From: "P. J. Alling"
John Sessoms wrote:
>> In a message dated 12/6/2008 10:42:16 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>> Incidentally, they also died so that you and I could live to a ripe
>> old age and die a relatively meaningless death in bed. For this they
>> deserve our deepest gratitude. These memorials simply annoy the
>> Iraq war veterans that I know, and I do know a few.
>
> BEING an Iraq War Veteran, it doesn't annoy me at all.
>
> Nor does it annoy any of the veterans I know, even the ones who do
> still believe we are accomplishing something in Iraq.
>
> War is bad, but unfortunately sometimes necessary.
>
> But it does not honor the soldier to send him or her to war on false
> pretense.
>
> Particularly a war for PROFIT espoused by those who never have, nor
> ever will, sacrifice anything themselves in pursuit of that war.
Well, I'm glad you're not annoyed, and I guess you know different
veterans than I do.
I'm also sorry you think you were sent under false pretenses, I can't
change that. In every war there are those who profit and those who
think they will, who are perfectly willing to let others take the
burden. No human endeavor ever completely free of that.
At least you had the choice to volunteer or not. I'm old enough that I
wouldn't have had that choice, and that would have been to fight in a
war that the political powers decided we shouldn't win, pretty much from
it's inception.
Oh, I'm old enough. Still got my draft card. It's a little frayed after
40 years, but I still carry it.
And even in 1968 the military was a mostly volunteer force. A minority
didn't get a choice, but everyone else did ... and most chose not to
serve. They had "other priorities".
The Army in Vietnam was about 25% draftees ... the other 75% were
volunteers. The USMC was 6.5% draftees; 19,500 draftees out of 300,000
total authorized strength - 85,000 of whom served in Vietnam. If you
were a Marine Corps draftee, you had a higher percentage chance of
serving in Vietnam, because they only drafted riflemen.
Approximately 1.6% of the U.S. population served in Vietnam in all
branches of service; 3.5% of adult males - women didn't get drafted, but
don't let anyone tell you women didn't serve in combat in Vietnam. They
didn't get to carry guns, but they were there.
Now, under the current "All Volunteer" force, approximately 0.1% of the
U.S. population serves in the military. Of that, less than 1/3 will
actually serve in Iraq or Afghanistan.
But that 0.033% of the population will be asked to return there again
and again and again.
And I don't THINK I was sent there under false pretenses; I know I was,
because I was there and saw it all.
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