but I deleted it because I just don't have the energy to argue with all the "Amurrica's killing creates freedom" folks.
I'll just say this- keep the military the same size but get them out of the middle east and America will be just as safe as it was before.
Thank you for this. I agree with that thought precisely- since WWII, none of our military involvements have had anything to do with freedom. I wrote out a long response to further agree, but I deleted it because I just don't have the energy to argue with all the "Amurrica's killing creates freedom" folks.
I'll just say this- keep the military the same size but get them out of the middle east and America will be just as safe as it was before.
yeah, keep the 47,000 we have in Japan and the tens of thousands we have in Germany (just 2 examples) because I'm really worried about the Japanese and Germans!!!
it's only been 75 years....
The Japanese and Germans are a wayyyy bigger threat than the Taliban, Al Quida and ISIS
Two years military service should be mandatory. It would sure wake a lot of self centered whiners up to the fact that they are not the center of the universe. Even "pajama boy" could have been a clerk.......maybe.
The almost reverential respect that military people have been receiving since the early 1990s is over-compensation for the appalling treatment they received in the late 60s, when young soldiers were coming home and being spat upon and cursed at by angry protesters.
One history of the war I read told of a soldier who got tired of people saying things like "Do you kill babies in Vietnam???" and such. He stopped trying to explain what his job was, and how he didn't have any choice in it, etc., and just said "Ma'am, my job is to kill people." That would shut them up anyway.
The backlash against the protesters after the war, especially after the Communists took over, slaughtered tens of thousands of government officials in the south etc., and then all the reports came out about how LBJ lied to the American people, how many young men were suffering PTSD, the full impact of the war on an entire generation who thought they were being patriotic and serving their country... Americans turned on the anti-war people as being cowards and hypocrites who shoot the messenger, not even the messenger but the messenger's assistant.
Then Reagan came along, restored vast budgets to the Pentagon and bulked up the military after years of low budgets, and declared that Vietnam was "a noble cause". The Army started being more particular about who they'd let in -- started to require a high school degree or GED, no criminal record, etc. The prestige and respect for the military rose as the Boomer generation mellowed out.
Then George H. W. Bush came along, started the first Gulf War to stop Iraq taking over its oil-rich neighbors, and declared "No more Vietnams". The soldiers, who barely even fought since most of it was aerial bombardments, came home to parades and tremendous celebrations.
I don't like jingoism and "we must go fight for Mom and apple pie" but I do think the respect the military gets today is a good thing. The police should be equally respected and then I think police brutality incidents would actually decline, and when the public supports the police, the bad guys tend to run and hide. When the public doesn't support the police, the bad guys get away with murder -- literally.
yeah, keep the 47,000 we have in Japan and the tens of thousands we have in Germany (just 2 examples) because I'm really worried about the Japanese and Germans!!!
it's only been 75 years....
The Japanese and Germans are a wayyyy bigger threat than the Taliban, Al Quida and ISIS
The Japanese and Germans have requested that U.S. military stay in their countries.
With the Cold War over, the German bases shrank and there's obviously less of a danger of invasion from the East. But there's still economic and geo-strategic reasons to keep the bases there. NATO still exists and we can't just pack up and leave. And, you know, the Germans want us to stay.
Japan regards the U.S. military presence as a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they hate the soldiers because of some infamous rape cases and other misbehavior, but on the other, it's cheap insurance against an increasingly aggressive China. North Korea is also a major threat to S. Korea and Japan and they would not want the Americans to walk away from that situation.
I know what you said has been said all the time but is it really true? Especially after WWII. Think about it. If we never intervened in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq (twice), even Afghanistan, will our "freedoms" be taken away? I hardly think so. Just face it, today America fights abroad for political and economic purposes. Sure you can say our standard of living is the way it is because of the wars we wage overseas, but to say they "protect our freedom to hate them". Not true at all. Another thing is that most military personnel aren't on the front lines risking their lives. To me it's just another occupation and it doesn't earn my respect just by itself. I will judge each one of them individually, just like I do everyone else.
Let me ask you this:
If we didn't have a military, what do you think would happen to this country?
I don't mind if people are critical as long as their criticism is over something legitimate. Hating on wars, and why we go where we go...the soldiers weren't the ones who made that decision, they are simply following the orders. Don't hate on the people who are following the orders, take your issue up with the people who voted to go to war...and that includes DEMOCRATS and Republicans.
I know what you said has been said all the time but is it really true? Especially after WWII. Think about it. If we never intervened in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq (twice), even Afghanistan, will our "freedoms" be taken away? I hardly think so. Just face it, today America fights abroad for political and economic purposes. Sure you can say our standard of living is the way it is because of the wars we wage overseas, but to say they "protect our freedom to hate them". Not true at all. Another thing is that most military personnel aren't on the front lines risking their lives. To me it's just another occupation and it doesn't earn my respect just by itself. I will judge each one of them individually, just like I do everyone else.
In "A Few Good Men", Jack Nicholson is the bad guy. So most people, when they watch that film admire the good guy's (Tom Cruise) speech in the courtroom; and it is good. But there's a dialog that Nicholson has that is actually the one that has more value: "Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? ... I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You...curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. ... And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to."
Now, don't me wrong. A lot of things happen in the military that are hardly honorable. But there's an interesting phenomenon that I have observed. Most ex-military who have actually served in war rarely want to talk in any detail about it. And there's a reason; they have seen what the rest of us only imagine. My father served for 20 years, including WWII. He never talked about about his WWII experience. It was only after his death of "old age" that I discovered -- while sifting through his papers -- that I learned he had been in that final push up through Italy and then into Germany and the concentration camps. I don't know all that he saw, but I know that that was the one chapter in a 20 year military career as a regular soldier that he never talked about. He couldn't. What he saw was that bad.
I've never been in the military. But I honor the military -- in general -- for keeping us so safe that common folk like you and I never have to give much thought to the relative freedom we benefit from every single day. We just take it for granted, while other die for it.
It is (still) okay not to like anything or anyone, including the military. People are not drones and are free to like/dislike, believe/not believe, agree/disagree about anything and with anyone. You may not like the response you get, but you are still entitled to your own opinions, beliefs and values.
i think after 9/11 it became all partriotic to be thankful to the military...isn't that when the saying "thank you for your service" started? my husband who was in the marine corps hates when people tell him that. he finds it annoying. he tells me he didn't join for anybody, it was for himself and he hates when a stranger tells him that...he says some of his vet friends say the same thing...i don't know, i just know how much it bothers him....
question to other veterans: does it bother you when a stranger finds out you've been in the military and tell you "thank you for you service"? just curious if my husband is a weirdo
The vast majority of us have jobs where it is the employer's responsibility to keep us safe. There is very very little chance that we will get seriously hurt or killed on the job, and if it happens, the employer must pay out the nose for neglect of unsafe conditions, and correct those unsafe conditions, if they are even able to stay in business.
The military, and to a degree the police force and firefighters, choose voluntarily to take a job where the above is expressly not true. They walk in the door knowing full well that they can get seriously hurt or killed on the job, and that while their employer tries to prevent that, it's still a fact that if necessary, their job is to actually take the injury or the bullet in place of the civilians. That's the entire point of their job, to put themselves in harms way so that the civilians are safe.
It is human nature to admire anyone who willingly chooses to put themselves in harms way in order to protect you, your family, your children, your way of life. And rightfully so. In my heart, the act of signing up is the act that makes you a hero.
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