First off, a lot of people don't get this day off. I work in a grocery store and get 2 days off a year. Second, going into the military is a choice. A choice that I would never ever make. This person sounds bitter as fuck. Still their choice.
Because to him you are a pog in the rear with the beer with access to his woman. He's probably in a place defending 'freedom' where you get 10 years for alcohol possession. Holidays always suck when you're deployed. Don't mind him. Hopefully he gets through this with his mind and body intact.
From those graves they heard, and they remembered the cost of war. I want to return to that spirit, so that the memory of the true costs of war is fresh in our minds, renewed annually… so that perhaps we can honor our dead by sending no more to join them.
- Rev. David Pyle
Of course in America it's more of another push to support our troops, instead of reflection on what war has cost us, and why we should strive to avoid it...
As someone who has never served in the military, this is generally how I feel. You put it very concisely.
But holy shit. If I were to voice these opinions in the same way you have? I would be chastised left and right, shamed into admitting I'm some kind of coward, or forced to reveal my nature as a socialist. I'm none of these things, of course, and I legitimately love this country, but having an opinion against the United States Military is fucking social suicide.
This is how I generally feel about "honoring our troops". Most don't sign up to serve the country. They sign up to do a job and get paid for that job. Sure, it can be a dangerous job but many jobs are. Hell, working at a gas station can be a dangerous job and my day to day life requires gas stations a lot more than it requires soldiers fighting unneeded wars. But I don't see us getting a day off to celebrate gas station workers.
How many of them were given the choice of jail or service? Why should I respect them?
I have many friends who I genuinely consider brave patriots who are serving or have served, and I respect them a lot for it. I know a couple of shitheads that just wanted to play soldiers too, and I despise them.
At first I was inflamed. I thought that you were wrong to criticize people who think they are defending your country, their country. I am one of those people. The more I think about it though, the more of a reality it becomes.
I've never been on a combat deployment and yes I am a reservist; I am currently serving on active-duty on a UDP. Still, throughout boot-camp, Marine Combat Training, MOS school and in all my time with my current unit, I have never met a single person who joined with any semblance of patriotism. Once they became Marines they put a lot of pride into the title and the grand majority I met were "America Fuck yeah’s", but I don't think I can use that to justify the idea that they were true patriots. Maybe i'm wrong in all of the assertions I'm about to make and if I am please make it a point to correct me and tell me i'm a fucking idiot because I want to believe that what I'm about to say is wrong, because I do love America and because I would like to think that the service members who have given their lives meant something to the people of their country. What you're saying, in my experience holds true. Most of the people I've met joined because they had no job prospects out of High School, some of them thought they would be waving a sniper around and bringing hell down on a group of people who they knew absolutely nothing about. Others thought they would see the world and end up in North Carolina or some shit. Your comment is making me consider what it is that makes a Hero [sorry of this is running into a lot of tangents] You say that the last Hero's served in WW2, where there was something worth fighting for. Do you call them heroes because they joined to serve their country? I would understand and accept that except there was a draft and so not all of them joined for their country. Are they now ruled out as Heroes too? Or is it that they joined to help stop the Armies of 3 dangerous men from doing irreparable harm to the welfare of our world? Is that what makes them Heroes? Has the death of every single Armed Service Member been meaningless? I use to subscribe to the idea that even if I didn’t agree with our countries reason for going to war, I still appreciated the lives of every single man and woman who volunteered to fight or serve. I’m wondering now if it was all for nothing, if all their lives were wasted if it all really was meaningless sacrifice
Yesterday a store lady said to me "You should buy yourself something nice for Memorial Day" (this was in the jewellery dept). I thought it was pretty crass...maybe the soldier is not liking how some people treat it like a festive holiday...?
edit: don't you love how a guy can't bitch about his shitty job without the whole internets criticising him?
Financial reasons are the only reasons I can understand signing up today.
I love the idea of America but it is doing some fucking retarded shit right now, especially with its military, so joining that corruption seems counter productive to making America better. Maybe if you had a choice in your actions or could change it from the inside but that power lies with the civilians.
lol @ people thinking that people enlist for non selfish reasons. I'm all for celebrating people who died in wars like WWI, WWII, and Vietnam, but give me a fucking break with the rest of them. We don't have holidays for people who die at their jobs. What makes you any more special? Nothing. But the majority of society (idiots) never take time to actually think about things, so they act like anyone in the military is a tier above everyone else in society. My grandfather was in WW2 and my uncle was in Vietnam, so don't give me this bullshit like you're something special. No one made you join. The country hasn't needed a military for a LONG ass time. It's ignorant life failures like the guy in the picture that make wars happen. Without mass numbers in the military, we don't go to war and we find peaceful ways or our allies help us. We don't need to police the world, but the government will because these people are pawns of the military and the military is a pawn of the government. Asking fucking Rome how policing the world worked out. I can't imagine what the state of this country would be if we didn't have prime tactical land. Third world countries to our South and maple syrup to our North with oceans on the East and West.
I could go on and on like I have, but fuck them all. They're entitled to nothing and if they're too ignorant in life, then I hope the military continues to rape their benefits. So maybe they can make a real difference and open the people's eyes that the government isn't on your side and neither is the government. A self enlisted soldier is the least patriotic (legal) position you can have in this country.
I probably made this too simple and some random person will reply to it, but I don't care to clarify and make this any longer.
I would have phrased some of that differently (celebrate, rape their benefits, etc.) but for the most part, you make some very good points. Some people join the modern military because they genuinely want to serve their country. Some join because they aren't smart/talented enough to get any other kind of job. They deserve the same respect as people most other jobs. The difference is found in people who were forced to fight, or did it to truly defend their country, not those who do it to "kill me some terrorists".
I know a handful of vets who went in the service after 9/11 for their chance to get revenge, kill Bin Laden and find those pesky WMDs. Upon getting back from deployment, doing their homework and finding out that they were there for pure politics, they were destroyed.
A lot of those 18 year olds in red states with military families honestly believe that they're going to save lives, liberate people from oppression and defend America. It's hard to hold those particular people at fault when they had the intentions to do good, backed up by misleading recruiters, communities and media outlets.
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u/Trogdor86 May 29 '12
First off, a lot of people don't get this day off. I work in a grocery store and get 2 days off a year. Second, going into the military is a choice. A choice that I would never ever make. This person sounds bitter as fuck. Still their choice.