Remember Me - A Soldier's Plea!

This video has had almost 18 MILLION views since this young 15 year old girl put it up not long ago. Pro or Con war, to me it says what I have always believed since Saigon 1971 .... "You Don't Have To Support A War - To Support The Troops". I put this up for intelligent conversation and comments. It really applies to EVERY COUNTRY although the video obviously is about the United States Military. How do YOU feel about YOUR COUNTRY'S SOLDIERS? How do YOU feel about WAR? Again, this is a controversial subject that requires restraint, courtesy and respect for those who have served, will serve and have given their lives for what THEY believed for THEIR COUNTRY.

PLEASE be RESPECTFUL in your comments. This will be a MOD SQUAD reviewed topic.

Dave

TO DOWNLOAD - CLICK HERE daverabbit.podomatic.com...



TO DOWNLOAD - CLICK HERE daverabbit.podomatic.com...


[edit on 10/14/2007 by Dave Rabbit]

This hit home so very very hard. My brother is over in Iraq for the second time. We finally got a letter from him today. He wasn't able to write much but it's good to get a short note. Our troops need us to love and support them whether or not you support the war or the government. These brave men and women are doing a hard job and doing it for the most part very well.

I'm proud of my brother and the work he does; he has served active duty and now in the guard. He has been on search and rescue missions here in our local area. Our military does much much more then fight wars. On every base every where you will find the troops volunteering to support the community in which they live.

That video says it so well they are our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands and wives. They are in short us. I am proud of each of them and I pray that they will all come home safe. For the ones who don't I offer them and their families my prayers for peace, comfort and healing.

This video is well done, and very emotional for those of us who do support the troops. My question is how can we the majority get this word out to the masses, as well as to our troops who are the ones that need to hear us? How do we start a movement that gets as much media as the negative remarks and movements get?

Extraordinary!!!!


That is one wonderful video and a great addition to the ATS mix...


Having myself spent some amount of time overseas in the service of my country, I can attest to the need for support from our loved ones here in times like these...


I support the Troops
I support their mission


Semper

Thank you for this thread.
Our troops DESERVE our respect.

Whether you agree or not with the current situations in the Middle East, our troops are not to blame. They are brave men and women who were ordered to leave their homes, their families, and everything they've ever known to risk their lives in a strange land halfway around the world.

There are many who understand just how daunting this truly is.
There are many who might only speculate.

It is because of our brave men and women who serve, that any one of us can sit here on our computers and anonymously criticize about the government, and the very troops themselves.

Godspeed my brothers in arms.

Well I am very proud of my dad service in Vietnam with the 5RAR.
I support any NZDF personal who are serving anywhere from East Timor to Afghanistan.

Lest We Forgot those Anzacs who served and met there end on far away battlefields.

Without further I will my thoughts with this recording of The Last Post .

Originally posted by lombozo
Thank you for this thread.
Our troops DESERVE our respect.

Whether you agree or not with the current situations in the Middle East, our troops are not to blame. They are brave men and women who were ordered to leave their homes, their families, and everything they've ever known to risk their lives in a strange land halfway around the world.

Hold on just a minute here. Thats what they signed up for. They knew that if they joined the army there would be a damned good chance they were going to have to leave everything theyve known and loved and to be sent overseas to kill people. They knew that. f they didnt want that then they shouldnt have signed on the dotted line. No one forced them so please stop with the sentimental claptrap.

It is because of our brave men and women who serve, that any one of us can sit here on our computers and anonymously criticize about the government, and the very troops themselves.
Godspeed my brothers in arms.

