Why do we need to respect soldiers? I don't get it.

Before they were soldiers in a complicated situation, one in which is hard to get away from or completely out of, were in fact our brothers, our best friends, our fathers. I have 4 friends over their right now and worry everyday about them. They're all great guys that can't back out of an obligation to their country and if they were to disband they would be persecuted for doing so. Their families rely on this paycheck. They have no option but to carry on doing what they're doing. Order for order, day by day. We should respect them as people because as bad as they want to leave, they cannot. As much as war is terrible, their terms of service are binding. All we can do is give them the utmost respect and common courtesy when they come home because we can't comprehend the kind of # they've been through in something they may or may not support.

The topic is not 'What our our troops fighting for'. The topic is why should we respect our soldiers.
You might have a problem with the US governments decisions. Frankly, I question those very decisions as well.
How does that correlate to questioning the soldiers?

ive stated several times that i dont wish to be thanked for what i did yet at the same time i honor all vets be they combat vets or not and i thank them every day for protecting the freedom i am no longer physicaly able to protect. i cant say anything that hasent already been said on our behalf. i can say that any person with the courage to do the things most can not is worthy of respect. any one willing to stand up and fight not just for themselves but millions they have never met is worth my respect. and i have posed this chalange before and i will again. to the op i dare you to say that to the face of any member of the military that joined for me and you and not just to get a free ride to college. if you need help finding one i personaly know 124 of them that are fighting so you can have the freedom to spew the trash you are spewing..
im 25 years old and im no hero by my standards. but i served with 124 people i consider to be heros. they deserve respect because i know the valor and pride and selflessness they serve with.they serve even for non-patriotic america-freedom haters such as your self


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it makes me quite happy to see all the military supporters on this site. i was starting to have my doubts. due to the lack of support on other threads.

'Pia'......I had to take 5 min's to compose myself before responding to your inane thread. I strongly suggest some professional help.

I would say to this that they did have a viable choice...they chose to enlist

yes they did have that choice to join and because you didnt chose to i dont really expect you to understand my next statment. but i for one joined during "peace time" pre 9/11 but when an honrable person is called to up hold the oath they swore to they make sacrifices they dont want to make, but they do because it is the honorable thing to do even if they disagree. sorry for the direct attack but from your posts i for one think you are completly laking honor.

Ok, I think I understand what you are saying.
So, why should we respect the soldiers? I'm not sure. It has been mentioned that they had no choice, but everyone has a choice and it comes down to the courage of their convictions.
I would give them respect if they chose not to fight, but to demand respect just for the fact that they are fighting is faulty and I cannot give it.

I can't respect a decision where people go to kill other people, no matter how 'just' the cause.
This is my personal opinion, and I respect the right of others to hold other opinions, but I will not give respect to something that goes against my very essence.

These men and women are why you do not speak german and lick Hitler boots today. To even put upon the evils of our administration on rank and file soldiers is hienous and despicable. And a whole lot of other things I'd like to say to you if I could with my hand wrapped lovingly around your throat gently massaging it.

No offense taken. I realise this is an emotional issue.
You are right, I am not a serviceman. That is my choice.
However, surely the oath has no meaning when the reasons are faulty. where are the courage of the convictions then?
I would rathewr go to prison than fight. That is my choice.

I'm sorry that you felt you had to go to war and uphold your oath when the reasons were corrupt.

amen brother, the military desirves our respect for the honor and bravery that the every day person does not have. and that alone is worth my undieing respect.

Then, with comments like that you have no means of gaining my respect at all. Disigenuous threats of personal violence only sustain the violent cycle that this world seems trapped in.

I do speak German, btw, as well as French, and English and Maori.

Again, I come back to the courage of one's convicitons. Either you are with us or you are against us. By this I mean, either you support the administration's decision to go to war by participating, or you don't support them by not-participating. Those seem like the options.
To say the soldiers have no choice is wrong.

I was not threatening at all, I was going to give the chap a bloody good rubdown for his most enlightening thread.

reply to post by jpm1602

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That's ok then. I guess we can agree to disagree?

Likening today's situation to the Second World War is like comparing chalk and cheese.

I don't think you get it Son. Without an army, navy, marine, airforce defence there are bad people out there that would like nothing better to vaporise us and take over our hinterland. I wish I could do a Freud and begin a deep discussion on why humanity is what it is, violent and malevolent. We put out daisies and turn our weapons into plowshares and I guarantee you will be working for someone named Tsao under not pleasant conditions.

reply to post by jpm1602

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Or maybe working for 'George' under the illusion of pleasant conditions?

Look, I understand that it is difficult for people who have been brought up in a gun-toting culture to understand that there are other options but that we are too quick to pull the trigger.

I also understand that it is probably too late in humanity's existence to wipe the slate and get rid of violence, but it doesn't mean it isn't something to aspire to.

