Why I hate many Civilians - A Military-member's Manifesto

[Desperado]

This is actually something I wrote over 8 years ago, and today I was reminded as to why I wrote it. And I did have to do some edits since I first wrote it, as some things have changed, like my now having served under 7 Presidents, not just 5. But the general viewpoint still has not changed. And the funny thing is, I have shown this to dozens of others in uniform, from PFC to Colonel, and they all agreed with what I said. It's just sad that so many others do not.

*****

This should not come as a surprise to many, but parts of this should be explained once again.

I largely have a pretty negative view of Civilians who treat the military with contempt, and I largely deal with them with contempt.
Now understand, this is aimed at those civilians that deal with people like me with contempt. Military, especially career military.
I see over and over some civilian (Right or Left Wing) pop in and give some really stupid comment, and all I can do is scratch my head and wonder at the stupidity that makes people actually think that way.

I mean really, do you honestly think I am going to accept orders to storm into your house and take away all of your guns?

I mean, do you honestly think that my pay is stealing food away from some starving child in the ghetto?

Yes, I classify myself as "Conservative". Mostly because I believe in Conserving the status-quo, and that change should be made gradually, not in sudden jumps and leaps that cause instability. I believe strongly in compromise, and absolutely hate the idea of either party having either all control of the Government (Executive and both of the Legislative branches), or even more importantly a "Super-Majority" in any branch of Federal or State government.

I consider myself a "Conservative", and also a "Moderate". I am a believer in compromise, and wish that both parties learned how to use it more. But even more importantly, I am so fracking sick and tired of one party demonizing the other.

I am a military person through and through. I have served off and on since the first Reagan Administration. I have served under 7 Presidents now, and do what is ordered of me. And as of yet, I have never received an order that I see as in violation of the law, or the Constitution. I may not have liked all of them, but they have been lawful, and have been carried out to the best of my ability.

I have been invited into the "Political Threads" in here many times (mostly when somebody posts something stupid in regards to something I am known to be an expert in), and have largely dipped my toe in, then left feeling that I should disinfect my toe from the filth that covered it from that dip. I am not a "political animal", and talking to me about "indoctrination" and "philosophies" largely leaves me with the feeling that I need to vomit. I could not care less about "Political Parties" or "Manifestos" (hence the sarcasm in the name of this post). My main influences are History (because the past often repeats itself), and what is a "Clear and Present Danger".

To be blunt, I really could not care less. Love me, Hate me, Despise me, it really does not matter to me. I do my job, and try to remind myself that I do so in the hopes that my children and grandchildren will never have to do so themselves. People have called me a fascist and a murderer. They have spit on me. Then again, they have thanked me for my service, and shaken my hand and even tried to pay for my meals and drinks. I do not want any of that, good or bad. I do not do what I do for personal gain, but because I honestly get personal pleasure from serving my Country, and the People of my Country.

And in also serving the People of other countries. It makes me happiest when some citizen of the country I am in at the time comes up and thanks me for being there for them. I get more personal enjoyment from that then from 1,000+ Americans telling me the same thing. Yeah, some Californian tells me I am a worthless piece of filth because I am in uniform while I put gas in my truck on my way home from a long week of work away from my wife. I could not care less, because I still remember that Kuwaiti citizen thanking me, and that means more to me then what that neo-hippie with his mind full of 420 would ever mean.

Yeah, I admit, I am writing this late on a Saturday night. I have probably had a bit more to drink then I should. Then again, for the last 2 months I have seen my wife an average of 2 days a week, and been working mostly from 6am until 8pm. And no, I do not get overtime. I am on a salary, and for living in Northern California it is ridiculously low. But I do not do what I do for money.

Frack, I left a company as a Senior Computer Technician in 2007 to go back into the military (at the age of 42). I have MCSE, Novell Certs, A+, and am on the tail end of A+, N+, CCNA, CCNE, and live in the Bay Area. Can anybody say "$60k+"?

But I would turn all that away in a heartbeat to be back on active duty, in my $30k military job.

I could not care less about praise. I could not care less about shiny things on my uniform. I have always wanted to, and still do serve my country to the best of my ability. And also any country that my own offers it's protection over.

My wife of over 35 years has put up with a lot of deployments, a lot of absences. And she sometimes even reads over my shoulder in here. And trust me, you do not want to read what she says. Ironically, in many ways she is even more militant then I am, and she is a "Democrat".

To wrap this rambling post up, my basic attitude is **** Left Wing. **** Right Wing. **** all of your mindless political nonsense. If you want to talk military, I can talk military. If you want to talk about why Missile A is better then Missile B, or why Aircraft C can be taken down by Missile C, I can do that all day long.

