Support the Troops?

What is wrong with you? Everysingle post i've seen you make, in several threads, you just resort to name calling. Why bother posting if you have nothing to offer but childish name calling and insinuation? Oh, and before you flame me too, i'm completely and totally against the government in all forms, it should go without saying i'm against the military industrial complex. However ignorant comments like yours sets a negative precedent for the rest of us trying to affect positive change.

 

And what about your ignorance?

Calling other people names, points to your positive change? Hmm? : )

 

Oh dear, and now, it has come to this...


US Troops Attack Iraqi Sheep with Grenades


http://alternet.org/blogs/video/48215/

 

What is my ignorance? Point it out? What have I said that is ignorant or misinformed in the slightest way?

 

OK what does this mean? I've been a civilian for 12 years. I've never supported a conservative candidate, least of all this illiterate Texas playboy or his father. he quickest way to destroy a military career is to be a liberal and voice your opinion, which is what I did. Of course it would have been quicker if I had simply lied and said I was gay, but I stood a good chance of being killed if I had.

And for your information, there were nuclear weapons in North Korea long before I ever set foot on the Korean peninsula 25 years ago. The world just wasn't ready for that news until recently. Nukes are no longer a deterrant, there just an irritation. No one has the balls to use them, not even Kim Jong Il. He might promise to not make anymore but he'll never give them up. We (the world) don't really do anything about them. You don't see us negotiating with Pakistan, do you? You know nothing, so shut it.

 

So, if nukes, a weapon of mass destruction is no longer a deterrant, what the hell what the hell were you and your army fuck buddies doing in Iraq.

It's stupid people like you in the military that can't even get their lies straight, that need to stfu.

 

So, if nukes, weapons of mass destruction are no longer a deterrant, like you said, then what the hell were your army fuck buddies doing in Iraq, looking for weapons of mass destruction...

It's dumbfucks in the military like you who can't even get their lies straight, that need to stfu.

 

Well I am a Libertarian so you can't blame me for Bush either. I just don't carry around the kind of hate that you do mandell, so I guess the military didn't fuck me up too much.

 

Skip- I agree so much with your original post. I'm so glad I read that and know there are other people who agree with the way I think (which many people, even on here, have made me feel "evil" for thinking like that).

 

If a person is very poor they can't go to community college with VERY little or no money (with loans and grants).... and from that point get very high grades through dedication and discipline and move onto better schools from there?

Funny how I have a degree from a community college and I didn't pay a penny (yet, I do have a few loans to pay in the future) because I couldn't afford to pay for school.

 

I am in an awkward position because I have two young cousins that signed up to save and protect the US. I don't agree with their reasoning but they bought into the hype. Neither one joined for the benefits or money. Both come from financially secure families. And one could have attended any college of his choice. But he chose to follow some sort of quest. One is now home in the states, for how long no one knows at this point. The other just returned to Afghanistan after having been wounded there in December. They both enlisted right after graduation from high school.

I've experienced the welcome home hero parties when the one boy came home wounded. I've seen the other brag about blowing up cars while patrolling in an armored humvee. He had no idea who was in the vehicle. They didn't respond to English commands....so they were taken out. But I didn't feel that it was appropriate to criticize or state my reservations.

I think all the flag waving and hero worship has to stop or more niave young people will enlist following some quest for glory and manhood. And when they come home damaged they aren't going to find their government looks after their needs, not if they can't be returned to active duty. The military will only expend the necessary capital to make whole those that can be put back in the line of fire.

 

I live in new england, we have the highest cost of living in the country (with the exception of perhaps CA and AK), I have 2 daughters, my wife and I have a COMBINED income of less than what one soldier makes, not only do we get by, but we live quite well, so the whole "It's not for the money" rationalization may work for rich people, but for the vast majority of people it IS for the money.

 

They had a unemployment rate of about 30% before the war.

So you think these people working for Wal-Mart voluntarily would be better off without jobs?

I disagree. You also have the choice to stay in school and as pointed out above they will even help you pay for it if you don't have the money. All you are required to do is put in some effort.

Soldiers get paid to meet demand. Yes, that is how free markets work. Welcome to capitalism. It works really well. I would much rather it work this way then them having a draft and paying whatever they want to. Think about it.

 

Ok, you are getting a little off topic from the OP but I would agree that blackmail of political canidates needs to stop. I don't like it one bit. As far as the Government being run like a business, more like any large organization has to be run to function. You won't find me saying that Government waste isn't out of control. You won't find me saying that the Government isn't in everyones personal lives enough. What I am saying is that I love my country and the ideals it was founded on. Its like family, they are not always right but I have their backs regardless of the circumstance.

I disagree with you here. Yes, corporations are allowed to profit from wars but someone has to make our equipment. Again I think the lobbyists are the problem here. The army does not want a loss of lives or limbs. This would actually cost them much more money. They have good intentions of protecting troops and they spend they money but again the lobbyist donate for the contracts. I already stated that I think soldiers should be treated better not worse. I think you had the oppisite opinion. Every soldier going knows these things but again I think you make too much of the money factor, they are there for principal. Maybe principals like love of country that you don't have money is more of a side factor. Thats my experience anyway.

 

First, I was never in the army, I was in the Air Force. I have no buddies in the army, and I've never been to Iraq. I never claimed any of that so perhaps you need to stop making assumptions about things when you haven't even a slight clue. For the record, I was an interpreter.

Point out where I lied and I'll apologize. We were talking about North Korea, not WMDs in Iraq. There never were any WMDs in Iraq and if you paid attention you'd know I've said that many times in the past. And I'm not stupid, though a lot of people in the military are. I'm quite educated. I just prefer to work in a blue collar field where I actually get to help people. I speak 6 languages and was an interpreter (not an interrogator, an interpreter, there's a difference so don't lay some blame for Abu Ghraib on me either).

You've again proven that you are full of hate for something you don't even understand. You assume things about other people totally out of thin air and then resort to name calling. You're 50 years old. Act like it. Grow up.

And you all seem to think that everyone in uniform carries a gun and kills people. You're completely ignorant. The only time I ever touched a gun was on a firing range and that was twice in 13 years. I enlisted because 6 years of living under an overpass and smoking weed everyday got old by the time I was 19. I finished my education, finished the book I was writing and got the hell out of there. So how about we don't blame me because the shithead in charge wanted to finish what his daddy started, huh?

As for the pay issue, all that money does not explain why 25-30% of junior enlisted people (the core of the workforce) are eligible for public assistance. When I lived in Monterey, CA in 1987 my neighbor's 12 year old son hung himself in the garage. He left a note to his mother that said "now there's enough food for the other kids" or something to that effect. His father was an E-4 stationed in Germany I think. Yeah, that's livin' high on the hog.

I am not defending the military as an organization, I am disgusted by what it stands for and war as a whole. But I support the individuals in the military because they are human beings. When you dehumanize them you are no better than the people you call baby killers.

 

Yeah, they would have. They were out to prove themselves as men, and protect their homeland. I don't agree with that reasoning and I have a hard time understanding why their parents couldn't discourage them. But there are other motives besides money. At least for the young there are. Those independent contractors well there's another story, and one that hasn't been full told yet.

And I agree for the urban and rural poor, many do enlist to better their financial standing, it's hard for the middle class suburbanites to understand. But it's a real factor in enlistment statistics.