Or couldnt it simply be that they wanted the adventure and risk and thoughts of using big guns and shooting people like theyve seen in all the glorified war and cowboy films, which glamourise war and death but never show the harsh realities of it?
War and killing has been drummed into us for many thousands of years.
But if could have gone the other way, what would have happened if people had simply refused to fight?
As John Lennon said "suppose they had a war and no one came"

Yes soldiers are necessary *now*, but dont make it out to be something its not.
They know the risks and no one forces them to join

Chorlton,

Though it may not have been right, there were a lot of young kids when I went to school who were duped. Most of them forgotten about the gulf war (and that wasn't that long prior). They thought the world was a happy place. They listened to the recruiters ... they told them, 'come join us! we will pay for your to see the world and put you through college! We are in a time of peace so, serve your country and gain unparalleled life experiences'. Add to that the NG recruiters and commercails ... just one weekend a month, two weeks a year.

It may not be a reasonable excuse to you, but, these were kids being influenced by older, experienced men who they were taught to believe would steer them in the right direction. Some recruiters, from personal conversations, take the job like a car salesman does theirs. NOT ALL do, but quite a few.

These are human beings. Of course, so are the 'enemy'. It is a shame any have to die, and I do like the quote you gave


I will say this, I support them for regardless for why they signed up. They are over there risking their life. They know more about what is going on than you or I. They are not part of the political and ethical arguments. To blame them is like blaming the person flipping the burger for the price and the type of cola they serve. They are just doing their job, the ones running the show are the ones we should have the problem with for making choices based on greed or lies.


I respect those who risk their lives for values and ideals.

I may not approve of why they are there, and that is why, I support them by asking for them to come home. We have homeless they could build housing for if they are doing humanitarian causes ... we have starving if they are feeding people, we have our own borders than need securing. Our military is suppose to be defensive, not offensive. I ask them to read the declaration of independence and the bill of rights, then any documents that pertain to this situation (treaties signed, rules of engagement, etc.) ... from the top to the bottom, decide whether what we are doing is constitution, and if not, arrest the ones who ordered them to violate it.


I don't think we should treat these troops the way the soldiers in Vietnam were treated. I think the public realizes that. They are human, and they are doing their job, it is our fault and our elected public servants' faults for putting them there and not bringing them back. If they do get an unreasonable order, I pray that they have the moral fortitude to stand up and say, NO, that violates laws and it is not right. You sir, are under arrest for giving such an order ... take them to military prison or gitmo ... and let them be tried and convicted of the worst treason of all, violating the constitution and giving the people a bad image to the world.



Yes, respect our troops I shall ... and your troops as well.

I posted this up not so long ago sung by a friend of mine have a listen make a comment cheers
MothersSong Bts

I have a family member thats been to Iraq 3 times and Afgahnistan twice all I can say is it will good to see him come home next year.

reply to post by Chorlton


No, you hold on a minute. I have had to bury a life long friend who didn't sign up to play with guns or was brainwashed with movies. He died in Afghanistan, fighting someone else's war, not ours. He didn't join knowing he was going overseas to kill people. He joined because it was a job. After 13 years service, He gave his life, for what?

Canada has a very rich history of peace keeping, and I dare say that most of our military who's service is more than 2 or 3 years didn't sign up to go play hero in a desert 1000's of miles away, fighting for a cause that many, many of them don't believe in. The part of the country I live in has the highest ratio of people in the military in Canada. Why? Because we are an "economically challenged" area. Unemployment is historically very high with lots of seasonal work. The military is a viable option for young people. A steady job with decent pay. Most of these kids, and thats what they are, kids, didn't sign up to kill Arabs or terrorists, they signed up to avoid a life a poverty and maybe get a decent education after there time in the forces was over.

I'm going to post something that I posted on a local board...

Whether you agree or disagree with why we are there makes no difference at all. Not supporting our troops does matter.

The people in Afghanistan fighting are our:
Mothers and Fathers
Brothers and Sisters
Sons and Daughters
Aunts and Uncles
Friends and Lovers

The debate over why we are there is for other forums but the fact remains , our soldiers are there, fighting and dying and to not support them belittles and demeans the sacrificies they are making. Our friends and family are losing their lifes and we need to let them know that we support THEM.

