You're in good company...
I have watched a lot of our fellow Freepers answer this somewhat shallow and dishonorable comment but I waited until now to answer. Some of the responders excused this Memorial Day comment as just an excess of alcohol but as they say, "in vino veritas". I suspect sickoflibs meant every bit of what he said - I've seen those sentiments too many times over the years not to believe him.
Our military members are unique in the world in that they are some of the finest young members of our community and they join primarily out of feelings of patriotism and a sense of duty. I know that because I have spent nearly a half century with them, lived with them, fought with them, commanded them, supported them. They are the finest young people our nation can produce and those of you who decided to bypass military service, for whatever your reasons, will have to deal with that.
Military service is tough duty. Most of those young people are very newly out of high school and when some of them enter the kill-or-be-killed arena of combat, they are overseas and maybe out of their home town for the first time in their lives. There is a young excitement at the newness of their environment and the understood risks which is later tempered for them with entirely new feelings once they see and survive their first contact with the enemy. Then our young people see death around them, buddies and acquaintances who were talking to them or playing cards or bragging about something a few minutes before and now that young man is dead, looking more like a pile of bloody rags than a person. They will see the effects of bullets and fragmentation and blast first hand on their wounded and they will understand fully the dangers that face them and the losses yet to come.
These young men (and some young women) will continue, anyway. They will become harder in some private place and they will have the first of lifetimes of nightmares but they will keep going. The grind of day-to-day lethal danger will wear and age them and the luckiest will go home later without a scratch.
Some will be wounded. To be wounded is to have the shock of having part of your body suddenly and horribly torn away and then facing the very real possibility that your young life is over so soon. To be wounded is private and horribly and unimaginably painful and yet most of the wounded stay silent, primarily to avoid scaring their buddies nearby. To be wounded means the fast and frightening flight on a medical evacuation helicopter, triage and entry into surgery and then the long, hard way back to whatever you will end up being after the recovery.
For the parents and families of these military members, it is the constant and unremitting fear that they will lose their loved one at any time. If their loved one is wounded, it is the long and difficult path of supporting that loved one through treatments, and pain and indifference. We talk a good game of supporting our troops but when push comes to shove, unless we know one of them personally, our lives just go on, one way or another. If that family loses a family member, that sorrow is immeasurable as that little boy, that young prince in your life is gone, replaced by a flag draped box and then a lump in the ground. Once the obligatory ceremonies are over, almost as soon as the last note of taps is played, it's over and the suffering and sense of loss becomes yours alone, for the rest of your life.
It's one thing to claim to be a patriot and it's entirely another to take up the duty of fighting for your country. Many of you claim some huge portion of patriotism but when the real inconveniences and dangers of military service faced you, you had "better things to do". Patriotism is only real when you are willing to fight and die for your country and your sacred honor.
Our young people, in smaller proportions than ever before, continue to serve us with the risk of their lives. Try really hard to at least pretend to honor them on this day.
I’d need to read the comment in context to understand its meaning.
it sounds like it may have been an out of context quote
through the years many well known “liberal” types have regulary spewed such nonsense..and I have quoted them very sarcastically in many occasions.
If I could read the comment in cntext Id have a much better chance of understanding this “issue”
Although there are certain characteristics and/or qualities that are endearing to those who serve, it is largely like most professions: there are those that deserve your trust based on the merit of their character and honor, and there are those who do not..blanket statements rarely win the day. I served with people who I didn’t want around my kids. On the other side, I served with people I would have gone into hell with, and did.
bookmark
You're in good company...
Onyx and 2nddivisionvet saw this from a mile away.
5.56mm
Conversely, I trust those who have served more than I do those who didn’t.
Anyone serving in the military TODAY must take their constituional oath very seriously because 0bama and many of his hand picked generals and colonels do not. 0bama is clearly usurping the constitution and moving the nation to dictatorship clearly in violation of his oath.
Today’s military must be keenly aware of this situation before signing papers and taking the oath to the constitution. In all likelihood those serving in the army domestically will be directly confronted with the dilemma to obey the constitution or obey illegal orders from their commander who in turn received orders or directives from an illegal dictator.
The military has been placed in a tragic situation; the mission is schizophrenic. The military must defend legitimate threats against China and Russia and a strong military is needed. 0bama is weakening the military’s capacity in this respect which is certainly no fault of the vast majority that serve. However, we now have a dictator that wants to transform the military into a domestic police force to control the people and stifle dissidents. This is the ground where the individual serviceman’s fidelity to the country will eventually be tested. Follow 0bama’s orders and go against the constitution or remain faithful to the country and suffer the consequences.
As far as trusting any individuals under orders is concerned you may want to look at the Stanford prison experiment in the 70s and the Milgrim experiments in the 60s. Or, you can just read the history of 20th century dictatorships.
I would have to say that I have had implicit trust in those that WERE in the military and I believe that those very individuals might indeed be needed to defend this country against the federal government. But as to whether I trust those currently serving in the military, I would have to say that it depends on the individuals fidelity to the constitution.
There’s one person who I am *very glad* has no trust in our military: 0bama.
FMCDH(BITS)
Indeed. He's been rolling that way on Free Republic for years and years. Even JimRob has noted it:
To: sickoflibs
Yeah, and you’re an idiot troll.
50 posted on Sunday, February 14, 2010 12:42:23 PM by Jim Robinson (JUST VOTE THEM OUT! teapartyexpress.org)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2451139/posts?page=50#50