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Changing Attitudes On Veterans Day

Why do you think military men and women are returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with PTSD? It's because our men and women have been given the job of defending something or other and possibly giving up their lives or at best coming home missing an arm or a leg, for a fake war? Our last real war was WW2, more than 75 years ago. I lost a lot of friends from high school, they were drafted to serve in Vietnam and never came back. They didn't want to go fight a war in a weird place nobody could even find on a map. Vietnam was a horrible 'non-war' that should have never happened. And yes, those that came back home weren't welcomed as heroes.

Soldiers need a reason to fight wars. Patriotism, preservation of democracy, defeating dictators, stopping humanitarian abuse, preventing genocide. Those are reasons to fight and die for. Oil isn't a reason to die for. Protecting heroin poppy fields isn't a reason to die for. Overthrowing a political adversary to install a puppet US government isn't a reason to die for.

I heard a statistic today that was somewhat sobering. Arlington National Cemetery is running out of room to put the graves of military that died in battle. There's enough space for 95,000 more dead to be buried at Arlington, but there's 2 million active military right now. I suppose the U.S. government can always build mausoleums and inter dead soldiers there. But how many more will be interred in Arlington that should be home enjoying life and not fighting unfounded battles for some foreign country in the Middle East or Central America?

What a hypocrite. You were real quick to criticize Trump for moving soldiers out of harms way in Syria.
 
The Swiftboat veterans cast the first stone. I assume that's where Trump got the gall to belittle a Goldstar family and ridicule McCain for having been a POW. Conservatives must like ridiculing vets because they keep voting for people that do it.

Trump had the gall to belittle a Goldstar family, that's a good one! I guess you're referring to Kzir Kahn.

Captain Khan was a Patriot who served America. His service was a gift; his death was a tragedy.
Meanwhile, down here, Poppa Khan, who came to our nation to get his, appears to be cashing in
on his dead son's duty-body-country and buying a ticket to ride on the talk-show circuit.
Did he ever get that book deal he was hoping for?

I don't appreciate opportunists who exploit Soldiers.

Their son died while dad was running a scam immigration visa mill selling US visas to sleazy Pakistani millionaires
and going on Pakistani interviews about bringing sharia to the USA.

Khizr Khan, the new Cindy Sheehan being used as a puppet by the left.

Before the website of his legal practice was taken down—reportedly his own doing—Khan was apparently advertising
his services as a promoter of so-called EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.

