Why is it not OK to have a negative opinion about the military? (wars, facts)
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Sheesh is the question for real? How can you complain about your safety? These men and women put their lives on the line in ways that most of us can't even begin to imagine. Even if physically unharmed, so many come back from battle with psychological wounds, they will live with the rest of their lives. How many other professions have to deal with that? Law Enforcement is the closest, but at least they get to go home to their families and friends after each shift. Why do the reasons why they join matter?
Can you imagine being separated from your loved ones for a year at a time, possibly multiple tours, and all the carnage and horror they encounter? And on the flip side, can you imagine going about your daily life, living every day in fear of an attack, maybe your hometown will be invaded, maybe a bomb will fall on your child's school? NO? Well count your blessings and thank YOUR service members.
I think the problem people like you have is separating the military as an institution from the soldiers. We should respect our soldiers for the sacrifices they have made, but that does not mean we should worship the military as an institution. For example, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq had nothing to do with our safety. They were political wars. If anything, Iraq made things even worse for our safety. If Iraq hadn't happened, and on false pretenses at that, ISIS wouldn't exist today. If the US hadn't gotten involved in the middle east in the late 80's/early 90's, the Taliban wouldn't exist. These are all mistakes created by the military industrial complex. Criticizing these mistakes is not the same as not respecting our soldiers. The greatest respect a civilian can show our men and women in uniform is to reign in the institution our military has become so that we don't send our troops to die for political reasons. They deserve more from us.
Military pork spending is another huge problem with the military. Anytime someone suggests cutting military spending the conversation becomes about not supporting our troops, despite the fact that spending on veterans and soldiers is less than a 1/3 of our military's budget. Complaining about a 60 million dollar USELESS natural gas station in Afghanistan becomes about being unpatriotic and not supporting our troops. Trying to cut back on useless weapons and outdated equipment becomes about not supporting our troops. Complaining about wasting millions of dollars on luxury compounds/embassies and roads in the middle east becomes about not supporting our troops. You see a pattern here? We could increase spending on our troops, like the VA, AND DECREASE military spending at the same if we got serious about cutting military pork. But that can't happen because every time we criticize the military industrial complex it becomes about not supporting our soldiers. People need to learn to separate our soldiers from the military institution if we're ever going to change things.
Last edited by Astorian31; 11-18-2015 at 08:18 PM..
Something like 92 percent of Americans have a positive view of the armed forces, yet it's OK to hate the government, the police, doctors, lawyers, even though we need them just as much as we need soldiers.
I realize some people in the military commit acts of heroism and we need a military (albeit not nearly as large and expensive as the one we have now) but why is it that having a negative opinion of the institution is considered blasphemy nowadays?
Before Desert Storm in 1990, there wasn't this same universal adoration for the armed forces. The respect people have for the armed forces goes beyond a healthy appreciation for people doing a vital job and borders on worship. People get a fuzzy feeling and are irrationally reverent of anyone in a uniform. Even liberals and peaceniks stop short of criticizing the wars and the armed forces themselves, even if they are against the purpose of the war, they will still support the war because of their adoration for the soldiers.
My opinion of the military is not as negative as it used to be, as I realize they do serve a purpose. But it's weird how there's no debate that they are a force for good. We don't hold them to the same scrutiny we hold other equally important professions that have power of life and death.
Do people secretly hunger for military rule? Considering people trust the military way more than the government and police, I wouldn't be surprised if many people would embrace martial law. Is the cultural atmosphere in America during the past quarter century more militaristic than it used to be?
I am skeptical of every statistic I read. With that being said, the soldier on the ground isn't making policy. He/she is just following orders. You don't kill the messenger.
As I am frequently told the Military today is not the military I recall. It is far more professional and metric/merit rated. But in such a large organization there are bound to be some bad apples.
Something like 92 percent of Americans have a positive view of the armed forces, yet it's OK to hate the government, the police, doctors, lawyers, even though we need them just as much as we need soldiers.
I realize some people in the military commit acts of heroism and we need a military (albeit not nearly as large and expensive as the one we have now) but why is it that having a negative opinion of the institution is considered blasphemy nowadays?
Before Desert Storm in 1990, there wasn't this same universal adoration for the armed forces. The respect people have for the armed forces goes beyond a healthy appreciation for people doing a vital job and borders on worship. People get a fuzzy feeling and are irrationally reverent of anyone in a uniform. Even liberals and peaceniks stop short of criticizing the wars and the armed forces themselves, even if they are against the purpose of the war, they will still support the war because of their adoration for the soldiers.
My opinion of the military is not as negative as it used to be, as I realize they do serve a purpose. But it's weird how there's no debate that they are a force for good. We don't hold them to the same scrutiny we hold other equally important professions that have power of life and death.
Do people secretly hunger for military rule? Considering people trust the military way more than the government and police, I wouldn't be surprised if many people would embrace martial law. Is the cultural atmosphere in America during the past quarter century more militaristic than it used to be?