Again personal opinions matter not, the safe return home of our fellow Canadians does matter.

That is how feel about it all. I just want to see the people I know and the ones I don't get back here safe and sound.

Here and here are two local stories about a Support Our Troops rally held in my city a couple of weeks ago. I was there, I left work for an hour to go show my support, that I care about the men and women of Canada that are over seas, not just in Afghanistan, but everywhere. `It isn't about agreeing with what our Government's are doing, it's showing the people that have to carry out those decisions that we love them and just want them to come home safe.

I have to agree with Chorlton slightly. I have been to Iraq twice, Bosnia and all sorts of other places when i was in the forces. I joined up because i wanted to go not because i felt i had too. Infact i was pretty selfish many of times to watch my Girlfriend and Mother standing on the platform crying at the train station whilst i returned from leave and to be quite honest they were usually forgotten about within an hour or 2.

Soldiers dont ask for people to think about them or worry about them thats not what soldiering is about.

I have 2 brothers out in Iraq at the moment and to be quite honest they are happier there than they are here at home. Its their personal mission to be a part of whats going on not because they want your sorrow and tears.

When you join the armed forces you are handed an automatic rifle. What does that say? Well it certainly doesnt say your gonna be in a peaceful and safe location baking cakes does it. Soldiers who want sorrow and tears shouldnt be in the army!!!! Its a big mans game and if you havent got the heart to play then leave the game.

World War 2 was a different kettle of fish. There you had little choice of going to war and when you did you knew well you had little choice of coming back. That really was for the sake of saving your country not like this pathetic little skirmish thats going on in the middle east.

I shed no tears for Soldiers and i feel i have a right to say that having been there and got the t shirt so to speak. And i know they wouldnt expect me to shed a drop either.

This video sceamed "PROPOGANDA" at me it was like "Support our troops/Support the war"



[edit on 13-10-2007 by thesaint]

Originally posted by GAOTU789
reply to post by Chorlton

 

No, you hold on a minute. I have had to bury a life long friend who didn't sign up to play with guns or was brainwashed with movies. He died in Afghanistan, fighting someone else's war, not ours. He didn't join knowing he was going overseas to kill people. He joined because it was a job. After 13 years service, He gave his life, for what?

But you dont join the army to learn to knit. They expect you to fight. Thats why they give you a gun and anyone joining the army must realise that they may be called up on to kill. If you sign on the dotted line not realising that then it is pure stupidity.

Canada has a very rich history of peace keeping, and I dare say that most of our military who's service is more than 2 or 3 years didn't sign up to go play hero in a desert 1000's of miles away, fighting for a cause that many, many of them don't believe in. The part of the country I live in has the highest ratio of people in the military in Canada. Why? Because we are an "economically challenged" area. Unemployment is historically very high with lots of seasonal work. The military is a viable option for young people. A steady job with decent pay. Most of these kids, and thats what they are, kids, didn't sign up to kill Arabs or terrorists, they signed up to avoid a life a poverty and maybe get a decent education after there time in the forces was over.

There are many reasons for joining any army. However the original basis of any country, (Not /King or despot) having an army is to defend its borders, its way of life. Once that is secure then a government will help other countries. But it is the basic premise of an army to use force. In the modern respect that force is in the basis of soldiers with weapons. When men use force with weapons, people are going to get hurt. Any soldier signing on the line, for any reason, must realise that.

That is how feel about it all. I just want to see the people I know and the ones I don't get back here safe and sound.

All the above doesnt mean I dont respect soldiers for the work they do. But you cannot sign on the line, take the 'kings shilling', pick up a gun then start crying 'Oh they want me to shoot this thing' because it just doesnt work.

[edit on 13/10/07 by Chorlton]

Thank you for posting this Dave.

I do not really have any words at the moment to describe the memories that this brings flooding back.

again, thank you.

