I have a question for memorial day

[gipper]

Those people died to protect your right, among other things, to express your concerns. Is that alone worth it to you?

WTF! No they didn’t.

 

[okfine]

When you join the military you expect to die...

Not if they knew the stats...

What Percentage of the Military Sees Combat? (2023 Guide) | TheGunZone

In reality, only a small fraction of military personnel are trained to see any action at all. Learn more HERE!

thegunzone.com

 

[JWBooth]

“Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die. The was the "war to end wars." This was the "war to make the world safe for democracy." No one told them that dollars and cents were the real reason. No one mentioned to them, as they marched away, that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with United State patents. They were just told it was to be a "glorious adventure".

Thus, having stuffed patriotism down their throats, it was decided to make them help pay for the war, too. So, we gave them the large salary of $30 a month!

All that they had to do for this munificent sum was to leave their dear ones behind, give up their jobs, lie in swampy trenches, eat canned willy (when they could get it) and kill and kill and kill...and be killed”
Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, USMC Ret., Medal of Honor 2X

Sums up the service of the young men and what they were sacrificed for. Nothing has changed since he made this statement.

 

[JWBooth]

Those people died to protect your right, among other things, to express your concerns. Is that alone worth it to you?

Nonsense

 

[rightwinger]

Today we recognize those who have given up their lives for this country. My question: Is this country still worth dyng for? Would the young people of today give up their pampered lives for this country? I think not. Comments?

Not too long ago we had young people give up 7000 lives for no reason

Do we have a Congress today that is unwilling to sacrifice our soldiers unnecessarily?

 

[Redfish]

Is today the last Monday in May?

no but tomorrow is

 

[Redfish]

Not too long ago we had young people give up 7000 lives for no reason

Do we have a Congress today that is unwilling to sacrifice our soldiers unnecessarily?

you forgot Kennedy and Johnson's viet nam where 58,000 good americans died for absolutely nothing. iraq and Afghanistan were equally stupid and we should have never been in either. How many will die to protect tha Biden family's bribes from Ukraine?

 

[Anathema]

I come from a family with a long line of military service, right up through my own generation. I attempted to join the US Army twice but was refused any combat MOS due to physical issues.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I would fight for this country st this point. It would very much depend on the enemy and the cause.

 

[Redfish]

I come from a family with a long line of military service, right up through my own generation. I attempted to join the US Army twice but was refused any combat MOS due to physical issues.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I would fight for this country st this point. It would very much depend on the enemy and the cause.

correct, I have a service age relative who was anxious to join the military after ROTC in college, but due to the current state of military stupidity and wokeness, he went to highway patrol school instead.

 

[Redfish]

plus normal american kids will not sign up due to the woke military bullshit.

Then Why TF is recruitment down to record lows? its not fake news, its fact.

 

[gipper]

“Our first and fundamental maxim should be, never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe.” Thomas Jefferson

He was so much smarter than the fools in charge these last many decades.

 

[task0778]

Today we recognize those who have given up their lives for this country. My question: Is this country still worth dyng for? Would the young people of today give up their pampered lives for this country? I think not. Comments?

Is this country worth dying for? Our gov't, not so much but our people that live here, yes. But let's also be honest, nobody enlists expecting to die; people sign up for a number of reasons, mostly economic ones and that means they are expecting to do something with their lives after a stint in the military. Mostly they do not find themselves in combat where they might die, but a strange thing happens under such circumstances. You form a very strong bond with the guys in your unit, and IMHO for the most part you will hazard yourself for the guys in your foxhole so to speak rather than their country. Some won't go that far, but some will and have done so. I'm not saying that patriotism doesn't exist, but there are other factors.


Would the young people of today give up their pampered lives for this country?

First of all the number of the pampered is far less than everyone else. Those guys don't sign up for the military in the 1st place and would be all but worthless if they did. That's just the way it is in a country this size with this many people, you're going to get the free riders that enjoy the benefits of our society without paying any price for it. These days, for a variety of reasons I don't believe the military are as honored and respected as they once were, and that hurts enlistments and retentions. And there has to be a certain amount of trust in our military and civilian leadership and I think that is somewhat lacking too. And as mentioned above, E&R is reduced when the unemployment is low; that may change as the economy changes.

 

[ABikerSailor]

I was working in recruiting for my last tour from 1999 until 2002. Prior to 9/11, the reasons that people joined were many and varied. Some did it for economic reasons (full health care coverage for them and their families, guaranteed paycheck, travel, education, etc.) Me? I joined back in 1982 for 3 reasons, wanted to travel (one of the main reasons I selected the Navy), wanted a steady job with a guaranteed paycheck and decent upward mobility, and because my family was fairly patriotic. Never saw my Grandparents as proud of me as the day I came home with enlistment paperwork for them to sign to allow me to join (DEP'd in at 17 and was in boot camp 3 days after I turned 18).

Most of the kids I saw joining were doing it for pretty much the same reasons I listed above. While the US had been involved in a few conflicts (Beruit, Desert Storm), those weren't conflicts that anyone thought about much.

HOWEVER........................

After 9/11 happened, and war was announced, the recruitment dropped drastically. Sure, there were some who joined because they thought it was their duty to defend the country, but there weren't as many of them as there were those who just wanted the paycheck and the benefits. There were quite a few of those who were in DEP (Delayed Entry Program) who wanted out of their contracts because they didn't want to go to war. But hey, being in the military means that you've decided that the benefits were worth writing a blank check to the U.S. Government payable up to the cost of your life. That's what the military is.

