Thank you for your service

lol What's your alternative?

 

Um.... not doing those things...

 

Yes.

Armed service men & women should serve their time, be brought home and executed, as they are no longer of use.

 

Not doing what things? Why pretend as if rare/inadvertent actions are what armed service is all about with regard to war? I know the answer, but I'm hoping you'll give me a better one.

 

Despite your cynicism, here's one way to look at it. The fact other young men and women are VOLUNTEERING to serve keeps your behind from being conscripted into service...
to fight the wars you don't approve of. I can assure you that if nobody decided to volunteer, the government would reinstate the draft and haphazardly start drafting folks into service. Your number might indeed come up, and before you know it...your head would be shaved and a drill sergeant would be yelling at you; Mommy wouldn't be there to bail you out.

The fact they serve means you don't have to, and that is something to be thankful for.

 

I am not afraid to die, and I am not afraid to fight. You are not speaking to a would be draft dodger.

 

Based on your persona on this forum you wouldn't last long in the service. You start questioning orders, you'd be lucky to complete basic training.

Those who serve don't choose where they get deployed. You may personally disagree with a particular conflict, but
you don't retain the same rights as a civlian in terms of openly expressing opposition.

You would need a radical attitude adjustment, which basic military training can accomplish, but even they need something to work with. You'd be surprised at the number of recruits who get involuntary separations in basic training due to personality disorders aka "bad attitudes."

The vast majority who serve are proud to do so for one thing; just based on your OP you'd immediately set yourself apart and individualism has no place in the ranks.

 

If I get kicked out then that's what would happen. But none of you are my superiors and I have no reason to "act right" here.

For starters I don't talk about these things in real life, and if I do it's to people who I know agree with me. But servicemen and women I don't get political with.

 

So, unquestioning obedience to authority is the hallmark of a fighter for freedom?

 

There's a big difference between claiming "I'd never dodge a draft," to actually going through with the process of signing up, training and getting deployed to a combat zone.

You can rail on the MIC..."military industrial complex" all you want, but the fact remains young men and women right now...are serving in your place. There is no draft, and hasn't been since 1973. Volunteers sign up of their own free will...
and for that...in the words of Rudyard Kipling..

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"

for every 18 - 25 y/o male out there referring to the troops as "baby killers" and the kiillers of innocents..
your sorry butts would be right there with them if they didn't volunteer before you...negating the need for a return
of the draft.

Too bad you don't realize it...you should appreciate their service on those grounds alone.

For every liberal parent out there railing on the troops...their own children would be serving if not for those who volunteer to do so.

 

Trust me before shipping off to basic combat training I would just bash my head against the wall a couple of times. That should place me on the proper level for unquestioning subservience.

But you are contradicting yourself. On one hand you're insinuating that I should be kissing the troops asses for taking my place in the event of a draft. But on the other hand, you're saying since I'm an independent thinker I wouldn't even last past boot camp. Must be that military reasoning I wasn't born with.

 

Nobody says you have to kiss anyone's patoot.

You started a thread, mocking the concept of thanking the troops...I'm enlightening you of the reality of the situation.

Without volunteers, there would be a draft...on that I can guarantee.

If for no other reason...if for nothing else, at least quietly say to yourself...I'm at least not going to mock the service of someone else and degrade it.

For every sorry SOB who dodged the draft during the Vietnam war, another young man went in their place...

don't be like those sorry SOB's from that era...at least appreciate the reality that those who serve are going before you...so you don't have to.

You may hate the politics that sends them there...but they are there and you are not.

 

It's worse that they're there voluntarily. If you're drafted, it's like, okay, nothing you can do. But here you have people who actually believe in fighting for our erosion of liberties and the further cause of tyranny. Again if they're ignorant of the truth or just trying to make a living I can't blame them. But the troops are, while not our enemy, they are the instrument of the enemy. Without them, the illegitimate tyrants have no ability to perpetuate their misery throughout the globe.

 

You're under the misconception that the average service person is void of thought...
just an automaton who blindly follows orders.

Yes, conformity is essential as is group think to a degree...but you don't lose your soul after enlisting.

We have a lot of veterans on this board. I'm not seeing a lot of threads relishing in the notion of killing civilians and invading foreign countries. These are thoughtful young men and women who are doing the job they are tasked with regardless of how they may or may not personally feel about it.

The over-riding commanality of the majority of those who serve now and have served in the past...you will find they are proud of their service.

You think it's stupid and foolish and that's your choice. The U.S. Constitution protects your right to freely express that opinion and it's the "stupid and foolish" in your mind...who actually defend those rights. It just so happens that service is not a cafeteria plan. You don't pick and choose the conflicts like vanilla pudding instead of tapioca. Whether it's an unpopular war or not, they deploy. They honor their commitment and their oath.

Returning to an indifferent citizenry more often than not...

 

there it is.

I was waiting for someone to come along and allege this. So since 2001, since we've been engaged in the War Of....excuse me, on Terrorism, our liberties have been tampered with, not increased, not even stayed the same, again, they've decreased. And the longer this war has gone on, more liberties have decreased.

Conclusion: the more they fight the more rights I lose. The troops are fighting for my enslavement.

You may not agree with my conclusion but you're going to have a hard time explaining how the heck they are right now fighting for my rights.