When I first saw this, I had a HUGE rush of memories of my three tours in Vietnam. In my first tour of Cam Ranh Bay, I remember the line of caskets with American Flags draped over them, being loaded into military cargo planes for the long flight back home. I remembered the rocket and mortar attacks at Phan Rang, sitting in bunkers looking each other in the eyes and wondering if this was our time. Most of all, I remember seeing Jim Brookshire's body, my roommate, the morning I left for leave before returning to Saigon and eventually starting Radio First Termer. But most of all, I remember the way WE were treated when we returned home from a lost cause, a lost battle. It is something that I will carry with me the rest of my life and will do everything within my power to BE SURE that it NEVER happens to ANY SOLDIER ever again.

Dave

Originally posted by Chorlton
But you dont join the army to learn to knit.

Have to agree with you there. No doubt about it.

However

There's another part that being in the military plays besides the obvious 'defensive' reasons for joining. Also... there's no telling what negative political influences might be brought to bear during a stint in the forces. Canada, for example, has gone from 'peacekeeping role' to 'offensive role' quite quickly in response to both the Kuwait invasion by Iraq and 9/11.

But there's a third way as well... the role that our military plays in search and rescue and responses to natural disasters. A good many join because they feel it's a way to make their countries a better place to live.

Truly, though, when I was pulling the lanyard on a 105 Howitzer to try to hit a tank parked a few miles away and out of sight, there was no illusion in my mind that, if it was the real thing, I'd be killing people.

Does that make me a willing killer or is it just the downside of a job with many positive attributes as well? The various courses I took all those decades ago still come in very handy even in my mundane civilian life.

I respect anyone who enlists, no matter what their background, and hope they go back to their families whole in both mind and body.

Often, unfortunately, due to wrong-headed polical policies or even officer staff bullheadedness (WWI especially), this doesn't happen.

Originally posted by Dave Rabbit
When I first saw this, I had a HUGE rush of memories of my three tours in Vietnam. In my first tour of Cam Ranh Bay, I remember the line of caskets with American Flags draped over them, being loaded into military cargo planes for the long flight back home. I remembered the rocket and mortar attacks at Phan Rang, sitting in bunkers looking each other in the eyes and wondering if this was our time. Most of all, I remember seeing Jim Brookshire's body, my roommate, the morning I left for leave before returning to Saigon and eventually starting Radio First Termer. But most of all, I remember the way WE were treated when we returned home from a lost cause, a lost battle. It is something that I will carry with me the rest of my life and will do everything within my power to BE SURE that it NEVER happens to ANY SOLDIER ever again. Dave

Dave i agree that soldiers upon return from battle should be treated with a little respect and yes provisions should be made to ensure they are re-educated into good civillian jobs and pensions etc catered for. I am apalled at how Nam soldiers were treated on their return. I for one do not wish at any time to witness any more dead soldiers. I have seen enough already and like yourself i too lost a few friends. My post abaove was not meant to slag off troops it was merely saying "They know what they got in too" and i think most soldiers are happy in their circle of comrades and quite proud that no one outside that circle could ever understand. Its a soldier thing we have a laugh, We have a dark sense of humour and yes on our own we sometimes cry but most of all we are proud and we want no one to shed a tear for us. Maybe you will understand this i got from a ex comrade

Never a truer word said!

CIVVY FRIENDS: Get upset if you're too busy to talk to them for a week
MILITARY FRIENDS: Are glad to see you after years, and will happily carry on the same conversation you were having last time you met...

CIVVY FRIENDS: Never ask for food
MILITARY FRIENDS: Are the reason you have no food.

CIVVY FRIENDS: Call your parents Mr. And Mrs.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Call your parents mum and dad.

CIVVY FRIENDS: Bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Would be sitting next to you saying, Bollocks...we fu*ked Up...but that was fun!"

CIVVY FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Cry with you.

CIVVY FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Keep your stuff so long they forget it's yours.

CIVVY FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

CIVVY FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds ass that left you.

