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Sigh. So I was in the military. Are they overrated...yes and no. They're human beings, with human foibles, they arent supermen....and that's what makes them great. These regular people ARE putting their life on the line for a country most believe in. Will our troops do bad things...I think we've seen evidence that that is true in the news. But they do good and great things 99% of the time...things that never get reported because hey, who cares about good things right? So yeah I talk a lot about reducing our military, but I have nothing but respect for those like me who decided to put our life at risk when we signed up. Even more so for those who sign up while we are at war.
In my opinion, Afghanistan was a war we didn't start, they attacked us. As for all the other wars, they weren't started by our military. They were started by our civilian government leaders. So which presidents sent troops to Korea, Vietnam, & Bosnia/Kosovo?
There's a critical over-generalization you made there.
The Afghanis didn't go to war with us. Al-Quieda did, using the remote stretches of western Afghanistan as a base of operations. Only the Taliban, just one group of Afghanis, supported them.
Do not paint all Afghanis with the same big brush. Before we entered the country, it was ruled by a very weak national government that was mostly just a figurehead. The real rulers were a bunch of tribal warlords, each controlling a region, with his own army made up of fellow tribesmen.
Many of these warlords fought the Taliban just as hard as we have, and some of the most influential of them died in the fighting. We reinforced their central government, but it is still weak and fractured in comparison to the tribes and their leaders. We have tribes that have become our allies, other tribes that side with the Taliban, and there are other tribes that have aligned with no one and have tried to stay out of the conflict.
The only time in recent history the Afghanis were united was during the 10-year Soviet occupation. All of them joined loosely to fight the Soviets. As soon as the Soviets left, Afghanistan went back to it's divided tribalism, and the Taliban only controlled part of the country, even though they took over the central government.
That's the way it has always been. Afghanistan is called the Shatterer of Empires, because every foreign power that has invaded it has always left in defeat ever since Alexander the Great.
Yeah, I realize that we need a military just in case someone attacks us. But do you think the country goes overboard in worshiping them without criticism the way they do? Our country is the bully of the world and the troops are the bullies. I think fighting for your country is a noble thing, but only if you are defending your country from enemies, not going in and economically conquering nations who have economic policies you disagree with and or resources you want.
What war have we fought since 1945 that's been justified or in the interest of defending our country from harm or conquest?
Just following orders wasn't an excuse in 1945, and it shouldn't be an excuse in 2013. Our sanctions on Iraq plus the 2 wars probably killed more Iraqis than Saddam's regime killed. While I'm not defending Saddam, why didn't we declare war on Suharto who killed a million of his own people between 1965 and 1997? Oh yeah, because the United States put him there since they preferred his free market policies over those of Sukarno.
I'm not cold hearted. I'm not gonna spit on the soldiers, and it makes me angry so many of them are denied the help and benefits they rightly deserve by having served their government and corporate masters. They're people too and they have rights and should be treated nicely. But I'm not gonna thank them for their service, just because they got off the Call of Duty and got to fight in a real war and kill real people. Our military goes way beyond self defense of the nation.
So yeah, I'm not gonna give a person a standing ovation just because they served in our bully army.
I'm sorry that you don't understand how to appreciate those who serve for you, and everyone else in this country. Maybe one day you will get it. Until then, you will never fully understand empathy, nor compassion.
Anyone who puts their life on the line in
service to our country is a hero to me.
The OP disgusts me.
When will people outgrow their hero worship?
I was in the army and I don't consider what I did to be some great sacrifice worthy of reverence. It was a job involving guns and other ordnance, basically. I took a certain amount of pride in it, but I've taken a certain amount of pride in every decent job I've had.
Many civilians die in their line of work. Many soldiers never even get injured.
I don't see people carrying on about firemen or the few good police officers that are still around.
How about honouring search and rescue teams? That would be a nice change.
Again, troops dying for our country. Full stop. What part of that do you not get? What difference does it fricken make WHY they are dying, they did it because they served this country.
GD I fricken can't stand libs sometimes. Why don't you just spit on the over 4,000 graves already? Just get yourself a ticket, and go to the cemetery, and spit all over them because WHY they died apparently matters so much to you.
How many died looking for wmd`s that the administration knew didn`t exist? Who put them in those graves for reasons we may never know? It certainly wasn`t the libs. Why they died certainly matters to me. How about yourself? The Downing Street Memo :: What is it?
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