Your guy ? I believe you stated earlier you voted for the current adminstration? (which is more than most people can say about their participation in the process)
Obama Snubs Nation's Heroes, Becomes the First President to Skip Ball Honoring Medal of Honor Recipients in Over 50 Years | Cleveland Leader
Vets are a National Security threat? Napolitano stands by controversial report - Washington Times
Die and get it over with? Jim Towey: The Death Book for Veterans - WSJ.com
Senators slam plan for wounded vets to use private insurance - CNN.com
Maybe we should just euthanize all of us who are disabled from military service and save some more money for the current adminstration (your guy) to give to those who won't work, those who aren't here legally, and to spend on more bailouts and stimulus, as it is clear what you and the current adminstration think of us anyway.
You said earlier you girlfriend was in the Navy, I take it then that is the limits of your military experience?
No purple intended.
Forget dad, where did you take your training?
Ok, then I am going to say something..... QUIT, giving away the SS, that WE, pay into, to ILLEGALS, QUIT, giving away, food stamps, to ILLEGALS, QUIT, giving away a free education, to ILLEGALS, QUIT giving away free Medical care, to ILLEGALS, and STOP the "anchor babies".... Write YOUR politician, and tell them this ..... 20 million ILLEGALS, collecting, benifits, that NONE of them, has paid into, causes, the system, to go broke .....
Our government needs a great big enama, then a high fiber diet.
Keep the air on for the the troops, they deserve it, weather or not being were they are, or why they are there is right or wrong is a moot point. They are this countries military and they DESERVE the best.
Funding for entitlements and benifits (ie politicians, ilegals etc.) should be looked at, as well as other ways to balance the budget. Lets not do it at the cost to our troops.
THANK YOU! to all who served, no matter what branch, or what your motive was.
Wow. Seriously not with you on anything in this post, but particularly the point above. Almost wondering whether you meant it purple, and hoping you did. How about this, instead -- we shut off AC to the White House and all government offices and let the troops keep theirs...? Why not put the discomfort and the pain of the decisions on someone who can actually influence them? I probably should stop before I go off on a rant about the original suggestion.
Duncan,
Please tell me when and where you were deployed? I so want to flame you right now but I'm holding back...If you have been there and done it I think you can have an opinion....We will disagree but at least you were there. The Raw Story and NPR if you get anymore left your going to fall over...
M88A1
DS/DS 90-91 NO AC
OIF 03-04 Captured AC run off Iraqi grid power
OIF 07-08 1st time AC in vehicle/FOB
Duncan,
Please tell me when and where you were deployed? I so want to flame you right now but I'm holding back...If you have been there and done it I think you can have an opinion....
Catching up ... To be fair I need to answer this question ...
" Never and no where . "
I did offer let them have a swamp cooler ...
Ducan:
Forced or volunteer has nothing to do with it. In WWII, ~2/3 of those who fought were drafted while in Vietnam it was ~1/3, do a google search and look it up.
The article cites 20 billion as the cost per year to deliver fuel to the troops, and part of that fuel is used to power AC. The military has been looking for alternatives,
http://kitup.military.com/2010/12/solar-tents-charging-into-the-army.html , but the fact of modern war is that it requires alot of fuel.
You are spot on!!
Again spot on! I am not wanting to attack the military but rather get rid of all the federal spending. We are sinking faster then the Titanic and only drastic cuts can save us. If you aren't providing a service then you don't get payed. That should apply to defense contractors, oil companies, sub contractors, and anyone else the government has a contract with. Why pay Boeing x amount of millions or Halliburton for contracts they don't fulfill to all of the levels we specify? Finally, a lot of the problems we have is the federal government being way to big and not letting states handle things on the state level but rather being blackmailed by the feds to take away tax money if they don't follow in step.
When I see every Illegal out of this country stripped of everything they have taken from this country, when I see the politicians take huge hits in pay and compensation, when I see government contractors take huge hits, then and only then would it be right to even start looking at the military. I say this becuase of all those aforementioned only the military has earned its way the rest are leeches.
Sorry .. it does ... IN WW2 yes there were a lot of volunteers .
They knew they would be drafted and WANTED to go .
If we had the draft now ... a bunch would NOT want to go and the attitude of the survivors would be the same as what finally happened in Viet Nam .
Nixon or Kissinger correctly predicted . when the caskets come home to rural America the sentiment for the war will change ... why ? Because more people know Johnny in small town USA than they do Big Tony from Hell's Kitchen .
Thanks
Duncan
There was a massive cultural shift from the 40's to the 60's and there are many reasons why Vietnam happened the way it did, not to mention that the goals of the war were completely different. People didn't care if volunteers or draftees were coming back in body bags, they cared that the bodies were coming back in the first place. It wasn't until the war had lasted over 4 years, the classic American limit for any war, that anti-war feelings started to rise to the point where massive protests were taking place. The war had lasted for over 8 years before the classic "spit on returning service members" & "vets ashamed of their service" time period started to happen, and that lasted at most two years.
Also, it wasn't rural/small town America that started and feed the anti-war movement, it was the coasts, cities & colleges around the country that did that. Also, the anti-war movement feed off the civil rights movement from the previous decade.
Why do you think there is no serious anti-war movement right now? Also, the whole idea that people are sheep, or any variation on that theme, is just a cop out. Why isn't there a serious anti-war movement right now?