 

The oath of service for enlistees and oath of offfice for commissioned officers include to defend and protect the Constitution.

This is what is being honored, by obeying the orders of a duly elected representative civilian government which controls the Armed Forces.

Your beef is probably with the elected representatives...

I suggest writing your local Congressman for starters...

The average soldier out there is not to blame...
they don't establish policy.

You can rant and rave about these orders being "illegal" but anyone with a keyboard and internet connection can make that claim...
prove it.

Prove that policy is illegal.

 

The average soldier is to blame.

They knowingly signed up to do the UNCONSTITUTIONAL biddings of our wonderful Imperialist usurping govt.

If noone signed up, Imperialism would have a much tougher road to plow.

 

The wars they are engaged in are constitutionally illegitimate. So they can pretend to be fighting for whatever they want but that doesn't change reality. You talk as if our system is working. It's broken. Our "representatives" don't serve us and don't listen to us. Give me a break.

 

There'll be no draft. Not for these BS "wars" for the MIC. That spark would light a big fire...

 

It is the soldiers job to obey authority unquestionably.

It is the civilians job to watch the C-in-C and other leaders to ensure they are staying in line. When they're not, it is also our job to inform the servicemembers of what is going on and what they are the instrument of. This is not an effort to "attack" them, it's more of a citizen to citizen warning. We are all subject to our slavemasters, whether enlisted or not, it's paramount that us prisoners work together in order to break free so that we and especially our children and grandchildren will have a brighter tomorrow.

 

I didn't fight for any of that. You sound like a loon.

 

How are military personnel at all responsible for any of the things you mentioned? You are aware, I'm sure, that the military does not make political policy in this country, so what, exactly, are you getting at?

 

Never said they did. But without the military picking up their weapons, obeying orders and fighting, the leaders would not be able to perpetuate their misery throughout the globe.

[video=youtube;akm3nYN8aG8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akm3nYN8aG8[/video]


" I tried hard to be proud of my service, but all I could feel was shame. Racism could no longer mask the reality of the occupation. These were people, these were human beings. I've since been plagued by guilt, any time I see an elderly man, like the one who couldn't walk, who we rolled onto a stretcher, and told the Iraqi police to take him away. I feel guilt any time I see a mother with her childen, like the one who cried hysterically, and screamed that we're worse than Saddam, as we forced her from her home. I feel guilt any time I see a young girl, like the one I grabbed by the arm, and dragged into the street.

We were told we were fighting terrorists.. the real terrorist was me, and the real terrorism was this occupation. Racism within the military has long been an important tool to justify the destruction and occupation of another country, it has long been used to justify the killing, subjugation and torture of another people. Racism is a vital weapon employed by this government; it is a more important weapon than a rifle, a tank, a bomber, or a battleship; it is more destructive than an artillery shell, or a bunker buster, or tomahawk missile.

While all those weapons are created and owned by this government, they are harmless without people willing to use them. Those who send us to war, do not have to pull the trigger, or lob a mortar round; they do not have to fight the war, they merely have to sell the war. They need a public who's willing to send their soldiers into harm's way. They need soldiers who are willing to kill and be killed, without question...

They can spend millions on a single bomb, but that bomb only becomes a weapon, when the ranks of the military are willing to follow orders to use it. They can send every last soldier anywhere on Earth, but there will only be a war, if soldiers are willing to fight.. And the ruling class, the billionaires who profit from human suffering, care only about expanding their wealth, controlling the world economy.

Understand that their power lies only in their ability to convince us that war, oppression, and exploitation is in our interest. They understand that their wealth is dependent on their ability to convince the working class to die, to control the market of another country, and convincing us to kill and die, is based on their ability to make us think that we are somehow superior.

Soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, have nothing to gain from this occupation. The vast majority of people living in the U.S. have nothing to gain from this occupation. In fact, not only do we have nothing to gain, but we suffer more because of it. We lose limbs, endure trauma, and give our lives. Our families have to watch flag-draped coffins lowered into the earth.

Millions in this country without health care, jobs, or access to education, have watched this government squander over FOUR-HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS A DAY ON THIS OCCUPATION. [IRAQ]

Poor and working people in this country, are send to kill poor and working people in another country, to make the rich richer; and without racism, soldiers would realize that they have more in common with the Iraqi people, than they do with the billionaires who send us to war.

I threw families onto the street in Iraq, only to come home and find families thrown onto the street in this country, and it's a tragic, and unnecessary foreclosure crisis.

We need to wake up and realize that our real enemies are not in some distant land, they're not people whose names we don't know, and cultures we don't understand. The enemy is people we know very well, and people we can identify. The enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable. The enemy is the CEO's who lay us off from our jobs when it's profitable; it's the insurance companies who deny us health care when it's profitable; it's the banks who take away our homes when it's profitable.

Our enemy is not five thousand miles away, they are right here at home. When we organize, and fight with our sisters and brothers, we can stop this war, we can stop this government, and we can create a better world.".

 

It's a violation of the separation of powers. The President does not have the authority to unilaterally initiate military operations, and the US Congress does not have the authority to transfer their powers to other branches of government.

 

And our servicemen and women do not have the authority to engage themselves in unconstitutional wars.

They're criminals, from top to bottom.