RE: http://www.military.com/opinio...15202,191299,00.html

Amen.

I agree with 99.9999%of this writers statement...my only problem is the very last word at the end of his article, it should not have been added to the sentence.

Semper Fi everyone, remember your friends and relatives that have served or are serving, and "it's never time to forget them"

quote:

But the average citizen stateside probably isn't thinking about the wars and the sacrifices behind them. To John Doe in Anytown, U.S.A. this is simply a long weekend, the unofficial commencement of summer. Pools will open. Kegs will flow. And goods will be purchased - at Memorial Day discount prices.

But let's not blame John for his impression. If he's guilty of anything it's watching too much TV and surfing too much Internet, and all he knows is what he's being told. The media has moved on to other stories - the economy and how far our cars are supposed to go on a gallon of gas in 2016. Plus he's just plain sick of the finger-pointing - you know, who knew what when and who lied to whom. And even retired high-ranking officers added to his numbness on the topic with their blogs and on-air expertise that suggested that the other guys were hazarding the nation and just plain un-American. John's innate desire to care (he even owns Saving Private Ryan on Blue-Ray) was long-since eclipsed by the noise of the arguments going on all around him.

And John supports the troops - after all, he has a faded yellow ribbon on the back of his 2004 Ford Expedition (that has lost all of its trade-in value) - but at the same time it hits him that the meaning of that statement has changed now. Then "support the troops" meant you were for the invasion of Iraq (and John was . . . at least until it got messy with those insurgents); now it means giving them just enough benefits to keep them from becoming domestic terrorists.

This guy has THE most negative take on Americans, (and yes, Veterans too) that I have yet read on this web site. A week ago there was a HUGE argument over an article that appeared here, in which it was reported that just maybe we Veterans needed to be "watched" or "studied" for signs that we might become domestic terrorists. Those on the right (epecially) became incensed that even the suggestion some Veterans might be susceptible to such a fate (due to their service), and now this guy flat out accuses us of as much, yet nobody is kicking his butt because after all, he isn't a Democrat serving in the Congress. But he just said the same things!

The actual meaning of Memorial Day is to give respect and memory to those who have served our nation in uniform - and given their very lives in the defense of our Liberty. It isn't about bumper stickers or sales at the local hardware store, and I have known that since these same sales were going on in the 1960's, and BEFORE.

I don't need to be *****ed-out by this guy, and since only Veterans or their families even read these articles(for the most part) I think he should calm down, get his downer opinions to the Times Op-Ed page instead of this one(since that is where mostly civilians go to get their news?)and ratchett the *****in back.

I take my mother to the National Cemetery every year and we plant flags on the graves of our relatives, those who have died in America's wars? The cemetery is always full of other Americans doing the exact same thing, same as every year. Then we come home and have a picnic or we gather at the local park and we enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice by gathering as a family to enjoy a beer and brats, laughter and games and perhaps we even sit in chairs that we bought on-sale at the local Home Depot... And it has been a family tradition in this same way, since I was a kid(I am now 55). The park is always full, every year. Are they all a bunch of Memorial Day "sales" freaks? Hardly.

What this guy needs is a dose of "Happy Pill" and a little more respect for ALL his fellow Americans, especially his fellow Veterans. This(Monday) is a day of reflection, for sure, but it is also a day for relaxation and "fun", (or the "Freedom" to do just that) which is what the Veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam and all America's Wars served for in the first place, isn't it?

Bill..

I think what the author was saying went right by you. I didn't see anywhere in this article that mirrored the Homeland Security "brief".

Yes he talked about bumper stickers and such,but you must not have caught the sarcasm. The author was relating that A LOT of people put the bumper sticker on and either through true belief or ignorance, they think that is what true support is and all they should ever do.

Admittedly I do have a low opinion of a MAJORITY of Americans when it comes to support of the military. The only reason why the war was so unpopular was because it wasn't entertaining enough for most Americans like the 1st Gulf War. We got ALL sorts of cool pictures and video out of it.