thehill.com/blogs/.../290985-why-khizr-khan-needs-a-democrat-in-the-white-house

And please don't get me started on McCain
 
~~~~~~
Funny the term was coined nearly one hundred years ago. It has been used since then to describe deep seated government that is not elected but dominates elected government. LBJ used the "D.S." to create and make war on Vietnam, while other presidents used the D.S. to overthrow regimes in Central and South America, Iraq, Iran and the latest was Libya. That's the same "D.S." that got butt hurt when Trump was elected by the PEOPLE.

And tRUMP created his own DS when he tried to extort Ukraine.
 
The Swiftboat veterans cast the first stone. I assume that's where Trump got the gall to belittle a Goldstar family and ridicule McCain for having been a POW. Conservatives must like ridiculing vets because they keep voting for people that do it.

Off your meds again?
 
It was Kennedy that got us into the Vietnam War.
I remember how the liberals treated the returning soldiers of that war. How they treat people now is no different.

NO... Sorry to burst your bubble, but here's the real skinny...
The Indo-Chinese war began in 1946, Truman created and sent the first Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG).
Dien Bien Phu fell to the Viet Minh in 1954 with the French were required to leave under a partitioning of the country at the 17th parallel . The U.S. directed by Dwight D. Eisenhower assisted South Vietnam with arms and small cadres MAAG to train the new S.V. Army. During the years of 1955 to 1960 U.S. MAAG personnel were rotated out every 90 days to 180 days and they had to speak French fluently. Personnel were taken from all segments of the military. There were never more than 1,000 Americans in Laos or Nam at one time until the Kennedy Administration sent up to 11,000 until his assassination and then exploded under Lyndon B. Johnson.
Oh, there's no doubt that the CIA was heavily involved in Nam and their numbers in SE Asia were more than MAAG.
Yes, I singled out LBJ because he expanded the assistance to Nam from small cadres to 500,000 men.
 
Here is what it boils down to. Most Americans don't care that much prior to, during and after an undeclared war. That is just simple fact. Why is it so? Because they don't have skin in the game. Because their sacrifices, if any, are intangible. Because they, their kith and ken, their friends won't come home in parts or in a box. Bottom line is they won't sweat it.

IF every mother's son and daughter regardless of political connection, regardless of social class, regardless of skin color, regardless of economic status, had an equal chance of being deployed and had an equal chance of seeing the elephant there would be one hell of a lot of concern regarding American involvement in armed involvement.

If every American family had to face the same potential sacrifice we'd suddenly see armed involvement debated in Congress. Washington would have to face the nation. Washington would have to face sending their own to sacrifice and shed blood. Things would be MUCH different.

How many sons of Congressmen and Senators were KIA in Vietnam? How many were WIA? How many shipped over?

Some folks are born, made to wave the flag
Oh, they're red white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you

It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no senator's son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks are born, silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves
But when the tax man come to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rumage sale

It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no millionaire's son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Oh they'll send ya down to war
But when you ask 'em how much should we give
The only answer's, more, more, more

It ain't me, It ain't me
I ain't no military son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no

It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
~ Credence Clearwater Revival

I was already thinking about "Fortunate Son" before I reached your lyrics.
 
Here is what it boils down to. Most Americans don't care that much prior to, during and after an undeclared war. That is just simple fact. Why is it so? Because they don't have skin in the game. Because their sacrifices, if any, are intangible. Because they, their kith and ken, their friends won't come home in parts or in a box. Bottom line is they won't sweat it.

IF every mother's son and daughter regardless of political connection, regardless of social class, regardless of skin color, regardless of economic status, had an equal chance of being deployed and had an equal chance of seeing the elephant there would be one hell of a lot of concern regarding American involvement in armed involvement.

If every American family had to face the same potential sacrifice we'd suddenly see armed involvement debated in Congress. Washington would have to face the nation. Washington would have to face sending their own to sacrifice and shed blood. Things would be MUCH different.

How many sons of Congressmen and Senators were KIA in Vietnam? How many were WIA? How many shipped over?

Some folks are born, made to wave the flag
Oh, they're red white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you...~ Credence Clearwater Revival
I've witnessed the divide the draft caused in this country, so I don't believe for one minute that bringing it back would suddenly unite us all to a common cause...unless that cause was to abolish the draft...again. lol

And it's one, two, three, four...what the hell we fighting for...don't ask me I don't give a damn...next stop is Vietnam...



...whoopie, we're all gonna die.
 
It was Kennedy that got us into the Vietnam War.
I remember how the liberals treated the returning soldiers of that war. How they treat people now is no different.

It wasn't only liberals that treated returning soldiers with disrespect. But here's a fact that you might consider when remembering back to 'those days' as I have many times. During that war, what was to that point in time the longest military US engagement in history, there were many opposed to the war that had the ability to arouse the passions of people. Opposition grew with participation by the African-American civil rights, women's liberation, and Chicano movements, newspaper and magazine published and sectors of organized labor. Additional involvement came from many other groups, including educators, clergy, academics, journalists, lawyers, physicians (such as Benjamin Spock), and military veterans. Their actions consisted mainly of peaceful, nonviolent events; few events were deliberately provocative and violent. In some cases, police used violent tactics against peaceful demonstrators. (remember Kent State?) By 1967, according to Gallup Polls, an increasing majority of Americans considered U.S. military involvement in Vietnam to be a mistake. Public awareness of what was happening in Vietnam came via magazines and newspapers. 'Exposing' pieces in magazines revealed photos of soldiers holding a gun pointed to a group of orphaned children. The photos of the young naked girl crying as she walked away from the My Lai massacre where in March 1968 between 347 and 504 unarmed people were killed by U.S. Army soldiers from Company C.

Of course there was outrage from people in the US. When we saw those photos, and they were everywhere, it struck a nerve for millions of Americans who suddenly realized that our own soldiers could commit atrocities that could only be equaled in vileness to the mass exterminations in Nazi Germany. And for what? Nobody really understood why we were in Vietnam losing our friends, our sons, our husbands in a wet, hot jungle where, as we later found out, our soldiers were being used as guinea pigs for tear gas, barbiturates, tranquilizers, narcotics and hallucinogens like LSD. It was all totally wrong and people detested the very thought of Vietnam as the draft continued and more and more men left and we never saw them again.
 
I've witnessed the divide the draft caused in this country, so I don't believe for one minute that bringing it back would suddenly unite us all to a common cause...unless that cause was to abolish the draft...again. lol

And it's one, two, three, four...what the hell we fighting for...don't ask me I don't give a damn...next stop is Vietnam...



...whoopie, we're all gonna die.


I appreciate what you are saying but the Vietnam draft was anything but fair and equal. It was a draft designed to favor the fortunate and it did. That is not the kind of draft I'd advocate. When every legal aged, able, man and woman would face great sacrifice the nation would be much less willing to "send in troops." When grave danger would be in the cards for all the fortunate sons and daughters it would be a different game altogether. That didn't happen in Vietnam.
 
I've witnessed the divide the draft caused in this country, so I don't believe for one minute that bringing it back would suddenly unite us all to a common cause...unless that cause was to abolish the draft...again. lol

And it's one, two, three, four...what the hell we fighting for...don't ask me I don't give a damn...next stop is Vietnam...



...whoopie, we're all gonna die.



