I've decided to un-ignore you and apologize for my outrage. Moving forward.
I'll start by saying that as much respect as I think I have for men and women in the military, my lack of understanding of their plight makes me incapable of giving due respect to the men and women who paid the ultimate price for our country. It is tough for any American to understand the battles that have been fought for them. Some pretend to understand more than they actually do. Until one can experience first hand, they just won't get it.
I'm not a pacifist. At the same time I don't support unjust, misguided or unprovoked wars. Most Americans can probably agree with that, though it gets more complicated when our definitions of unjust, misguided and unprovoked are compared. It's hard for us to clearly communicate our concerns without inadvertently undermining the efforts of the people who are out there doing what they're ordered to do. History has shown that these confusions can escalate to the point of displaying outright disrespect towards people in uniform, which is wrong.
People are proud of their shabby comprehension skills. As our knowledge of the world grows, so does our gaps of information. We creatively fill those gaps with the best possible intuition, and we adapt our thinking to try and prove our perceptions and will them into existence. Many of us practice this bad habit in our comprehension skills instead of patiently finding a practical answer. My point is, people are not communicating themselves correctly if they show lack of respect for the armed forces. Those people don't get it, they lack understanding. There is no way to force them to understand, and it only does more damage to chastise them for it. The best way to promote the cause of promoting respect is to inspire it.
Faith can move mountains, but don't forget to bring your shovel.
Conley (03-15-2012)
No need to apologize to me, I sent you a PM with an apology, I never meant to irritate you. Honestly, I believe we think alike in some ways. Could be our life experiences conflict somewhat. In the end if you are a good person, I have nothing against you.
In the end I'm an uneducated guy who likes to talk politics. All in all we should not be in any foreign country without a reason. We have no reason to be in the countries we are occupying.
Conley (03-15-2012)
You guys rock...and I promise that's not just the whiskey talking.
ramone (03-17-2012)
History does not long Entrust the care of Freedom, to the Weak or Timid!!!!! Dwight D. Eisenhower ~
Well, here's my two cents...
U.S. Army vet, 1970-73. In my day, most of us wanted out as soon as our enlistment was up. They still had the draft, and it was a lot like the movie MASH. It was Vietnam though, instead of Korea. Many of my buds didn't come home. Like the Iraq/Afghan wars, Vietnam was a huge waste of money and American lives. They didn't send me to Nam because by the time I was old enough to go, the war was winding down. So they sent me to Iran. I had the best job in the military, financial dispersing. I paid the troops. Mess with me and you didn't get paid. But when they sent me to Iran there wasn't any finance office. All the records were kept in Germany. The only thing in Iran was a communications depot for the U.S. Embassy. They had sent me there by mistake. It's called military intelligence. So since I was there they gave me a top secret clearance and made me a teletype operator. We lived in a Persian Mansion with a swimming pool, a garden, cooks, and a gate keeper. The gate keeper was our black market operative. We could go to the PX and buy a hundred dollars worth of groceries and he'd give us $300.00 for them. I bought top of the line ski equipment for six bottles of Johnny Walker Scotch, six dollars a bottle. Lift tickets at the ski resorts was $2.00 all day. I worked at night, and skied six days out of every eight. Hash was twenty-five cents a gram. Out of the 40 troops, 35 smoked. The only ones that didn't was the C.O. the X.O. the Sgt. Major and two other Sgt.'s. They couldn't bust us because we always smoked in groups. So if they busted a bunch of us the communications depot couldn't operate. The Shah was in power back then, and prostitution was legal, thank goodness. If you didn't get laid by the hookers, you were either a virgin, or you dated rosy palm. The legal hookers were down in the old part of town, called Chaleyno. They cost about $2.00. Then there were the mid prices hookers. They hung out at the modern hotels in the middle of town. They wore mini skirts and fish net stockings, just like the ones down on west 42nd Street. When one of them step out in the street, there would be ten car loads of Iranian men that would stop in the middle of the street and start bidding for her. But if you were a rich American (and they figured we all were), all you had to do is toot your horn and they'd come running to hop in our car. But then we'd have to drive around an lose the Iranians that would follow us. Those girls cost $13.00 for all night. The high class hookers stayed in the hotels. Just ask the guy at the desk, $39.00 all night, and she was usually French or Swedish. I only got to stay in Iran for seven months before I was shipped to Shape Headquarters in Belgium, but that's another story. Five months after that was the end of my tour of duty. But in three years and nine months, I took basic in Kentucky, AIT in Missouri, another one in Indiana, then ten months in Ft. Huachuca Az., five months in South Carolina, seven months in Iran, one month in Belgium, and four months in Germany, and my last day at Ft. Dix New Jersey. Free at last!
Wow, those are some stories! The way you describe it I'm surprised you wanted out, but I'm guessing the rest of your experience was like Iran.
Ft. Huachuca Az? Were you with Military Intel GOP? Glad to know we have another Army Brutha here. Sua Sponte. Huah.
History does not long Entrust the care of Freedom, to the Weak or Timid!!!!! Dwight D. Eisenhower ~
Bring back the draft with no deferments for the rich, like Cheney got. There will be less wars if the rich have to go die in them.
Heya GOP got any Military Vids you could add to the Collection, tributes or other works?
History does not long Entrust the care of Freedom, to the Weak or Timid!!!!! Dwight D. Eisenhower ~