The reason there is no real anti-war movement here is a lot of people just don't care. There isn't the love for America that there was 40 years ago. A lot of our culture is perfectly happy as long as their check comes in the mail and could care less what happens as long as the check keeps coming. Also, the fact that there isn't anywhere near the same amount of dead soldiers coming back and the lack of a draft is a huge reason. The people who are over there now signed up for whatever reason and weren't forced against their will as they were in Vietnam. If they were to declare a draft for a hugely unpopular conflict like the middle east then you would see massive protests again
Nope, I have family members still in. My college roommate joined only to pay for his college. There are a lot more who do it ONLY for that and not all the other things that a lot of you like to think. However, there are still people who join and serve for the honor but it is not nearly the amount that a lot of you like to think it is. Go to a college campus and see how many people only joined to get teh GI bill. The truth of it is that people in a large amount don't look at it the same as they did before.
The conflicts in the middle east now are all about oil and quit being about defending America years ago. If the leaders in both the Bush and Obama administration wanted to win a "war" then they could have long ago. Why fight a conflict when you have no desire to have a clear cut victory? The last time our country was truly at war was in WWII and the whole country knew what they were fighting for. Today, there are a hundred reasons but nobody is exactly sure what they are.
If it were up to me then all the troops would be home already and a lot of these overseas bases would be consolidated. Why have the most powerful navy ever created if you won't use it? There could be trillions of dollars saved just by ending the ridiculous fighting that goes on now and defend the home land rather then everyone else.
The conflicts in the middle east now are all about oil and quit being about defending America years ago.
Nope, I have family members still in. My college roommate joined only to pay for his college. There are a lot more who do it ONLY for that and not all the other things that a lot of you like to think. However, there are still people who join and serve for the honor but it is not nearly the amount that a lot of you like to think it is. Go to a college campus and see how many people only joined to get teh GI bill. The truth of it is that people in a large amount don't look at it the same as they did before.
So from your limited experience with a few people you can know exactly why the military people step up and do the duty?
I used my GI Bill after my second active stint, so?
As Dross states so very well:
Also, I'd like to know what difference personal motivation makes in someone's actions. If I provide a service to you, it might be because I want to help you, it might be because I want to get rich, it might be because I want to impress some girl and get laid. At the end of the day, does it make one difference to you WHY I provided you that service? We worry too much about motivation and not enough about the fruits that motivation produces.
I might add some of my only for the GI Bill soldiers were great soldiers and hung it out over the edge just like the war mongers like my self.
The conflicts in the middle east now are all about oil and quit being about defending America years ago. If the leaders in both the Bush and Obama administration wanted to win a "war" then they could have long ago. Why fight a conflict when you have no desire to have a clear cut victory? The last time our country was truly at war was in WWII and the whole country knew what they were fighting for. Today, there are a hundred reasons but nobody is exactly sure what they are.
And what exactly this have to do with the motivations of service, and attitude of those serving? Politicians send soldiers to war, soldiers don't make policy so it kinda confuses. (although I have my own opinions as to how both wars were the wrong execution of the right idea, but thats another thread sometime)
If it were up to me then all the troops would be home already and a lot of these overseas bases would be consolidated. Why have the most powerful navy ever created if you won't use it? There could be trillions of dollars saved just by ending the ridiculous fighting that goes on now and defend the home land rather then everyone else.
I've never served, but I happen to think that if I were in the desert, some air conditioning whenever possible would be just dandy. I know that in the 100+ degree Oklahoma summers I tend to get real sad when my AC goes out. That said, folks lived here (and worked grueling hours farming and whatnot) long before AC was available, so I also know it's survivable if not exactly pleasant.
As a matter of principle, I think it's probably a good idea to provide our fighting forces with as many comforts of home as is possible in a given theater of war, so I'm on the side of letting them have AC in the Middle East. But also as a matter of principle, I think they should be getting the hell out of the Middle East. Like I said earlier, re-deploy them in Arizona and New Mexico. We can probably scrounge up enough extension cords at Home Depot to run the AC from Tucson, and then it won't be as much of an issue.
There's a myth out there about WWII that needs to be set straight. More people were drafted than volunteered for WWII, whereas more people volunteered for Vietnam than were drafted.
There was a massive cultural shift from the 40's to the 60's and there are many reasons why Vietnam happened the way it did, not to mention that the goals of the war were completely different. People didn't care if volunteers or draftees were coming back in body bags, they cared that the bodies were coming back in the first place. It wasn't until the war had lasted over 4 years, the classic American limit for any war, that anti-war feelings started to rise to the point where massive protests were taking place. The war had lasted for over 8 years before the classic "spit on returning service members" & "vets ashamed of their service" time period started to happen, and that lasted at most two years.
Also, it wasn't rural/small town America that started and feed the anti-war movement, it was the coasts, cities & colleges around the country that did that. Also, the anti-war movement feed off the civil rights movement from the previous decade.
Why do you think there is no serious anti-war movement right now? Also, the whole idea that people are sheep, or any variation on that theme, is just a cop out. Why isn't there a serious anti-war movement right now?
For what its worth, my Dad told me he went down to volunteer (WWII)(He was a railroad machinst and had gotten a notice from the govt as he was a railroad employee and a skilled tradesman he was exempt from the draft) and the processing folks said everybody was draftee that day, it was easier paperwork I guess from his account he had to come back the next day to volunteer.
Side note, he got a draft notice a year later because he was no longer employed by the railroad, and he was already in Europe at that time.
Ain't guberment wunderful?