CIVVY FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, "I'm home!"

CIVVY FRIENDS: Are for a while.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Are for life.

CIVVY FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, Mate, you better drink the rest of that, you know we don't waste.. That's alcohol Abuse!!"

CIVVY FRIENDS: Will talk # to the person who talks # about you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will knock them out!!





[edit on 13-10-2007 by thesaint]

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


This is a cosmos of free will. Everyone has a choice, regardless of the puerile political pablum injected by the spin doctors into the sheeples' consciousness via the critical mass media.

Do I care what happens on this planet, to my fellow souls and cosmic travelers? Absolutely. However, if I'm trying to teach my 5-year-old granddaughter how to tie her shoes and she keeps smacking my hand away because she wants to attempt it on her own, then there is only so much I can "teach" her. Instead, I must detach and prepare myself for tears, frustration and a possible knot.

When your son wants to ride his bike without the training wheels or Daddy's hand upon his shoulder to steady him, providing balance, then you must be willing to let go, let "god" and let what happens...happen. If only it were skinned knees, bruised shins and a bloody nose that your little boys were receiving in their big game of Risk.

I am not for the war in Iraq and I never have been. Do I support my troops? I support them coming home, period. Nothing less. I support their right to choose, but when I don't think that they choose wisely and, instead, choose blindly due to misplaced patriotism and allegience to despotic dictators of psychotic imperialism, then I choose to frown.

I love all people, even those who make mistakes. I will gladly welcome all our boys and girls home, but I want them out of Iraq. If they are awakening to the nightmare that they chose to participate in and can see how their ignorance and blind patriotism has helped perpetuate one of the greatest debacles upon the face of modern history, then I'll gladly contribute to their coming home. I wish them peace and love, but I mostly wish that they would wake up.

I don't intend to persecute the children, but I fully intend to maintain pressure on the idiots who led them down the IED-lined garden path to Armegeddon. Making warm-fuzzy videos that help to romanticize, glamorize and sanitize the real issues behind the reasons why all those involved took the blue pill...is nothing short of heart-felt, but misplaced propaganda.

I wish those in chaos to feel peace of mind and come back to order. I hope their nightmares end before they are killed or horribly maimed. I refuse to take the blue pill and accept the mind control of our overlords. I am unplugged, unstoppable and unapologetic.

While I appreciate those who are trying to reach out to their friends, family members and loved ones, during these dark times, I would rather see their energies being applied towards the soldiers, our government and The Powers That Be, so that they may wake up.

Once they start to pull their heads out - and say "no more" - then we'll see the rapid unraveling of the matrix of death that has been woven in the Middle East by the master weavers of deception. It is interesting that the Illuminati seem to be the least enlightened of all.

Take the red pill...and call me in the morning.

namaste

The video is awesome and our troops do need our support. I spent 20 years in the US Navy and remember that the best thing about coming home from a six month deployment to the Gulf was getting off the ship and seeing the smiles from my wife and kids and getting the hugs and kisses and hearing my kids being excited that Daddy was home. For those who haven't served, you'll never truly understand that feeling. The feeling of knowing you are out there protecting the Country you love and knowing that your family is always there behind you giving you support and knowing that they will be there when you get back.

I am not sure of the best way to say my feelings on the matter, but I support the soldiers of the United Kingdom in that I want them to come home safe, although I know that will not be the case for all. I daresay war is a terrible thing, and that it's not something that gives great memories to those involved, and the harsh reality of it that the media lets through makes me glad I'm not there, but I don't wish it on anyone else either. I appreciate the fact that they are there as a line of defence, though I don't agree with why they are there, though that is not their fault that they have the misfortune to be deployed in a pointless war.

The thing that i really hate though, is when a report comes in that some of the troops have died in a helicopter crash that was entirely avoidable. That really annoys me.

I feel similarly towards the troops of America too, but I suppose I'm more inclined to think of those from the same country as me.