Simply because it is our kids that are in that military! Kids, husbands, dads, moms, wives... they ARE the military... How can we say that their lives don't matter? I have a son who is contemplating (he's just entering HS) joining the military. My son's life matters. That is why we can't have a negative view of the military. However, we can have a negative view about how that military is used and blame the powers that be!
Simply because it is our kids that are in that military! Kids, husbands, dads, moms, wives... they ARE the military... How can we say that their lives don't matter? I have a son who is contemplating (he's just entering HS) joining the military. My son's life matters. That is why we can't have a negative view of the military. However, we can have a negative view about how that military is used and blame the powers that be!
The closest parallel I can think of is this: for any number of reasons I hate the War on Drugs. However that war isn't the fault of the beat cop's. It's the politicians and to an extent the voters who put those politicians in office who perpetrate it.
Of course as others already pointed out, cops can quit anytime. So it's not a perfect parallel.
I am skeptical of every statistic I read. With that being said, the soldier on the ground isn't making policy. He/she is just following orders. You don't kill the messenger.
If that is true, it is also true of the "enemy" soldiers. So we don't kill them? OK
If that is true, it is also true of the "enemy" soldiers. So we don't kill them? OK
Most people can't look at things like this objectively. You just provided one example. Most people only see what they want to see and cherry pick observations to suit their agenda. Another example is when people say soldiers are brave. Okay, fair enough. But then they go around and say individual soldiers shouldn't be blamed for invading a country that did nothing to threaten the US because they were just following orders and had no choice. Another fair assessment. However, if someone has no choice they can't really be brave when they go into battle because they had no choice. It's not like they could say "no", I don't want to fight. Bravery implies a choice to face your fears but if you have no choice you don't have any option to run away.
Well. like I've heard in the past "Bravery doesn't mean you aren't scared. It means you go anyway".
The military of today has a good deal more respect than it did in the 1970's and 1980's. Vietnam took a while to get over, and that was an unpleasant era for everyone.
I work with member's of Britain's Royal Air Force on occasion. They tell me that when they're in this country (in uniform) people will occasionally come up to them and thank them for their service, not recognizing their uniforms as being foreign. They say that will never happen in England. Presumably the British populace has an entirely different view of their armed forces. It's a shame, because they're some of the most professional around.
#1 often when people cut and paste it will showed up in non standard font and size..There by hinting at the fact that the words were not the authors own thoughts. #2. No One Has Fought for OUR Freedom since WWII #3.Rape pillage and plunder is laughable.. Enter Rambo and the Expendables hahaha #4. Green Pease seen as eco terrorist nothing is farther from the truth. Eco Terrorism against the military? ..Folks if you rely on Faux News and Crazy Far Right Blogs for your information ? YOUR in need of sever Medication.. The Military is glamorized to attract warm bodies... Lots of Rambo Wanna Bees etc etc .. The Reality is we end up with a lot of abu ghraib participants..
I love how out of the millions of troops who have served honorably in the last decade you bundle us all in with a few bad apples.
Those bad apples are satistically insignificant, they hardly exist.
And even the Rambo types are in short supply. Our Army and Marine infantry troop numbers are minuscule compared to their support structure. From the cooks working 84 hours a week making food, to the pilots destroying their bodies in the air, to the ships at sea, and the guys pulling long hours at various commands, there are so many that accept substandard pay to make sure that you can access this page and can type your non-sense in English.
Everything the US Military is involved in is to protect the interests of the nation. Some would say that the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't defending our freedoms, but they are, just as our ships out to sea protect our sea lanes, and our jets defend our air ways.
The military, like any government institution, is flawed. Members of the military, from four stars on down to privates, should be criticized just like any other public servants when they commit acts worthy of criticizing.
Ironically, the knee-jerk "How dare you criticize our brave soldiers?" attempts at shutting down a discussion (as opposed to rationally discussing an issue) is precisely the sort of thing that is labelled political correctness by the same crowd (the ones who rail about political correctness are generally of the same group that castigates those who dare to criticize the military).
It's perfectly fine to 'support the troops', but support does not entail carte blanche immunity from immunity from criticism. More to the point, improvement can only come from adjustments made due to the critical analysis of shortcomings and outright failures. Demanding that an institution not be criticized is to hinder its continual development.
I don't know if you have served in the military or not, but your understanding of how the military operates would suggest you haven't.
First of all, the military is NOT like any other government institution. When you join the military you pretty much sign away your rights for the term of service, no other government institution requires this. As such, you fall under a total different set of laws, this is called the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), which is very strict, you break these codes and there are punitive actions taken.
Every person who serves in the military represents the United States and they are expected to conduct themselves accordingly. I can not say the same for the civilian population in this country. So do they deserve my respect, you bet they do, not because they maybe ask to lay down their lives, but because each and everyone of them has taken an oath to do something that the majority of Americans will not do. And who are we to criticize anyone for doing something that we refuse to do, so don't go spouting off things like they "should be criticized like any other public servants" because they are NOT like any other public servant.
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Yes. 
