Kippling is out of style, but if you think any of this is new you should go back and read some of his poetry, start with Tommy.
John Sessoms wrote: >> From:,"P. J. Alling" >> >> Robb, that's damn near the stupidest thing you have ever said. >> >> William Robb wrote: >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Sorenson" >> Subject: Re: Bouncer >> >>> I wish more Americans felt this way instead of acting like sheep every >>> time someone takes a crack at eroding more of our civil liberties. >>> >> The first step is to stop revering your war veterans as if they are >> some sort of heros. >> They aren't heros. >> What this reverence does is give you a national tendency to do what >> the military (by extension what you call the "commander in chief", I >> believe) tells you to do without question, and to follow the >> directives of anyone who puts on a uniform. >> >> William Robb >> > > I don't know that I'd consider veterans heroes just for being veterans. > > I'm a veteran, and certainly don't consider myself a hero just because > of it. Veterans deserve a certain amount of respect for having served, > especially since we've gone over to the all volunteer military. It don't > make 'em heroes, and it don't make 'em perfect. Some unquestionably are > heroes and should be honored for their heroism, but I had 31 years of > quiet, boring service, and one year of somewhat aggravating hardship. It > was hard work, and it changed my life, but it was nowhere near heroic. > > In all honesty though, most American's commitment to *support our > troops* is all of 6 inches high, 3 inches wide and maybe a half > millimeter thick ... and won't scratch the paint on the trunk (boot) of > their gas-guzzlin' SUV. > > And William's right about our current "commander in chief"; and by > extension, those high ranking officers who have put their own careers > ahead of their duty to the nation and to their soldiers. We swore our > oaths to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and we promised to > protect that Constitution from ALL enemies, DOMESTIC and foreign. > > In the US, it's a tradition that General Officers stay out of politics > while they're in uniform. But a whole lot more of them should have > resigned and spoken out against the follies of the current "war" on > terror. The worst of them are the "commanders" who had doubts then, who > knew Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, who knew there were no reasons to > invade Iraq, who knew the "plans" were not just inadequate, but > negligently incompetent ... who went along anyway, and *NOW* have > retired and write their tell-all auto-biographies shifting the blame to > anybody and everybody but themselves, when they were the ones who could > have stood up, acted on principal and made a difference. > > But the biggest problem is the politicians who've wrapped themselves in > the mantle of honor due to the soldier for his service, and conflated > support for those who serve with unquestioning loyalty and obedience to > "The Leader". > > Try translating that one into German! > > > -- All dogs have four legs; my cat has four legs. Therefore, my cat is a dog. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