Please don't condescend by calling me 'son'.

Thanks

Forgive me A...son, I mean no offense. No one more than me wishes for an Eden existense free of malice, war and killing. I place the blame on administrations. NOT on soldiers doing their duty without which we would be skuttled. Peace bro.

Respect for a man comes from his intent not his actions. If a person believes they are doing good. You respect them for stepping up for what they believe will help others. Most soldiers probably fall in this category.

Now if they actually are doing evil, that is a different perspective then they have, so sit and talk with them, find out if they are right or you are. Eventually assuming you get past emotion, fear, and denial. You will come to a middle ground and both agree on what that soldier should do.

If the soldier knows he is doing evil, then he deserves no respect, for he should turn and do what he thinks is good.

Deserves no respect is wrong, his actions deserve no respect if evil, I believe all people deserve the basic level of respect and the right to exist and choose as they best can.

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Agreed Redge. Military like civi's are going to have the small percentage of creeps. I truly don't think any of our guys like the idea of going out in full battle gear in 120 degree heat getting eatin by sand flies away from their families. It's a job. They don't have the priveledge of saying 'I'd like to go to....' wherever. They do their job and anyone who tears them down I'll take a warn or ban anyday. I'm sorry I'm so emotional on this issue.

I too am not in favor of war but am prepared to fight if required. Not out of a sense of patriotism but out of a sense of survival.

However I find some of the posting here..including the OP exactly as described by NGC2736. Very pubescent no matter the age of the posters.

Uberanarchist...that is a stretch to compare soldiers in uniform to mafia hit men but it you want to extend such methods bon appetit. I just dont buy into such political drivel....even from our politicians. Your position/method comes across in the same fingerprint as our politicians. It is the same with the OP here.

I dont worship our soldiers as demigods. I worship no human being as such. Showing respect is not the same as worshiping. I show respect to most peoples until they demonstrate otherwise.

AotearoaSon,

.

You must be speaking of the people involved in the some 200,000 deaths in the Sudan in the present conflict going on there for some years now. Or the problems in Somalia?? Remember Rawanda?? Or the effectiveness of the United Nations in Liberia.....you know what I mean AotearoaSon ....the United Nations looking out for all of us?? How about the genocide in Angola years back? Remember Yugoslavia?? You must be talking about these gun toting nations and thier history.
No I dont aspire to this type of gun toting culture. I especially dont aspire to the gun toting culture of the United Nations...seeing as to how they are obviously so effective in anything they do. You are correct here.

My point is that there are Americans here who know some history and thier viewpoint is not as provincial or guilt ladened as most ignorant Yanks full of sports, television, and the latest Ipod or cell phone. No thanks. I am not intrested in such guilt techniques when I watch or read the history of the rest of the world.

Europe is a dung heap historically when it comes to wars and conflicts. Same with Asia. It is just that this history is so seldom taught to us unless we do the digging for ourselves. Some of us have done the reading and looked up the history.

Try the dung heap of the Thirty Years War in Europe or the Battle of Tours in 732AD and Charles Martel.

The Battle of Tours took place some three hundred years before the first Crusade for which we westerners are supposed to bear the collective guilt in favor of Islam. Yet here we have the Muslims invading Europe some three hundred years before the first crusade...sorry the guilt does not work with me. Not that I think the crusades were on the up and up ..they were not. Its just that I dont buy into such guilt methods to curb my beliefs or hold them in check/keep me silenced.

AoteraoaSon when you run into a problem like history records and the violence associated with it ....offer a time out card....call the ACLU or thier down under equivalent....better yet ....ask for a politician/lawyer to look out for you and come to your rescue.



By the way...for the OP,AoteroaSon and others...I build Nuclear Submarines and Aircraft Carriers for a living....including working in the reactors. Should I feel guilty for this too?? I dont...and wont!!

By the way..on the subject of Aircraft carriers...you folks do know that In the aftermath of the Tsunami in Asia a few years ago...that the US sent a aircraft carrier and helicopters with personel/trained people to this location with Humanitarian Aid yes??
Some of you do also know that in some areas aid was refused for political/religious reasons associated with the presence of infidels. How many people perished because of this?? Was it murder?? Think about this while you are bashing our military and its people. Not many of these stories got past the censors in our news media here stateside but I remember it.
Do any of you know enough history to remember a event titled the Berlin Airlift. I know of it because my father flew in it...many times into Berlin..good weather and bad..night and day.

I dont and wont feel guilty as a Yank for who and what we are ...nor our soldiers. No I dont put much stock in our leaders or politicians. Not much use or respect for most of them.

I will not show disrespect to our soldiers or the uniform. They like all soldiers did not ask for this conflict nor to be sent to places far from home. Most of them today have a more developed sense of duty and honor...verses many in the days of the Vietnam conflict. Thank goodness.

Orangetom