Posted on 07/24/2005 1:37:50 PM PDT by lowbridge
The Bush administration's rallying call that America is a nation at war is increasingly ringing hollow to men and women in uniform, who argue in frustration that America is not a nation at war, but a nation with only its military at war.
From bases in Iraq and across the United States to the Pentagon and the military's war colleges, officers and enlisted personnel quietly raise a question for political leaders: if America is truly on a war footing, why is so little sacrifice asked of the nation at large?
There is no serious talk of a draft to share the burden of fighting across the broad citizenry, and neither Republicans nor Democrats are pressing for a tax increase to force Americans to cover the $5 billion a month in costs from Iraq, Afghanistan and new counterterrorism missions.
There are not even concerted efforts like the savings-bond drives or gasoline rationing that helped to unite the country behind its fighting forces in wars past.
"Nobody in America is asked to sacrifice, except us," said one officer just back from a yearlong tour in Iraq, voicing a frustration now drawing the attention of academic specialists in military sociology.
Members of the military who discussed their sense of frustration did so only when promised anonymity, as comments viewed as critical of the civilian leadership could end their careers. The sentiments were expressed in more than two dozen interviews and casual conversations with enlisted personnel, noncommissioned officers, midlevel officers, and general or flag officers in Iraq and in the United States.
Charles Moskos, a professor emeritus at Northwestern University specializing in military sociology, said: "My terminology for it is 'patriotism lite,' and that's what we're experiencing now in both political parties.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
More pus from the chancre
One can always count on the bastards at the New York Slimes, to pick at scabs...
I wonder if they eat them?
Semper Fi
What award should the NY Times get for its contribution to the war effort? Perhaps an autographed picture of bin Laden.
And what sacrifice are the NYT bathhouse boys giving?
Ugh! As IF anyone at the Slimes gives a rats behind about the ones on the front line.
They never, never pass up a chance.
This is the best the syphillitic old grey whore can produce.
Pus from the Shanker.
Anonymous hand wringing from some pampered junior officer.
If the Slimes would try writing 1 (just 1!) positive story about what's going on in Iraq, then maybe -just maybe- they wouldn't be the doomsayers that they are.
And you don't even know if he really exists.
When hell freezes over.
This plays right into your thread today.
The reason it seems just the military is on a war footing and not the rest of the country, is because the left and their allies in the media are doing everything they can denigrate the military and their efforts..
Ahhhhhh, more "anonymous sources" from the NYT. The last thing a soldier in today's military would want is a draft. They take considerable pride in the fact that it's an all volunteer military and therefore the quality is far superior to what a draft military would be.
Flashbacks of when I returned from Nam.
Shanker/Chancre, same thing.
Academic specialists in military sociology are interested? Man, this IS a pressing concern. Must be fifty people intensely thinking about this in academia.
I find it very, very difficult to believe that our brave soldiers are on duty and getting pissed off thinking "Why aren't my parents paying higher taxes, in addition to the burden of me not being there? Why are Americans going on with their lives as normally as they can--I want them to suffer!"
This is a liberal agenda puff piece hiding in the shadows of some angry individuals and pretending to show "concern" for our fighting forces. I am sure some feel as described in the article, but there are as many different emotions and reactions in the military as anywhere else in our society.
So when will the NYT write a piece about how many more Americans than these are concerned about the anti-American attitude of democrats? "Why are they calling our people Nazis? Why aren't they cutting their pork barrel projects to pay for the war?"
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