Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Most of the ones going in there are old folks from WWII. Our new wars are tiny when compared to that one.
True enough and I agree that every soldier who has earned their place in Arlington should get one.

That said, my point stands. I'm a much bigger fan of live veterans going gray raising their kids and grilling in their yards under the Stars and Stripes than I am of dead heroes. WWII was not optional; that was a just war that we fought to defend ourselves and our Allies against the rising Fascist Axis. Few other wars (I can't think of any, in fact) we've fought since were worthy of the blood spilled. Killing our finest Americans so others can profit just doesn't strike me as just or fair or reasonable. Such Corporatist warmongering is in fact the fastest, straightest path I know of for us to become the very sort of Fascist Threat our parents or grandparents fought to stop. We're already a long way down this road and I'm frustrated that Americans today don't seem to be having this conversation.

I learned this lesson very early on, as I somehow managed to find myself in Vietnam as a 5 year old and thus immersed in the discussion since before I understood what it meant. Yet, my stand on this subject has not wavered since then: I respect those who take up arms to defend our country too much to be willing to blithely tolerate the idea that human lives are an acceptable trade for war profiteering.
 

Grandpapy

Well-Known Member
A few years ago I was driving down the Cali coast from SF and made a stop at Ft Ord, my old basic training company. It's closed & a ghost town now, but I found a hole in the fence and went back to the barracks that I was in. I swear that when I closed my eyes I could smell boot polish and gun powder. It was like time travel, i went right back there instantly. Like the most deja vu experience, and i instantly got a knot in my stomach at the thought of going to Nam. I din't realize it was already getting to me in bootcamp. but there it was...
This is the reason I never want to go back to vietnam.....
It’s not totally a ghost town, did you get chance to visit the Veterans Transition Center?
Lots of compassion, guidance and success using very little money (not by choice).
They have a car show on the 19th to help with funding.
If this is sounding like a commercial, sorry, it’s just personal.


https://www.vtcmonterey.org
 

doublejj

Well-Known Member
Project 100,000: The Moron Corps................or how soldiers with limited IQ's like Forrest Gump served in combat in Vietnam.

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000

"A 1995 review of McNamara's book In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam in the Washington Monthly severely criticized the project, writing that "the program offered a one-way ticket to Vietnam, where these men fought and died in disproportionate numbers...the men of the 'Moron Corps' provided the necessary cannon fodder to help evade the political horror of dropping student deferments or calling up the reserves, which were sanctuaries for the lily-white."

There were a lot of "Forrest Gumps" in Vietnam.....
 

haight

Well-Known Member
Is it too much to ask that we find ways to stop having so many wars, so maybe we won't need to bury so many of those who fought?

With great respect, I must point out that the very best way to save a soldier's life is to not send him into battle in the first place.
Are you suggesting that we all bend over and grab our ankles while the middle east boils over?
 

Wilksey

Well-Known Member
WWII was not optional; that was a just war that we fought
Against Japan, sure. Against Europe? Nope. We just chose to support leftist / Soviet fascism and European colonialism, over German fascism, which, I agree with Patton, was the wrong choice. We basically facilitated Europe turning into the leftist shithole that it is today, because we allowed the communist scum in Russia to survive instead of destroying it when we had the chance, and they spent decades infiltrating and subverting the west resulting in the divisive shitshow that we see today.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Are you suggesting that we all bend over and grab our ankles while the middle east boils over?
Can you explain how we are ordained to be the (self serving) cop there? If you dug into just how much we've fucked with middle Eastern countries, I think you'd have a different outlook.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Against Japan, sure. Against Europe? Nope. We just chose to support leftist / Soviet fascism and European colonialism, over German fascism, which, I agree with Patton, was the wrong choice. We basically facilitated Europe turning into the leftist shithole that it is today, because we allowed the communist scum in Russia to survive instead of destroying it when we had the chance, and they spent decades infiltrating and subverting the west resulting in the divisive shitshow that we see today.
We will agree to disagree.
 

420God

Well-Known Member
One of the last remaining Navajo code talkers has died

(CNN)Samuel Tom Holiday, one of the longest surviving Navajo Code Talkers from World War II, has died, just days after celebrating his 94th birthday.

The US Marine Corps confirmed the news, saying Holiday died Monday.
Holiday joined the Corps in 1943 at 19. After that, he served in World War II until 1945, becoming part of a special unit that used the Navajo language to communicate secret messages about troops, tactics and other orders.
The code the team created was indecipherable to the enemy and a key factor in the American military victories at Iwo Jima, Saipan, and several other major battles in the Pacific theater.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/06/12/us/navajo-code-talker-dies-trnd/index.html
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
If not us, who?
How conveniently self serving.

Since when is it our 'job' or 'duty' to go 'fix' the world?

Can't you see this for the smokescreen that it is? It's a self aggrandizing excuse to go fuck with other countries as a pretext to overthrow their governments, steal their resources and subvert the will of their citizens.

It would be one thing if we actually tried to bring Justice to the places we intervene in, but the record speaks for itself. It's a long and bloody record, check it out.

I'm sick of watching honorable men and women come home in bodybags over thin excuses for corporatist imperialism. I'm doubly sick that they use my 'security' as justification for it while they profit and that's why I'm speaking out.

I know of no better way to honor the fallen than to ensure those who would send them to their deaths are held accountable.
 
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