one last case of critcal thinking and plain speaking.....

[adamt]

Originally Posted by Boomer

Adam,

thank you for your kinda words and yes, I have spent the majority of the last 3 years in combat zones or preparing to go into combat zones.

Just like any institution the military has it's share of less than reputable individuals. However, I have seen the military change the local town druggy into a great soldier, or give someone who maybe didn’t have the chance to mature socially in the environment they were brought up in the life skills they needed to become an adult. When you join, now adays, you also almost have an assurance you will spend time in a combat zone. I am pretty much 100% relational on how a handle life. Money really does mean nothing to me and if I do something it has to have merit in some sort of relational aspect. Even though these deployments ware me down and age me more than I care to think ... the people over here are some of the finest folks in America. They may have not come in that way ... but they sure as hell come out that way. “Hero” in my terms is a strong word for any one person ... but the sentiment of seeing a soldier and buying them a beer is an act of gratefulness that people do volunteer to keep America safe. The solider or Marine at that moment is more or less an icon of something bigger grateful people choose to acknowledge.

Straight from the horses mouth

sounds good to me....

Let me just say that I support our soldiers and thank God for what they do.
Now, I just have a hard time calling everyone in uniform a hero, we have guys over there running and trying to get thrown out. I dont think they are heros.

[Neezar]

Every military person (whether support personnel or front line) will be a hero and warrant being called a hero by me until and unless they prove otherwise. I shall always give them the benefit of the doubt.

Originally Posted by Neezar

Every military person (whether support personnel or front line) will be a hero and warrant being called a hero by me until and unless they prove otherwise. I shall always give them the benefit of the doubt.

that sounds like a good plan, but give me a reason and theyll get tossed in the same boat as my step brothers

[Neezar]

Originally Posted by jason2130

that sounds like a good plan, but give me a reason and theyll get tossed in the same boat as my step brothers

Thank goodness! If I let the dead beats outshine the good then I am just as guilty as they are for bringing them down.

[Tyburn]

I think that Bootcamp can change people quite a bit. I think a lot of the fools that go in for a supposedly easy ride, might not be so foolish when they come out the otherside.

I truely believe that the armed forces is a calling or vocation, and that it is the highest outside of the church due to the fact that its a prime location for self sarcifice whilst saving others, heralded as the greatest love a mortal can show.

I dont use the term "hero" for anyone really. Whether they were idiots or not, if they got killed by a IED then they still died for their country didnt they? They might be druggies, but they still died for your freedoms didnt they? The thought of anyone dying for me is absolutely horrific for me to comprehend to be blunt.

I choose as a civilian to give all who end up in the military, who pass the selection process, who survive bootcamp, and who come back from active deployment dead or alive, or simply live out their careers in bases back home or on foreign soil as being worthy of the upmost respect. I choose to give them the benefit of the doubt....and I worry for them settling back into the civilian population after they have been discharged in some way (its not til then that the evils of some of the methods of bootcamp are revealed)

I make a few exceptions. Those Soldiers who are involved with the poor treatment of prisoners, outside of interrogation (something I am not against although a large proportion of the population is) and those who are involved in the killings of other soldiers either during bootcamp (happened several times last summer in England) or those who are responsible for the seeming "suicides" on home soil (which are nothing but murder by other soldiers set up to look like suicides (again a spate in the English forces last summer)

I also extend these warm regards and exceptions to any country who is allied to my own.

I have issues with those in hig seniority in the Ministry of Defence though...but they I wouldnt class as really being Military...they are more like a political spin campaign

[Tyburn]

Greater Love Hath No Man....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WZM2OU1aSo

Originally Posted by Boomer

Adam,

thank you for your kinda words and yes, I have spent the majority of the last 3 years in combat zones or preparing to go into combat zones.

Just like any institution the military has it's share of less than reputable individuals. However, I have seen the military change the local town druggy into a great soldier, or give someone who maybe didn’t have the chance to mature socially in the environment they were brought up in the life skills they needed to become an adult. When you join, now adays, you also almost have an assurance you will spend time in a combat zone. I am pretty much 100% relational on how a handle life. Money really does mean nothing to me and if I do something it has to have merit in some sort of relational aspect. Even though these deployments ware me down and age me more than I care to think ... the people over here are some of the finest folks in America. They may have not come in that way ... but they sure as hell come out that way. “Hero” in my terms is a strong word for any one person ... but the sentiment of seeing a soldier and buying them a beer is an act of gratefulness that people do volunteer to keep America safe. The solider or Marine at that moment is more or less an icon of something bigger grateful people choose to acknowledge.

Thanks for saying this. I served briefly "back in the day" when there was a war going on in southeast asia. I eventually was medically discharged; not so distinguished but at least I served. I kept my service secret for a long time. The hostility towards those who served was incredible. If you ever go to see the "Wall" in DC you may see some old guys like myself crying. As to why, well many had no choice about serving and paid the ultimate price.
Those who made it will be troubled by survivors guilt, PTS and whatever else you can think of till the end of their days.

Sure, a few who serve are not heroes. But because of the memories of an earlier era I will take the risk and honor them all anyway.