If you want to interject why "Mister XXXXXX YYYYYY said that blah blah blah blah", I really could not give a flying ****. Talk to me about Socialism or Fascism or Communism, or talk about the US President (ANY US President) in a less then respectful manner, and I will see you as nothing but a ****ing political hack and ignore 90% of what you say. Be it President Reagan, President Clinton, President Bush, or President Barack Obama. I may, or may not like any, none, or all of the Presidents I just listed. But they are all (or were) my Commander in Chief, and I give them all the proper respect their office demands.

Why?

If you do not get it by now, you are absolutely ****ing hopeless.

So even you admt that you care more for the feelings of foreigners than Americans If you feel that way maybe you should have stayed there.

 

[eagle1462010]

I can ride my ebike to work and I work from home.

Like you guys said when bush sent all those manuf jobs overseas. Learn to adapt.

Ok........whatever.........we did that with NAFTA and we have derailed this thread enough already.

 

[sealybobo]

Choose your rate decide your fate. Jobs in the Navy are ratings. Each one being more adaptable to the outside versus the ones that don't.

So what?

Just apply the same logic you use on inner city poor people to homeless military vets. You seem to have empathy for all the reasons why so many vets are struggling. Are you as empathetic to people in ghettos?

 

[sealybobo]

I

So even you admt that you care more for the feelings of foreigners than Americans If you feel that way maybe you should have stayed there.

I don’t mind Him holding people who hold the military in contempt in contempt.

 

[sealybobo]

Ok........whatever.........we did that with NAFTA and we have derailed this thread enough already.

Here’s why people hold the military in contempt. not the soldiers, the military industrial complex.

Korea, viet nam, Iraq. All bullshit wars. Shouldn’t have gotten into those wars.

Ww2 and Afghanistan, good wars.

 

[Desperado]

I

I don’t mind Him holding people who hold the military in contempt in contempt.

me either, what i do mind is him saying he feels better when foriegners thank him for his service that when Americans thank him for the same thing

 

[Desperado]

Here’s why people hold the military in contempt. not the soldiers, the military industrial complex.

Korea, viet nam, Iraq. All bullshit wars. Shouldn’t have gotten into those wars.

Ww2 and Afghanistan, good wars.

Afghanistan wasa bull shit war too that cost us trillions and 20 years with nothing to show for it

 

[sealybobo]

Afghanistan wasa bull shit war too that cost us trillions and 20 years with nothing to show for it

Yea but we had to go. And imagine if bush didn’t spread us thin by starting a second war.

 

[sealybobo]

me either, what i do mind is him saying he feels better when foriegners thank him for his service that when Americans thank him for the same thing

It was a shock to Michael Jordan when he learned how recognized he was in China. He probably got a kick out of it when they swarmed him but back home it was annoying.

 

[Desperado]

Yea but we had to go. And imagine if bush didn’t spread us thin by starting a second war.

No we did not have to go.we could have just used airstrikesfor month and would have had th same result

 

[sealybobo]

No we did not have to go.we could have just used airstrikesfor month and would have had th same result

We should have pretended we weren't going to retaliate and then when we saw Osama giving a speech at one of those soccer games just blow them all up. Done. No having to move and set up an entire operation and occupy them. And keep fucking with them till they come to their senses.

 

[eagle1462010]

Just apply the same logic you use on inner city poor people to homeless military vets. You seem to have empathy for all the reasons why so many vets are struggling. Are you as empathetic to people in ghettos?

Absolutely that's why I'm against the DNC

 

[Mushroom]

When our planes peacefully bombed their cities in freedom

You mean when the Serbians and their thug leader were slaughtering Muslims, committing genocide, and violating many UN resolutions to stop?

 

[Mushroom]

This thread is a perfect example of what the op was complaining out from post 1.

What I find funniest in this entire thing is how so many purposefully twisted what I said, because they are the ones I was talking about and they are trying to make others think I treat all with contempt. Here are some specific quotes that they constantly ignore.

I largely have a pretty negative view of Civilians who treat the military with contempt, and I largely deal with them with contempt.

And how I closed it.

To wrap this rambling post up, my basic attitude is **** Left Wing. **** Right Wing. **** all of your mindless political nonsense. If you want to talk military, I can talk military. If you want to talk about why Missile A is better then Missile B, or why Aircraft C can be taken down by Missile C, I can do that all day long.

