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I think San Francisco is coming up a lot because many troops returned home though there.
Both dead and alive.
San Francisco was far from the only west coast port call, and yet it seems that EVERY incident was there even though the whole west coast was crawling with libs.
Combine that with the fact that the right wing hates San Francisco and it's citizens anyway, and it all becomes pretty damn clear that there is an agenda at work.
Okay...i'll be that. But i served too, and after i ETS'd, i didn't run around complaining about being spat on and treated badly. I just did my time, collected my paycheck and benefits, and left when my enlistment was up.
I'm not going to start inventing stories of bad treatment just so that i can make people feel sorry for me.
San Francisco was far from the only west coast port call, and yet it seems that EVERY incident was there even though the whole west coast was crawling with libs.
Combine that with the fact that the right wing hates San Francisco and it's citizens anyway, and it all becomes pretty damn clear that there is an agenda at work.
REPUBLICAN Rep. Michelle Bachmann advocated freezing spending for the Veterans Affairs Department and cutting spending to VETERAN'S Disability Benefits....
While I don't follow Bachmann very much at all or care about what she's doing I don't 100% disagree with what she proposed as long as it's done correctly. When I say that I support cutting 25% of our budget across the board I really do mean it, lots of people will be upset and people will suffer but we are BROKE and need to cut our spending drastically.
Okay...i'll be that. But i served too, and after i ETS'd, i didn't run around complaining about being spat on and treated badly. I just did my time, collected my paycheck and benefits, and left when my enlistment was up.
I'm not going to start inventing stories of bad treatment just so that i can make people feel sorry for me.
Here is a read on how the protests took place in the SF area.
That's a good link, and i repped you for it. But still, it's too long and doesn't get to the heart of the matter.....did the protesters in S.F. single out soldiers for abuse, both verbal and physical (like spitting).
I submit that they most certainly didn't. Now of course a lot of soldiers took the protests the wrong way (as they often do today) and felt that the protesters were protesting them, which wasn't the case and i'm sure that some altercations took place because of that.
The student protesters in particular would've had much in common with soldiers since most students had draft cards and could be called on at anytime once their deferments were up. Why would they have hated the soldiers when many of their own friends were being led to slaughter in Vietnam? It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
While I do agree with this statement, I also think it's important to understand that for many, especially those from the working class, the military has been set-up by the government and the media as a legitimate career choice. Kate Bush wrote a poignant song called "Army Dreamers", in which she tells of a naive young man who enters the military, and of his mother who meets his dead body when it's returned in a box.
The military has been increasingly marketed towards the working poor. It is depicted as a way to get an education, attain job experience, and earn respect. In a truly moral society, people shouldn't have to mortgage their humanity in order to achieve basic personal success. Yet for many who are unaware of the psychological and physical horrors of war, this seems like a reasonable option.
The mainstream media has aslo sanitized the effects of war. When I was a child, I heard the daily count of deaths and injuries. I watched the news each day and saw caskets and body bags containing dead soldiers. Today we see nothing, and hear only abstract details...it's almost as if nothing is really happening.
They choose to enlist in a time of war for corporate ends.
If they didn't join, they wouldn't be in harms way.
18 year old kids don't know that. They buy into the honor, courage and glory propaganda that's thrown at them and are essentially duped into joining for what they believe are the right reasons. Haven't you ever talked to an army salesman...I mean recruiter? I can't blame the rank-and-file who sign the dotted line.
Pro-military propaganda is everywhere in the youth market. Try playing "Call of Duty "or watch a movie like "Battle Los Angeles". It's blatant and obvious to those with a little bit more life experience, but to a kid it's a whole lot of dirty manipulation they rarely are able to see through.
I AM A BIT ANNOYED BY THE COMMENTS OF PEOPLE THAT WERE NOT THERE AND DID NOT EXPERIENCE THE WELCOME BACK!
When you have walked the walk, you can talk the talk. We were treated like lepers by some and dangerous animals by others. Fortunately I found somebody that could love me. More fortunately she is still with me.
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