I sure appreciate that. We all have our sore spots I'm pretty thick skinned, so don't sweat it. I am a hopeless smart a** though, so please forgive in advance.
Personally, I'm a fan of the Afgan and Iraq efforts. I do not think they are really about combatting terrorism, that is only a small part of it. SHould they be successful in creating a freer country in the middle east, great. The real cause is to get a non OPEC country, Iraq, producing and transporting (bring the pipe line through Afgan and like countries down through Iraq) large quantities of oil. Blow the top off prices, blow the maarket apart. Destroy or seriously harm OPEC. This would give a huge shot in the arm of our country and style of life. More shockingly, however, is I believe servicemen's lives are worth this: Put another way, our way of life and its improvement IS worth fighting and dying for.
A little weird, I know.
I do take issue, however with your comment:
"...You parade the dead and those working to defend the country as some sort of saints."
I do not parade them as saints. That is not MY characterization. But those who put their life on the line sitting in a gunner position in a humvee cruising down some street in Iraq, or flying a helicopter in the mountains in Afghanistan deserve more than they get from many Americans.
Those men and women do not, for the most part do it for the money. There are many reasons why they serve, some of those reasons would make no sense to people who do not understand the military, have never lived around the military or been in the military. They deserve every accolade we can render on them if they perform honorably. It is the LEAST we can do, and those accolades should be given with honesty, respect and sincerity.
Having lived around the military my whole life growing up, and spent some time in myself, I do not elevate them to some idealistic platform. But I do know they are the ones who are putting their asses on the line, and live each day with the real possibility they may never see another sunrise. And that goes for the REMFS who may only fly the transports over there or process the papers. Any one of them could be called on at any time.
They deserve all the money we can afford to give them, and all the compliments for their sacrifice. Money would be great, but if respect is all we can afford, that is what they should get.