This is a very conservative website that we are on. And many FReepers are veterans and have proudly served in the military.
Yet there are numerous threads wherein many veterans say they would not serve in todays Armed Forces, nor would they urge and encourage their children or grandchildren to serve.
“...proudly served in the military.”
I came in during the Vietnam frame and finally retired in 2012 with having the advantage of working at all three major levels of the business, active military, Department of the Army, and finally DOD. (I had a break between the late 60’s to the mid 70’s while I healed) Each level was noticeably different in both the mission and the people and the higher I got in the business it became apparent that there was a real separation between the military and their job descriptions and the reality of the chess game being played from the top end of everyone’s board.
I think one of the factors of the disconnect with the military and its people is the combination of the negative teachings of the public school systems and the reinforcement coming from a media you can’t trust at all. And a major part of that lack of trust is that it has been drilled into the youth early that the teachings they levy are the true and only answer to our problems.
And while they need the threat of our power, they misuse it by not carrying through and then having soldiers and sailors go meals on wheels and humanitarian work that needs social workers and not soldiers. The military is not there to smile and say kind words. We destroy things. That’s our job. And the threat of that destruction becomes useless as our politicians misuse it and make themselves, thus us, a laughing stock world wide. And with the stupidity of people like Obama, Clinton, and GW Bush, all anti-military presidents and in the case of Clinton disposed of a vast amount of our standing military power, we are turned into eunuchs and not warriors. We put down that big stick and have given a lot of them to our competitors who have threatened and use it on us. Except for Trump, who was willing to take the stand for us to do our job, the last presidents since Reagan have done more destruction internationally than our military could by far. The country has inherited a group of milk toasts and questionably proud citizens that have lowered our status from first to third world thinking and developed a horde of victims looking for a set of sheets to hide under.
Am I proud to have served? During my time mostly. Am I proud of what it has morphed into? You can be the judge of that by just seeing what has evolved and the world’s reaction to it. Not a pretty sight. And Biden has added to it right on schedule with his backdoor policies with the Ukraine giving away millions of bucks to them for weapons and support they will never pay back.
So, who’s the fool? Is it the one who does the acts or the ones who follow them while continuing to put people in power that misuse it? Toss up.
wy69