When we went into Iraq there was around 85% support for going in DESPITE criticism of a weak WMD argument. The people wanted to lash out after 9/11 and A'stan wasn't providing the cool footage we thought it would.

During the war the "reporting" was ridiculously one sided. If it was negative, it got press. At one point early in the war there were just over 1,000 stories about Iraq... only 8 were positive in nature. Look at the amount of coverage the few Medal of Honor recipients there have been so far... only the EVIL FoxNews, the ONLY biased news network had any actual coverage. The other networks had less than a 15 second bite, if they even mentioned it at all.

ANd yes people will lash out at the Dems for being anti-military because that is where all if not most of the anti-military sentiment is expressed in our gov't. Name a Republican who called the Haditha Marines murderers BEFORE they had the trials that found them innocent... name the Rep who called Gen. Petraeus a liar and challenged his integrity months before he was to present his first assessment... name a Rep who supported Pres Obama's short lived proposal to cut the benefits for the seriously wounded vets? I can see an across the board reduction in benefits as sometimes happens in "normal" plans, but NOT for the guys who are having prosthetics fitted and in need of that rehab.

So yes, I think the American public at large DOES deserve a degree of criticism. What could they have done? How about demanding more unbiased coverage from the press? How about demanding more from their own representatives when they made inflammatory, unfounded charges against our military?

The most heartfelt "Thank you for your service" I have received (outside the USO folks, who are TREMENDOUS) was from a woman I ran into at the library shortly after boot camp. She said she wanted me to know that she was a Dem and that "not all of them are like the one's you see on TV". There was actually a genuine look of sadness and maybe a little shame from how the people that represented her were acting.

This isn't like WW2 where as a nation we had to sacrafice, whether by picking up a gun or rationing on the home front. Very few people have a part in all this, yet some behave as if they are making some huge sacrafice, though they don;t have a "loved" one in the service or they are uneducated enough to call it "Bush's War"


Have a good time on Monday!

quote:

So yes, I think the American public at large DOES deserve a degree of criticism. What could they have done? How about demanding more unbiased coverage from the press? How about demanding more from their own representatives when they made inflammatory, unfounded charges against our military?

Look, I don't disagree with many of the things you believe, and I was not trying to absolve any politicians. I already have 2 strikes I lay at the feet of this President, and the Veterans issue was the 1st. The second was his refusal to proceed with at least Support for investigations of DICK and all those who surrounded him in relation to Torture.

But I am no fool either. This President and this Congress have tried hard to come up with alternatives to the previous 8 years of economic-myopia and outright deceptions/lies/untruths/probably's[/] about the War(s).

But while I see the sarcasm this writer was trying to imply, there was also this: '[i]But the average citizen stateside probably isn't thinking about the wars and the sacrifices behind them. To John Doe in Anytown, U.S.A. this is simply a long weekend, the unofficial commencement of summer. Pools will open. Kegs will flow. And goods will be purchased - at Memorial Day discount prices.

I don't know about you, but these were the exact same "distractions" that we all saw and then participated in ourselves when we were kids, and then teenagers, and then parents...? Some of these things define Americans and our holiday 'customs', especially on Memorial Day and Labor Day.

But I am also attending a Flag Retirement ceremony next month as I have done for about 10 years now, and there are always a couple thousand people who attend ours, and there are several around St. Paul. That's the same as it was back in the 50's. I just don't see where things have changed that much, EXCEPT for young children who now LIVE on the internet and will never know our stories, nor likely care... until they too find themselves in the situation we are now in as a nation, and that too is just like it always has been. (And then we go shopping some more.)

I mean... seriously. Don't you think so too, really?

This writer is always this negative... about just this sort of thing. He lectures all "the people", including we Veterans, just a little too harshly... In MY humble opinion.

That's where I am coming from - on this guy.

And, sorry.... I hope you have a really good Memorial Day as well.

Serious.

;o}