Please don't hate Servicemen.

During this current time with the war on terorism I worry greatly for the soldiers and veterans of various wars.

If you are going to protest against the war, don't protest to the soldier, he/she is only doing their job for their country. Instead focus your feelings on the government.

I don't want the same thing to happen to returned servicemen that happened ater Vietnam - the thankless war. As a RS I too already feel guilt just from seeing protesters abuse the war and everything to do with it.

I don't support this war, but I support our servicemen. They bleed for us, they die for us, this live in the dirt and the grime and the mud and nastiness for us. For the flag. For people who don't respect them.
And they should be cherished and respected for it. Their homes should temples, and they should be taken care of.

However, I see a disturbing trend that uniformly bothers me. Vets should be the gatekeepers for their brothers and sisters, and I can't help but feel that Vietnam vets are betraying this new generation of soldier by supporting this administration and the Neo-conservatives behind the war. They've been there, they've felt betrayed, they know how it feels to be cut loose in the middle of nowhere. They know what it feels like to live in some existential grey area, where right and wrong are concepts. Where the next minute could mean life or death. When the world continues revolving, yet your head can't keep up with it.

They should be in the streets, protesting, so that nobody else should ever experiences what they did. Instead, by and large, they placate themselves to the very men responsible for it. Instead of being humble and graven about the very cost of war that they paid for with their souls, they cheerlead this one. If WWII vets are the greatest generation, then our Vietnam vets are the lost generation. And, I can't help but feel as though they're dooming another to same fate.

I don't care about Bush and Kerry or liberal and conservative. I care about some poor kid, 18 years, living in a desert hell out there. And, every time one of them comes home in a body bag, we're all responsible for the air they can't breath, the kids they can't hold, and they future they can't live.

Thankyou,

That post you did was PERFECT. It stated everything I have been feeling but couldn't find the words.

[edit on 8-9-2004 by Ezekial]

Support the troops by getting them out of a s--t situation.
Demand an immediate withdrawal NOW to prevent further amputees.

Uhhh Mr. Bushblows. I don't think you took the time to review the terms and conditions for the use of this forum. If you had, you would of seen that your username does not follow the guide lines stated in paragraph 3.

Please take the time to inform the moderators that you made a mistake in choosing your username and wish to change it.

Thank you for your posts!

>>They bleed for us, they die for us

Originally posted by Ezekial
If you are going to protest against the war, don't protest to the soldier, he/she is only doing their job for their country. Instead focus your feelings on the government.

Is anyone protesting the soldiers?

I've never even heard of a "anti-soldier" protest. I though it was just a label by the pro-war types to make peace-protesters look bad..

[edit on 8/9/04 by muppet]

Originally posted by muppet
Is anyone protesting the soldiers?

I've never even heard of a "anti-soldier" protest. I though it was just a label by the pro-war types to make peace-protesters look bad..

[edit on 8/9/04 by muppet]

Great post!

This is something I've been getting at for a while. Anti-war does not mean anti-soldier. I'm sure there are even anti-wars in the military!

the military by it's very nature is apolitical. A soldier does not question his orders, he just goes out and performs them. The soldiers who are shedding thier blood in Iraq and other places are doing it for the cause of liberty and for freedom. In WWII we sought to free those under the oppression of Nazi Germany, now we are fighting to free those under the oppression of Saddam. Vietnam Vets were scorned because we had people like Kerry running around calling them war criminals and demonizing the war. The American people turned our back on them because of the protestors. Marx once said that if you scream loud enough and long enough, people will take what you say as truth. This is what happened. Now we have people who are using the war in Iraq for poltical purposes. The soldier is the face of America, when you slap at America calling her policy's wrong, accuse the government of falsehoods, you vicariously are doing that to the soldiers.

Soldier = terrorist with a job!

Thank you, Ezekial.

That's very true.

I feel very deeply for the average US soldier. I'm also quite sad that there is a large number of them that are enjoying what they are doing right now, which is nothing more than terrorrism, plain and simple.

Compare what is happening now to the German occupation of europe in the 1930s. It's just sickening how similar things are. Checkpoints in and out of cities...Patrolling soldiers...curfews...

And while I do realize that we're starting to (VERY SLOWLY) pull out of Iraq, I'm upset that it had to happen like it did. Iraq, supposedly it's own little country, independent and autonomous was basically just treated like a child in this case. Daddy had to come in, beat up the bully, wipe it's butt, and hold it's hand.

If the Iraqi people are pissed, they sure have a reason to be. I know I'd be pretty mad if some foreign countries came in and captured our president (even if it was Bush), destroyed our government, and scattered the republican party to the four winds. (well, that doesn't sound ENTIRELY bad... )

Basically, what I'm saying here is that I have no problem whatsoever with any servicemen/women who are doing their job just like a soldier should. It's the soldiers who get a sick pleasure out of it that I worry about.

