What did I not understand? Did you not write this?
> Some part of me questions why someone would become a military leader in a
time of peace,
> as opposed to choosing some other career. Obviously there are people who
do
> this for good reasons, like to provide protection for the people they care
> about, for all of us. But those people are given a bad rap by people with
> an overactive Us. vs. Them mentality or an enjoyment of military action
> that I simply can't understand.
and this..
> My ideologies (among other things) keep me from being in a military
> leadership position and that makes me believe that people in such a
> position must have significantly different ideologies than I do. Which
> means that I'm basically going to disagree with them a lot.
Let's not kid each other here. You don't like people who serve in the
military. You can't understand it. Sure, you threw in the caveat about how
some people join to serve their country. That's noble and you can accept
those people. But what about the rest? Oh, those are the warmongering gun
lovers that want to go and kill people right? After all maybe we should
draft all war-gamers into military leadership positions. However
tongue-in-cheek your comment was intended, it is an insight into how you
view military leaders/personnel. Those are the people you don't like. I
believe that you categorized them as those that enjoy military action. What
do you mean by that? I engaged in a lot of military action but never once
fired a round at a human being and I enjoyed it tremendously and I hoped
that I would never have to go to war. I was fortunate because I didn't have
to. How do I give the 'noble' people a bad name because I enjoyed it?
Lets see, you're extremely pacifist and it is those ideologies (among other
things) that prevent you from being in a military leadership position.
Those that accept those positions must have different ideologies, therefore
you will basically disagree with them a lot. Why? You're making
assumptions about a group of people that you don't know anything about.
That bothers me and I hope it is contrary to your feelings on the practice
of doing that. It further reinforces my belief that you don't understand
people that join the military. Do 'those' people hold the value of peace
any less than you do? I'll answer that for you...No! They just realize
that in order to ensure the peace of this nation and those around the world,
you have to defend it against those that will do anything to end it. Flowers
and songs wont stop tanks, bullets, or bombs.
I did understand your post and it was condescending for the reasons I stated
above. You came across very pretentious and elitist and I found it not only
insulting to me, but to those that wear the uniform. My point, which you
didn't get, was to point out to you the sacrifices that people make to serve
this country and to be labeled so incorrectly and unjustly is wrong. It was
my point to defend them. It's not all guts and glory like you think. It's
hard. Very hard. And it effects those not just in the uniform but those
associated with it. Parents, spouses, children, relatives, and friends (my
mom cried when I enlisted). They all share in the sacrifice. I'm glad that
you feel that the military leadership makes you feel good about your
differences, but your opening comments were rude and insulting. If you
can't see that or acknowledge it, then we'll just have to disagree.
Respectfully,
Michael Corrigan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Community" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 11:34 AM
Subject: Re: Military Leaders (was RE: George W. Bush)
> Wow. Did you read my post and understand it? How about this. How about you
> chill out and reread my post later when you're feeling rational about it,
> ok? You'll see that many of your objections have already been covered in
my
> post in ways that agree with you.
>
> > > I'm extremely pacifist. I think that military action has a price way
> >beyond
> > > the casualties to our own people. We aren't used to paying that price
but
> > > people who do are still people and I really feel for them. Some part
of me
> > > questions why someone would become a military leader in a time of
peace,
> >as
> > > opposed to choosing some other career. Obviously there are people who
do
> > > this for good reasons, like to provide protection for the people they
care
> > > about, for all of us. But those people are given a bad rap by people
with
> > > an overactive Us. vs. Them mentality or an enjoyment of military
action
> > > that I simply can't understand.
> > >
> > > My ideologies (among other things) keep me from being in a military
> > > leadership position and that makes me believe that people in such a
> > > position must have significantly different ideologies than I do. Which
> > > means that I'm basically going to disagree with them a lot. There has
been
> > > a change in our military leadership recently in that we at least try
to
> > > avoid killing civilians and I like that. I like that a lot. I wish
that
> > > when military action were necessary, we could send everyone into a
virtual
> > > reality game and decide the winner there with no losses.
> > >
> > > I think that Colin Powell is an excellent example in this case, as a
> > > military leader and as a person. He makes me feel like even though my
> > > priorities are different, they aren't being ignored as they would have
> >been
> > > ignored by previous military leaders. That's probably not even the
case.
> > > I'm sure that he realizes that striking prematurely or unnecessarily
will
> > > create more problems for us down the road and to me that shows wisdom
and
> >a
> > > genuine understanding of the situation. It makes me realize that our
> > > military leaders aren't Them and that to our military leaders, I'm not
> > > Them. We can all be different and still respect each other and still
admit
> > > that we agree on things.
> > >
> > > Maybe we should draft all war-gamers into military leadership
positions.
> >;)
> > >
> > > At 03:55 PM 9/17/2001 -0500, you wrote:
> > > >Just curious, on what principal do you stand that causes you to want
to
> > > >dislike military leaders?
> > > >
> > > >Chris Montgomery
> > > >Former military leader (no, I wasn't a general or admiral, just a
> >mid-grade
> > > >naval officer)
> > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: Jennifer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > > > > Sent: Monday, September 17, 2001 3:00 PM
> > > >
> > > ><snip>
> > > > > As much as I want to dislike military leaders on principal
> > > ></snip>
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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