~~~~~~
Rep. Charles Rangel Again Calls for Military Draft, War Tax
Rep. Charles Rangel Again Calls for Military Draft, War Tax | Newsmax.com
Mar 20, 2015 · Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) once again wants to reinstate the military draft and impose a war tax so Americans will share the burdens of the nation's ongoing military fights against Islamic militants.
 
Changing Attitudes On Veterans Day​


Changing Attitudes On Veterans Day | Zero Hedge
11/11/2019 ~ By Kelli Ballard via LibertyNation.com,
.......................
But now, let’s flash forward to the Vietnam War and the veterans who suffered .........

.......................... However, when that day came, instead of open, welcoming arms, many veterans were met with anger, people spitting on them, calling them “baby killers.”
......................


That's been grossly exaggerated over the years. I served in Vietnam, spent a year in the hospital recovering from multiple shrapnel and gunshot wounds, then moved into an apartment in Boston and went back to college. I was never called a baby killer nor was I ever spit on.
 
I appreciate what you are saying but the Vietnam draft was anything but fair and equal. It was a draft designed to favor the fortunate and it did. That is not the kind of draft I'd advocate. When every legal aged, able, man and woman would face great sacrifice the nation would be much less willing to "send in troops." When grave danger would be in the cards for all the fortunate sons and daughters it would be a different game altogether. That didn't happen in Vietnam.

It never happened in WW2, WW1, the Civil War or the Revolution, either. There were always exemptions from the draft and the fortunate sons could always buy their way out of it one way or another. Re-enstating a new draft wouldn't be any different.

When at peace, we don't need a draft...but apparently, there is contingency plan in case we do. The Selective Service is a law that requires every male citizen at the age of 18 to register for the draft...just in case.

Selective Service System > Registration > Why Register

I don't really have a problem with that as long it's a war declared by congress before they start using the draft again.
 
.................. The photos of the young naked girl crying as she walked away from the My Lai massacre where in March 1968 between 347 and 504 unarmed people were killed by U.S. Army soldiers from Company C. ..................
.


The young naked girl wasn't walking away from My Lai, she was walking away from a napalm attack that occurred years later.
 
The young naked girl wasn't walking away from My Lai, she was walking away from a napalm attack that occurred years later.

still, Vietnam war memories
 
Trump had the gall to belittle a Goldstar family, that's a good one! I guess you're referring to Kzir Kahn.

