Are Veterans Better Than The Rest Of Us?

[Valjean]

Difference is I recognize BS.

Fact-check it.

 

[BSM1]

Power and greed to not always win. It was a propaganda war and America was the enemy. Today, Vietnam is a rapidly growing trading partner.

In subsequent actions most of the trouble was caused by the West. America made Saddam powerful. Most of our involvement in Middle Eastern wars was self serving. There was no reason to go to Afghanistan after Russia left. We went to Iraq because we created the problem. The only WMDs that Saddam had were Mustard Gas shells that we gave him. He used them against Iran.

America is the villain in central America.

Not that I necessarily agree with all your points here, I do understand where you're coming from.

 

[shmogie]

Interesting (but false) interpretation - that Christ somehow encouraged or supported violence.

 

[Ellen Brown]

I started the original OP

LOL! -- you remind me of the priests who refused to look through Galileo's telescope because they didn't want to see anything that would contradict the church's Copernicanism.

Copernicus formulated the theory that the Sun, not the Earth was the center of the solar system.

 

[Twilight Hue]

A common thread runs thru society regarding military types, both active & former....
- Special privileges, eg, discounts, free stuff, priority boarding planes.
- Being called "hero".
- Honorary license plates.
- Commercials advertising enlistment, glorifying combat & elite status.
- A thread here proposing that only veterans can vote.
- Denigration of "draft dodgers".

I picked <same status>.

I wouldn't say they're better. Just that Society expects them to sacrifice more than the average person which deserves a special recognition for that kind of commitment.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Sample commercial...

I never knew War could be so much fun!

 

[Revoltingest]

I never knew War could be so much fun!

I wonder if in real wars, the other side shoots back?

 

[Valjean]

I started the original OP


Copernicus formulated the theory that the Sun, not the Earth was the center of the solar system.

D'oh!
You're right. I confused Copernicus with Ptolemy.
Thanks for the correction.

 

[dianaiad]

Ugh! Me, get more educated on the Civil War?! I get kicked out of talking to people in Civil War Forums, for not fitting in on Civil War knowledge. The "Duel" like practice in early America is barely cast off. A man insulted in manly character Should, severa times in his life, face a man persecuting his honor, and exchange fire of some sort. The majority problem with recruits was shooting High of course, long range and too high. is taken to an extreme when the 90% of casualty and conflict you will see was moved over to the 100 miles between Washington D.C. and Richmond as pretender Capitols to the United States. It is an Extremely high kill-count war when the only Objective really was two armies killing each other. That realy limits what happens and the objectives, which wasn't about gaining or strangleholds on sections of land.

They were too weak to defend they said, that's why they needed to not get pinned and surprise their enemy, which is the famous campaign north, past Washington DC, into Maryland, which gets turned around at Gettysburgh in northern advance.

Responding to your post the best greeting is "God Bless your starving confederate soul" when they have to pass your town.

You can really experience that last bit in AGEOD's US Civil War for PC. I mean if you're standing still and the enemy is double-size, that's begging the final confrontation, correct?

Mike. You said that nobody was killed in the civil war. over six hundred thousand people were killed in the Civil War. That you don't approve of the WAY they were killed does not mean that they didn't die.

I can certainly understand why people in Civil War forums had problems with your position, if your position is that nobody died because those who WERE killed weren't killed in the proper way.

They still died.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Hopefully, we all contribute in our own way to our nations' successes (and setbacks).

I do think, though, that those who actually and literally put their lives on the line to a greater extent than most, in their services to the rest of us, at least deserve some merit of respect for having done so (so long as they don't disgrace themselves). That would include military service, police services, fire and other emergency services, and so forth.

I also think it only right that those who've suffered grievous injury in such service (physical and mental) have access to the help they need to cope with those injuries.

 

[Milton Platt]

A common thread runs thru society regarding military types, both active & former....
- Special privileges, eg, discounts, free stuff, priority boarding planes.
- Being called "hero".
- Honorary license plates.
- Commercials advertising enlistment, glorifying combat & elite status.
- A thread here proposing that only veterans can vote.
- Denigration of "draft dodgers".

I picked <same status>.

I don't see them as better. but I do see them as volunteering for a very hazardous job for next to no pay and crappy living conditions. I see the perks as an attempt to balance the scales a bit. But what should the recompense be for risking one's life, anyway?

 

[Stevicus]

Opinion | The Myth of the Spitting Antiwar Protester

I wasn't there at the time, so I was just taking someone's word for it.