Originally posted by jrsdls
The soldier is the face of America, when you slap at America calling her policy's wrong, accuse the government of falsehoods, you vicariously are doing that to the soldiers.

How then do we protect and preserve our freedoms from corrupt human beings who make the decisions that put our soldiers in harms way?

Human beings are very easily corrupted. And it seems that the American political system draws corrupt individuals because of the enormous power that can be wielded.

With your thoughts on this topic, if a corrupt president decides to enter into a perpetual state of war, our hands are tied until election time. By that time it may be to late.

This is our country. It doesn't belong to the elite and rich to do whatever they choose.

I think you perhaps misunderstand what people are saying.

NOBODY is against the servicemen. Many of those against the war have served in the military, some are in Iraq right now, many have family members in the military (there's quite the underground movement in military families AGAINST Bush and the war, in fact. It can't be terribly public because there may be repercussions against the soldiers.)

One can despise Bush's decisions but respect the poor people who have to carry them out without proper training, proper equipment, or proper support.

Bush entered his little war by skating around the normal legislative process. He continues to lie about Saddam's involvement in 9/11, as though if he says it loudly and long enough, we will all believe it.

I despise the man.

But I support ALL my military family members.

good point belgorath...
But it is already happening. and people who have a problem with the war, its cost in lives and money, can only stand by and watch or be branded unpatriotic...
when in reality the protesters are the most patriotic of any element being heard right now... they don't protest the military or the soldiers, they protest the leadership that is throwing more meat into the bucket.

The protesters are speaking for a silent element of the military that does question the purpose of more deaths. they are speaking for an America that is a principle...
not the lame version of America that we are all experiencing.
They are protesting so that we all remember the ideologies that make (made) America great. SO that we can retake this country from he facist/nationalist extreme and make it a confident and proud America once again...

the protesters are the last bastion of logic and pride in america. thanks to our loyal soldiers who make America strong and thanks also to the protesters that make America proud.

Originally posted by jrsdls
the military by it's very nature is apolitical. A soldier does not question his orders, he just goes out and performs them. The soldiers who are shedding thier blood in Iraq and other places are doing it for the cause of liberty and for freedom. In WWII we sought to free those under the oppression of Nazi Germany, now we are fighting to free those under the oppression of Saddam. Vietnam Vets were scorned because we had people like Kerry running around calling them war criminals and demonizing the war. The American people turned our back on them because of the protestors. Marx once said that if you scream loud enough and long enough, people will take what you say as truth. This is what happened. Now we have people who are using the war in Iraq for poltical purposes. The soldier is the face of America, when you slap at America calling her policy's wrong, accuse the government of falsehoods, you vicariously are doing that to the soldiers.

Sorry, that made no sense.

Try again.

Awesome words, Lazarus. Awesome

The soldiers are people, just like us.

Thank you Lazarus. You said it much better than I did. .

It drives me nuts when people mistake my criticism of the rich, fat b*st*rds in power for attacks on our brave soldiers.

Thanks for that post Byrd.

Being the wife of a retired Marine, I know how difficult is to understand that the loves ones have to follow orders even if this orders are not what they believe in.

My husband use to tell me that as a Marine he was a soldier 24 hours of the day and when the commanding in chief will tell him to leave his family and home that was his duty and he had to follow orders.

As a wife I use to play the guilty trick on him about he loving the government more than me and our children but the true is that a soldier is trained in a way that he will die for his nation even if the reason are not the ones he agree with or not.

And that is a scary thought.

We should be proud of our service men and women, the only people to blame for the war is the leaders that planned it and order to be executed by our troops.

I come from a family with a long military history. I can trace my roots all the back to the American Revolution. My father was a WW2 vet, my brother a Desert Storm vet, and I have three uncles who were in the Vietnam War. Several of my son's good friends from high school are now enlisted. I've known these boys since they were all in kindergarten.
How could hate our soilders? I have great respect for them.
The ones I don't have respect for are the ones who send them (our troops) into battle for greedy or corrupt causes.

The ideal that we aspire to is a non-politcal military. In this country we have done pretty well in that regard. You do know what a military coup is don't you? They happen on a regular basis around the world.

Perhaps you meant the American soldier on the ground is non-political. It is very hard I think for a soldier to surrender all his political views. It connects at a very basal/emotional level and is important to many people. The higher echelons of the military are i would suspect quite politcal in nature. This is something we have to keep an ear to the ground on and an eye open.

I would give pure support to a soldier who gives all in his/her belief in the essential goodness of the sometimes complex and not predictible ways an inspired democracy works.

It worries me a bit in our eagerness to 'support the troops' we inevitably end up supporting the governments actions either with enthusiasm or by default.

I think it would bother me alot if I thought about how young men and women are dying/being-maimed for a war that turns out to have been for no good reason. But i dismiss it from my mind. The nation has decided, it is out of my control.
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