If you want to interject why "Mister XXXXXX YYYYYY said that blah blah blah blah", I really could not give a flying ****. Talk to me about Socialism or Fascism or Communism, or talk about the US President (ANY US President) in a less then respectful manner, and I will see you as nothing but a ****ing political hack and ignore 90% of what you say. Be it President Reagan, President Clinton, President Bush, or President Barack Obama. I may, or may not like any, none, or all of the Presidents I just listed. But they are all (or were) my Commander in Chief, and I give them all the proper respect their office demands.

*****

Most of the attacks I have seen are rather comical, especially as they are trying to put into my mouth things I never said. And it is obvious they are largely butthurt because I will not side with them, therefore am seen as "the enemy". Most have no real grip on reality, and drag their political nonsense into everything. And to give an idea, I write that 2 Presidents ago. And still feel the same way today. I reject all the TDS juts as much as I reject all the BDS (and the ODS, BDS, and CDS before that). Yet to many, unless you join them in their brain dead chanting, you are obviously a supporter and therefore the enemy.

 

[Mushroom]

Because the real man was on Howard Stern and he said his dad never amounted to anything and was a drunk who only held odd jobs usually construction/labor type work.

Are you really trying to justify your nonsense with a fictional character? And a made-up back story about a fictional character that was never stated in any form of canon source?

Is this really your justification? You did not just jump the shark with that, you jumped the entire ocean.

 

[Mushroom]

Too many homeless vets to say I’m wrong.

Most "Homeless vets" are not real vets. And the majority of real "homeless vets" have serious drug and alcohol issues. Just as most of the homeless do.

Trust me, been there - done that. And for decades now I have tried to help those I met. And to be honest, 80% of them were frauds. Go ahead and go to youtube and look up "Stolen Valor Homeless". All real vets know of this, we see it all the damned time. And the thing is, most of them are comically bad at it, but stupid civilians buy into it all the time and it only adds to that mistaken belief.

And yes, most of them are comically bad, and we real vets spot them within a minute each time. Ask them their unit, their MOS, and some basic questions and they fail almost every time. I have had some claiming to be in the "1st Infantry Division" not know what an 11B is. Somebody with a sign saying they were an "Ex-Marine Logistics Corporal" who knew nothing of the 0400 field. In El Paso there is one that was well known, he would panhandle saying he was a Vietnam Vet, yet was younger than I am. Even guys saying they had finished their time, were simply shown the gate and not given enough money to get home after they were discharged.

I also had one try to say he had served just a few years previously in a unit that had not existed for decades. He apparently did not even know that the MASH units were converted to CSH units ("CASH") starting in the 1970's. If you think I am kidding, find a real vet and go out and try to help some, it might open your eyes. We know what questions to ask, and how they should answer.

I have also participated in a great many "Veteran Stand-downs" over the last 20 years. And until recently with the advent of VA fast checks, they were mostly filled with such fakes. We might see 200 on the first day, but by the forth day maybe 20 are left. The rest kicked out as the VA got back to us and verified that they in fact had never served. And of the 20, most have serious dependency problems which is why they are homeless.

Heck, two years ago for Thanksgiving my son invited a "Homeless Vet" he knew from work to dinner. And he barely opened his mouth and I knew he was full of crap. Claimed he was "Marine" and "Army", and he could keep neither of them straight, and blew almost everything. Funniest thing is that he was about the age of my son (early 30's), and insisted he was a "Specialist 6" in the Army.

Right. Too bad for him, that was a rank that was removed before he was even born. Oh, and he trained as a tank crewman at Fort Ord after 9-11. Well, Fort Ord was indeed a basic training center. Until 1975, for Infantry. And the base was closed in 1994.

 

[Mushroom]

Most homeless people didn’t graduate high school and certainly didn’t get the benefit of serving for 4 years.

Most homeless have serious mental health issues, and have drug and/or alcohol dependency issues.

 

[Mushroom]

so you con vets stop hating civilians specifically us liberals

Here is the funny thing, I am neither. I am firmly in the middle politically.

And I also laugh at both sides, as the Far Right often calls me a "Socialist", and the Far Left normally considers me some kind of modern incarnation of Hitler. And if you think I am a "con republican", that is exactly your problem from the start. You are so freaking far over to the Left, that you have no comprehension of anybody that does not believe exactly as you do.

 

[Mushroom]

Here’s why people hold the military in contempt. not the soldiers, the military industrial complex.

Ahhh, so that explains the verbal and sometimes physical abuse I got in places like LA and Baghdad by the Bay. Somehow, they confused me with the MIC.

 

[Otis Mayfield]

The American military is treated better than any Western military.

Have you seen all the free stuff you can get on Veteran's Day?

Sure, there are detractors, but the Frist Amendment protects them. And there's not a lot of detractors.

Stop whining.