And, while I didn't think much about being deployed to active war zones (served in 4 of them) I knew I had to go where the military wanted me. I knew that all the benefits I got (and pay ain't one of 'em, the military pays much lower than what the civilian sector does, but the job security can't be beat) came along with I had to go where I was needed as determined by the needs of the Navy, regardless of the danger involved.

Do I think that today's youth have the same ideas about military life that I had way back when? Probably not, as current society seems to focus on the needs of the individual rather than the needs of the whole, and that AIN'T what the military is about. Granted, I served during some times that the military tried it and it didn't work out very well (TQL is a prime example of that), and I was also kinda dismayed when I heard about "stress cards" being issued in boot camp, but a lot of that stuff was tried and found to not be compatible with military structure.

Granted, there are still a majority of people out there who would be fine assets to the military, but with all this focus on individual needs and for everyone's voice to be heard, it kinda seems like modern society and military life aren't compatible, so it takes someone who actually wants to be in to enlist, and with the current world situation, that number seems to be shrinking.

I understood that my life could be forfeit at any time during my service and accepted that. Could have been from contact with enemies in a war zone, could have been from a training accident, or could have been just plain bad luck. I've lost a couple of shipmates to plain bad luck (one was thrown under the ship during a maintenance accident, another just died because of medical reasons) but we all knew that while we HOPED to make it through our enlistment, some like me hoping to make it to retirement (which I did) we could all go while serving.

But, I can also say that my time in the Navy was well worth the 20 plus years that I spent in it, as not only did I expand my view of the nation and the world (travel tends to do that), but I also gained valuable experiences and made some life long friends.

My opinion? It would be a shame for someone who is afraid of dying to refuse to join, because the experiences are more than worth it. Besides...................a person doesn't have to enlist to die. You could get hit by a bus or shot by some random stranger tomorrow. Life ain't guaranteed, so make the most of what looks like it would be good for you. For me? It was a career in the U.S. Navy.

And for you civilians who don't understand, remember this..........

Memorial Day is for those who died while serving in the military (I have 2 that I think about on that day).

Veterans Day is for those who served and made it through their enlistments.

Armed Forces Day is for those who are currently still wearing the uniform and defending this country.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Also..............for just a small addendum.............

Remember, that while there are many out there who say that they would willingly defend and die for this country, only about 1 percent of the population of this country actually decides to enlist and serve. 1 percent. That makes any veteran or active duty member a cut above the rest in my eyes. It's easy to pay lip service to something, but it's quite a different thing to actually do it.

 

[Dekster]

WTF! No they didn’t.

A libertariarian who doesn't believe in the constitution is so post modern hipster like. Very woke of you.

 

[ABikerSailor]

There are more people in this country that would (and have) step up to fight for our freedom than there are of those that would tuck their tail between their legs and run to hide. Don't let the crap the media spews tarnish your image of true-blooded Americans. For all the bad you hear, there is far more good. Keep in mind that bad news travels faster and easier today than it did decades and wars ago.

Hate to tell you, but that is jingoistic bullshit. Yes, if a person's individual, personal space were invaded, they would probably defend it. But to defend the country as a whole? Not quite true. While many will say that they will defend this country to the death, they don't mean the country as a whole, they mean just their own little personal slice of it, nothing more.

As far as the vast number that you claim would step up to fight for this country? Not so much. The majority of people in this country are content to let others (who are in a very small minority) step up and do the actual work of doing the defending.

Only 1 percent of Americans have ever actually served in the military. Like I said, it's one thing to say it, but it's quite another thing to actually do it.

 

[ABikerSailor]

When you join the military you expect to die...

Actually, that is an extremely untrue statement. When you join the military, you know that a POSSIBILITY of being in is that you may be sent off to a war zone, where you might possibly be killed, but neither the person enlisting, nor the military expects them to die. Why do you think that the military spends so much time training their personnel how to NOT DIE, as well as save the lives of those around them?

But, death is not an exclusive realm of the military. There are many jobs out there that can be just as dangerous, in some cases, even more so than serving in the military. Hell, you could be the most peaceful person and abhor all things violent and military and still get hit by a bus or killed by a random shooter.

NOBODY gets out alive. Although, military personnel have a better chance of surviving bad situations because they are trained to do so.

 

[ABikerSailor]

We saw how Biden treats soldiers in Afghanistan. It was disgraceful.

You would have to be insane to serve under him.

People need to form their own militias to protect themselves.

Other presidents have had their issues with how they treated the military and the situations they put them in. Biden isn't the only one.

Reagan and Bush Jr. come readily to mind. Reagan because he thought the military was his own "diplomacy through force" arm of the government, and Bush Jr. because of his and RumsFAILED's proposition of "you go to war with the military you have, not the military you want" bullshit. I know, I served under both of them.

As far as "people needing their own militias to protect themselves"? Protect them from whom? And, at what cost? I thought we were called the United States of America, not a "loosely formed coalition of militias promoting their own agenda".

 

[okfine]

Then Why TF is recruitment down to record lows? its not fake news, its fact.

Maybe because parents coddle their fat and out of shape kids.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Maybe because parents coddle their fat and out of shape kids.

Yanno..................I kinda agree with that statement. Society today has tried to express the view that the needs of the individual outweigh the needs of the whole. And, if that is what a person has learned all their life, then being in the military is NOT a good fit for them.

Dunno so much about the fat and out of shape part, although kids today seem to be a bit less active than they were in my childhood, but the coddling I definitely agree with.