ABikerSailor
Diamond Member
You know.........I have a U.S. Navy cap that says that I'm a retired U.S. Navy veteran, and quite often I have people walk up to me, shake my hand and thank me for my service. Up until recently, my standard response was "you're welcome, it was a pleasure to do it, because where else can you get paid good money to travel the world."
Over the 20 years I was in, I've been to 49 states and 26 different countries, spent a lot of time on sea duty.
However...........after listening to a conservative guest on Bill Maher's show the other week, I've since decided to change my response. It seems that they got into a discussion about the military and that led into voting rights, and the conservative said that he was told by a military member that he knew that the military person was disappointed in the low voter turnout, and that if the person thanking them for their service was truly grateful, they should vote, as that is one of the rights that the servicemember spent so much of their time in service to this country for.
As a matter of fact, that is one of the fundamental rights of this country that makes us a true democracy.
So, whenever someone thanks me for my service, the first thing I'm going to ask is "did you vote in the last election"? If they say yes, I'm going to thank them back for not letting my sacrifice be wasted (and yes, 20 years IS a pretty large sacrifice, because in the military you don't have as many rights as the average citizen).
If they say that they DIDN'T vote, I'm then going to ask them why they are thanking me for my service because they obviously wasted it by not voting.
Over the 20 years I was in, I've been to 49 states and 26 different countries, spent a lot of time on sea duty.
However...........after listening to a conservative guest on Bill Maher's show the other week, I've since decided to change my response. It seems that they got into a discussion about the military and that led into voting rights, and the conservative said that he was told by a military member that he knew that the military person was disappointed in the low voter turnout, and that if the person thanking them for their service was truly grateful, they should vote, as that is one of the rights that the servicemember spent so much of their time in service to this country for.
As a matter of fact, that is one of the fundamental rights of this country that makes us a true democracy.
So, whenever someone thanks me for my service, the first thing I'm going to ask is "did you vote in the last election"? If they say yes, I'm going to thank them back for not letting my sacrifice be wasted (and yes, 20 years IS a pretty large sacrifice, because in the military you don't have as many rights as the average citizen).
If they say that they DIDN'T vote, I'm then going to ask them why they are thanking me for my service because they obviously wasted it by not voting.