I think it's a bit over the top to call it a myth, since public opinion against the war was very strong. There were quite a number of people taking an activist stance against it. Even if they can't find much documentary evidence about "spitting" specifically, it still doesn't negate the fact that there was a very widespread and prominent anti-war and anti-military attitude dominating the era.

 

[Enoch07]

- Special privileges, eg, discounts, free stuff, priority boarding planes

Trump Orders Student Loan Forgiveness for Disabled Veterans

 

[Revoltingest]

I don't see them as better. but I do see them as volunteering for a very hazardous job for next to no pay and crappy living conditions. I see the perks as an attempt to balance the scales a bit. But what should the recompense be for risking one's life, anyway?

But it isn't as hazardous as many other jobs, eg, lumberjack.

 

[Milton Platt]

But it isn't as hazardous as many other jobs, eg, lumberjack.

Hmm...would be interesting to see a list of hazardous jobs and how they rank. But I'll bet you already have one.

Edit: Just looked at three different sites.
One said logging
One said truck drivers
One said fishing boats

None of them included the military

 

[Revoltingest]

Hmm...would be interesting to see a list of hazardous jobs and how they rank. But I'll bet you already have one.

I just posted one somewhere.
Here you go....
The Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America
Most Dangerous Jobs in 2016
Rank Occupation Fatal injuries per 100,000 workers Total deaths
1 Logging workers 135.9 91
2 Fishers and related fishing workers 86 24
3 Aircraft pilots and flight engineers 55.5 75
4 Roofers 48.6 101
5 Trash and recycling collectors 34.1 31
6 Iron and steel wokers 25.1 16
7 Truck and sales drivers 24.7 918
8 Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers 23.1 260
9 First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers 18 134
10 Grounds maintenance workers 17.4 217
Source: Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2016

Here's a newer one....
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-ga.../25-most-dangerous-jobs-in-america/109193204/
Cops are #14.
Soldiers didn't even make the list.
But they appear to have it better than cops....
https://www.quora.com/Is-it-more-dangerous-to-be-a-cop-or-a-soldier-in-the-USA

Clearly, military personnel have much better PR agents
than lumberjacks, fishermen, groundskeepers, etc.
Perhaps their image is based upon the greater danger
of earlier wars.

 

[Ellen Brown]

I wasn't there at the time, so I was just taking someone's word for it.

I think it's a bit over the top to call it a myth, since public opinion against the war was very strong. There were quite a number of people taking an activist stance against it. Even if they can't find much documentary evidence about "spitting" specifically, it still doesn't negate the fact that there was a very widespread and prominent anti-war and anti-military attitude dominating the era.

You have my word that I was spat on and called a baby killer in August of 1967, in the Portland, Airport, PDX as I got off a plane ( Boeing 707) from Atlanta there. I would be home for 30 days and fly on to Anchorage, Alaska, thence to Fairbanks, Alaska. If someone is down to calling me a liar, that is really ghetto.

 

[Audie]

D'oh!
You're right. I confused Copernicus with Ptolemy.
Thanks for the correction.

It were galileo

 

[Revoltingest]

For those who think vets are better.....
Is it all vets, just combat vets (no REMFs)?

 

[Truly Enlightened]

They are the same as everyone else.

Whilst they go to war to protect us, our freedoms, and our way of life. We stay here and maintain the infrastructure, commerce, etc that keep the gears of civilized society turning. It's a team effort, everyone has different roles to play, but all equally important. The burger flipper, trash man, fireman, auto mechanic, city engineer, soldier, entrepreneur, and politician. We all depend on each other in different ways to make this world work.

But we should take better care of during and after they have served, especially the ones who have physical/mental trauma. We need better programs to help vets reintegrate into civilian life, help them find gainful employment etc.

I don't think you have to worry about snipers, land mines, or missile attacks, while you are safe at home maintaining the infrastructure, and keeping corporate America happy. I don't think that the wives/husbands and the families of these soldiers would agree with your "team effort" characterization. Especially, the families of those that have come home in body bags, or with terrible mental and physical injuries.

Anyone who is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect your infrastructure and commerce, is the real patriot. And, deserves all the respect and benefits we can give them. This is certainly not about who is better than the other. That's silly. It is about the few who are willing to die to protect the many who are not. So, civilians are not the same as military personnel, in the specific sense. Are they physically the same as any other humans? Yes. Maybe even better.