I avoided reading and posting in this thread until Veterans (Remembrance) Day had passed.
My birth Father was a Korean war vet, and my recently deceased Step-Father (whom I consider my Dad) served in WW11 as a Marine (USMC).
I am a 6-year Vietnam-era (non-combat) Navy Vet, and my younger brother served in both the Army and the Marines, including during the first Gulf War. If you look at the young men, and more recently, at the young women, in my extended family, it is the same.
We are the most peace loving people you could meet, but our sense of duty made us sign up nonetheless. We did so not expecting anyone's gratitude, but simply because we believed in the ideals of this country, regardless of how various our politicians have acted over the years.
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Originally Posted by Amputate Your Head
as my son puts it....
A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check
payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and
including, their life.
That is beyond honor, and there are way too many
people in this country who no longer remember that fact.
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So true...even though I mostly served during peacetime, I was always aware, that my status could change at any moment.
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Originally Posted by spazlabz
thats true for some...for me I joined because I believed that if I were going to enjoy being an American that I owed the country something back. Every generation of my family served in the military since they arrived in the US, 4 generations on my paternal side and 3 on my maternal. I was proud to wear the uniform and honored that I was allowed to serve
it sounds so quaint and even a little corney now but I honestly felt (and still do) that I wanted to give back to the country that is my home.
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I harken back to JFK's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech...
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Originally Posted by kane
I have several friends that have served in all the different branches. My buddy that was in the Marines was in Somalia, Honduras and other places before actually fighting in the first gulf war. He talks about what he saw in the fighting, but he says the things that stick with him the most is what they were able to do in Somalia. His group brought in food and help set up refugee camps and for a lot of the people they helped it was the first meal they had in days. The warlords in that country would take any food that the aid groups sent and hold it to use as a political tool. My buddy was part of the group that helped break that up to some degree. He actually shipped out of that country about three weeks before the infamous Black Hawk Down incident happened.
He talks a lot about helping people in various places and how proud he was to have served. I have mad respect for him and all my friends that served. For that matter I have great respect for anyone that serves in our military. When you sign up you may have any one of a million different reasons to do so, but you never know when a war might break out. Take for example all of those kids that joined up in 2000. They might have just wanted to get some money for college or do something different and see some of the world. I'm sure they had no idea that the events of 9/11 would happen and they would end up in a war. That is part of the deal and it is why everyone who served deserves respect. One day you might be mopping a floor and hanging out in a barracks, the next day you could be in some god-forsaken shithole fighting for your life.
I would have joined after high school myself, but I have asthma so I couldn't get in.
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Whoever said "War is hell", could not have spoken truer words. I feel for all of the soldiers for every side, who gave their lives in the service of their at times misguided leaders.
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Originally Posted by Quagmire
You owe your country, you owe yourself, your family and your friends a long and prosperous life.
You owe the politicians who send all the young men and women to fight and die for profit absolutely nothing.
Sadly the 'wars' today have nothing to do with justice and honor.
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I hear you. One of the most profound books which I ever read, and was at one time censored and outlawed in the U.S., is the Dalton Trumbo novel "Johnny Got His Gun", which I recommend to each and every one of you. I used to give it away as a Xmas present every year.
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Originally Posted by alessergod
Thank You for Your Service from an Army Veteran who has been shot at and missed and shit on and hit. We tend to disagree on things from time to time but on this issue you and I are in total solidarity.
Peace be with you my brother.  |
Brett (Vendzilla) and I are as far apart as two people could probably be on most issues of politics, and perhaps I only speak for myself, but I have the utmost respect for him, since we have shared experiences, and I think in the end that we are both sincere and genuine people that believe passionately in our ideals, but can look past our differing world views, and peacefully co-exist, and that is what gives me faith in the future...
Peace,
ADG