how do most of you now feel about the military?

by sowhatnow 70 Replies latest social family

• 

  DJS

  newboy,

  Hopefully your comment was a aberration. You usually make sense. I'm with Cofty (dammit Cofty, be WRONG once!!).

  Bad choices in which wars are begun or entered and how they are fought are typically caused by politicos and not the military; the War in Vietnam is a textbook example of this.

  Having worked closely with various current and former military people the past 20 years, I've developed a huge amount of respect for what they do. The vast majority of them want to do the right thing. They are on that wall because they are drawn to protect what is behind it.

  I find that a noble cause.
• 

  foreverfreenow

  I am ex army, and even when I became a JW, I was proud of my service and my brothers-in-arms.

  Now I am also ex-JW, and still proud of my army aervice, not proud about being sucked into the borganization.

  I encourage dudes who have little opportunity and/ or the desire to serve their country to enlist, but - unless they are Really wanting the battlefield- to get into non-war parts of the military, such as programming, mechanics etc etc

  because the U.S. govt IS severely corrupt, and sees its great soldiers as mere disposable pawns rather than precious lives.

  This is starting to give me flashbacks so I'm stopping here and hoping I answered you well
• 

  new boy

  because the U.S. govt IS severely corrupt, and sees its great soldiers as mere disposable pawns rather than precious lives.

  yes sad but true.

  Sadly the military of today are no more the security guards for America's corporations.

  Watch the movie "Why we Fight"

  War and killing are bad ideas. Why is it that the governments only want 18 and 19 year kids as soldiers because they are stupid and will do just about anything they bare told!
• 

  brandnew

  I support our troops. Its what makes America.,....America!!
• 

  Nathan Natas

  LoveUniHateExams confessed, "...I wouldn't enlist - I don't think I'm brave enough."

  Don't make the mistake of thinking that everyone who serves is on the front line being RAMBO.

  Although everyone does have to pass basic training and learn the fundamentals of war-fighting, think about all the SUPPORT that those guys on the front line need. SOMEBODY has to be "brave enough" to provide that support.

  Are you "brave enough" to run around a track? "Brave enough" to do pushups and pullups? "Brave enough" to learn how to shoot? "Brave enough" to continue your education in a way University can't match? "Brave enough" to cook decent meals for your troops? "Brave enough" to repair a broken Humvee? If you are really sharp, you might be "brave enough" to translate enemy communications, or "brave enough" to be a drone operator sitting somewhere in Kansas.

  I think you get my point... And in the unlikely (but possible) chance that your support position is overrun and you find the lives of yourself and your buddies at risk, you will find that you ARE "Brave enough"! Your training will kick in and you will fight for the lives of yourself and your team.

  Remember that whether you are brave or not, there is an "expiration date" on your life, just as there is on mine. Be "brave enough" to live your life with pride.
• 

  James Mixon

  OK, "18 and 19 year kids as soldiers are stupid and will do just about anything they are told".We all agree

  Viet Nam was a controversial war, many didn't have any idea where Viet Nam was and why we were there,

  but we went. I had friends that went to Canada , father a child, became Muslims and a few friends

  received deferment because they maintained a certain number of credits in college.

  Two months ago I had my 50 year class reunion and My friend that fled to Canada, told me it was the

  worst mistake he ever made.

  Every vet I have met that served in Nam, even though many of those suffer from PTSD, problems

  from the Agent Orange not one regret their service.

  We must remember women were never drafted but they served and their were many in Nam.

  WE weren't stupid, we served our country and I'm proud of it.
• 

  blondie

  My grandfather served in WW1, my father in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and in the Cold War, his brother in WW2, my mother lost 2 first cousins in WW2...not many non-jw men in the family by Desert Storm, too old to volunteer.

  Military men are the tools wielded by the military men at the top.

  Remember that the US did not join WW1 until 1918, 3 1/2 years after the start in 1914

  Remember that the US did not join WW2 until 1941, 2 years after the start in 1939 when it arrived at their doorstep.

  Remember that the US did not join the Vietnam war until after the French left in the late 50's, my father was a consultant in 1956 and 1957.

  There is nothing good about war...but if the war is on your doorstep not far away in another country...? Even Quakers served on the lines in jobs where they did not kill others.

  In days gone by fewer noncombatants were involved, every year of human history adds more and more to the toll.

  (To add I have lived on military bases growing up with missiles pointed at my head, definitely kiss your butt goodbye territory)
• 

  Nathan Natas

  You're right James Mixon. Any vet who has ever needed medical attention feels a debt to the volunteer nurses who helped them. It was short-sighted of me to fail to mention them.
• 

  blondie

  So those that think Vietnam was the start of soldiers coming back from the war with PTSD.....it's been around for a long time, "shell shock" or "battle fatigue" back before WW1....war is war and is no picnic...I just watched a documentary on WW1 and the conditions and how soldiers came back, WW2, etc. Talking to my uncle and my dad, there was not much of a welcome wagon after the initial parades died down; no one wanted to hear about what they went through and saw, men who lucked out and got out of the draft resented the competition of the men that came back.

  Time to do some real searching of history and enlarging the interview pool of soldiers and a confirmation of the stories you have been told. There are no good wars and bad wars. The thing that is true of all of them is the innocent suffer.
• 

  Diogenesister

  because they wouldn't even have the priviledge of voicing that criticism if we were taken over by countries like North Korea.

  Ha ha!! Can't believe I'm copy and pasting ol' Nathan...but I'm right behind you on this one!

  I was a truly indoctrinated sheeple who believed she was a pacifist...and HATED it, I was SO CONFLICTED around the military. I come from a long line of military servers..great grandad WW one( still have his call up papers) , great great uncle died at Pascendale , grandad was at Arnhem in WW 2 and all my great uncles were pilots in the Battle of Britain, one flew the famous Lancaster bomber. My dad was in the Fleet air arm until my mom made him leave when they married.I longed to join up..I worked at Wool which military hospital as a nurse and had the time of my life. My friends at the time were sent to Bosnia and I so wanted to go, the NGO ' s however where more at risk then ( as now, often) so guess who signed up for a course?? I wanted to join Medicicine sans frontier or Sur le monde, I used to fly so thought maybe as a helicopter medic. However, I fell pregnant and had two motherless step kids who needed me..I'm with so what now about kids ONLY if u are at risk and their is noons else to care for your kids. There are many ways to serve relatively risk free, I don't think it should be any different for men or women. Kids need their dads too you know, boys often more, so what's the difference?? Maybe PARENTS shouldn't be in the front line, when there is the option, of course.

  However I have seen the old boys from WW1 with shell shock, horrible see them keep tapping their watches. And messed up homeless, alcoholic soldiers who served in the Falklands..bloody awful..they saw men throw grenades at 14 year old Argentinian kids, the BBC didn't the!l the truth on that shit ( obviously we have no Vietnam vets here) but I have uncles who were in Japanese prisoner of war camps and had his arm chopped off by sadists. A kiwi relative cleared up in Japan after the bomb...was a prisoner of war in Japan and made to clean up..his kids all died young of cancer.

  Yes, its no picnic. But I also know of incredibly brave conscientious objectors ( harder to stand up to your friends than your enemies and all that) who were ambulance guys in WW 1- high death rate , these dudes where the genuine article.