Captain Khan was a Patriot who served America. His service was a gift; his death was a tragedy.
Meanwhile, down here, Poppa Khan, who came to our nation to get his, appears to be cashing in
on his dead son's duty-body-country and buying a ticket to ride on the talk-show circuit.
Did he ever get that book deal he was hoping for?

I don't appreciate opportunists who exploit Soldiers.

Their son died while dad was running a scam immigration visa mill selling US visas to sleazy Pakistani millionaires
and going on Pakistani interviews about bringing sharia to the USA.

Khizr Khan, the new Cindy Sheehan being used as a puppet by the left.

Before the website of his legal practice was taken down—reportedly his own doing—Khan was apparently advertising
his services as a promoter of so-called EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.

thehill.com/blogs/.../290985-why-khizr-khan-needs-a-democrat-in-the-white-house

And please don't get me started on McCain

Thanks for proving my point, slick. Now whenever someone asks me to prove the right ridicules and smears veterans and their families...I can simply point to you.
 
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Thanks for proving my point, slick. Now whenever someone asks me to prove the right ridicules and smears veterans and their families...I can simply point to you.

Only family members of soldiers, who deserve ridicule. The guy is a complete nut job!!

Khizr Khan ridiculed General John Kelly solely because of political differences one gold star father demeaning another.

Khizr Khan, The Gold Star father who spoke out against Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention is now bashing John Kelly for,
in his opinion is mopping up after the president. Khan bashing Kelly, one gold star father demeaning another. The 2 could not be more different.

Though It is awful that this family lost their son but much worse as it appears as if he was influenced by the
crooked Hillary campaign or the DNC to trash talk on prime time TV. Then it comes out that he helps immigrants buy citizenship.

Is he a terrorist importer on the Clinton Crime Family Foundation payroll?
Check out his client list, I'm quite positive there are some "interesting" names there.
 
Only family members of soldiers, who deserve ridicule. The guy is a complete nut job!!

Khizr Khan ridiculed General John Kelly solely because of political differences one gold star father demeaning another.

Khizr Khan, The Gold Star father who spoke out against Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention is now bashing John Kelly for,
in his opinion is mopping up after the president. Khan bashing Kelly, one gold star father demeaning another. The 2 could not be more different.

Though It is awful that this family lost their son but much worse as it appears as if he was influenced by the
crooked Hillary campaign or the DNC to trash talk on prime time TV. Then it comes out that he helps immigrants buy citizenship.

Is he a terrorist importer on the Clinton Crime Family Foundation payroll?
Check out his client list, I'm quite positive there are some "interesting" names there.

Still smearing vets and their families, I see. No bar is low enough for you to crawl under, is there?
 
Still smearing vets and their families, I see. No bar is low enough for you to crawl under, is there?

The way I see it is that it's Kzir Khan himself who rates as the card carrying smearer of gold star fathers. Berating an army general GOLD STAR
father for political reasons justifies the contempt reasonable people carry for this pawn even the democratic party has no more use for.
Thank goodness his 15 minutes of fame is over. I don't think he'll be invited back for an encore at the coming Democratic convention.
 
The way I see it is that it's Kzir Khan himself who rates as the card carrying smearer of gold star fathers. Berating an army general GOLD STAR
father for political reasons justifies the contempt reasonable people carry for this pawn even the democratic party has no more use for.
Thank goodness his 15 minutes of fame is over. I don't think he'll be invited back for an encore at the coming Democratic convention.

You disagree with insulting generals?
 
You disagree with insulting generals?

I disagree with GOLD STAR FATHER FOOD FIGHTS. Especially if they are initiated by someone who made a living
running a scam immigration visa mill selling US visas to sleazy Pakistani millionaires
and going on Pakistani interviews about bringing sharia to the USA.
 
I disagree with GOLD STAR FATHER FOOD FIGHTS. Especially if they are initiated by someone who made a living
running a scam immigration visa mill selling US visas to sleazy Pakistani millionaires
and going on Pakistani interviews about bringing sharia to the USA.

:lamo
 
Because if more parents had ‘skin in the game,’ there would be less of a disconnect concerning military affairs, imo.

The US has a warrior class......

Draft or no draft.

The certain privileged will evade military service anyways.

But, I do get your drift.
 
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