Why shouldn't the entire military just go AWOL like George Bush did?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

If I were in the military I would be tempted to just go AWOL and say "Why should I have to stay in the military if the Commander-in-Chief (Bush) went AWOL and then is rewarded and able to become President?

Someone who didn't dodge the draft and didn't go AWOL and is a war hero (Kerry) is now being attacked and demonized for it. So were McCain, Max Cleland, etc.

AWOL draftdodger = good patriot, great war-time leader, hero.

War Heros who didn't dodge draft = unpatriotic cowards or "crazy"

[Fovea]

1. Because their daddies are not

CinC, like Bunnypants was.
It's different for the little people.

[Columbia]

2. Yup

[Cleita]

14. No kidding.

The entire army didn't have an ex-President for daddy.

[havocmom]

3. Long swim home

and families basically held hostage here stateside. Oh, yeah, and most people have honor and ehics, unlike bush*, Cheney, Ashcroft and the rest of the Chicken Hawks

[Warpy]

5. Long swim home, and when they're here on leave

they don't want to let their buddies in Iraq down. It's solidarity with each other that keeps them in line, not knuckling under to the appalling (and now we find out traitorous) chain of command at the Pentagon.

It would be great if they came home and then fled to Canada or Mexico. I don't see it happening for the above reason, though.

[proud patriot]

4. Because the vast majority of the military have HONOR

While bush has no honor whatsoever

[BillZBubb]

7. Bzzzt! We have a winner!!!!

You've nailed it. The vast majority of our service people have honor and integrity. Bush* is devoid of both those qualities.

[manic expression]

12. Honor?

Contributing toward such a campaign as this: one that creates so much unnecessary pain and suffering is not honorable at all. It is the opposite. They are following orders, yes, but did that excuse anyone at the Nurenburg trials? I am not condemning all U.S. soldiers, but adding to what is happening is not honor. Honor would be a soldier refusing to commit such crimes as we have seen done by American troops. Honor would be to put one's life on the line for truth and justice.

[Kanary]

6. I've quietly thought that for quite a while now

Not just because of * being AWOL, but because they are giving their lives for lies, and corporations.

That's NOT what they were signed up to do.

Kanary

[rock]

8. Because most of the military is made up of honorable people

(Oops. I started to say men. Bad rock).

[Catshrink]

9. DESERTER is the appropriate term.

AWOL is 30 days or less....

[Tsiyu]

10. They can't lay down their weapons, they'd be killed immediately

and unless we can round up a bunch of C-130s to transport them back home, they're stuck.

Only a new administration and a new foreign policy will save our soldiers.

How can any Republican even look in the mirror, knowing that * has completely sold out our nation, economically, and militarily. How can they see the deaths every day? How can they carry their pictures of aborted little fetuses and yet REFUSE to look at even one picture of a dead Iraqi child? Doesn't the second child matter? Oh, no. Jesus doesn't love her.

Today, I hate Republicans and their nasty, backstabbing ways, their vile plans and the way they sneak around like wharf rats sniffing for scraps of trash and bellow like toddlers when they get caught.

I hate their greed and their gluttony, their love of death while they claim to be pro-life, their ranting about the sky when the roof is caving in. I hate them. I really do.

And I wouldn't blame one soldier if he or she deserted, walked up to Bush and the Swiftboat Vets for Shit and asked, "Why the hell should I fight? It doesn't matter to you who dies for your greed."

[kerry-is-my-prez]

13. I wonder how many U.S.soldiers that they've labeled "terrorists" or "spys"

and put into the brig or into Guantanamo are actually just "dissenters" who have been labelled "spy" just to stop them from influencing their fellow soldiers.

There have been a few soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been accused of being "spys."

[greekspeak]

11. Waxing Philosophically....

two wrongs do not make a right. Why should America have to suffer troopless because a swaggering washed up joke of a man with a huge Napolean AND God complex that could not face the job they do happens to be their boss?

[MrScorpio]

15. I've got 22 years in the Air Force and I respectfully disagree

The military was here before Bush, and we'll be here after he's gone.

We're not going to make things better by resorting to his type of behavior.

We took an oath to protect our country and constitution and we must honor it.

There are other things we can do:

Vote for Kerry.

Not reenlist.

Ask our friends and family members who are thinking about joining up to postpone their decision.

Network with those who oppose Bush and everything he stands for, if we find ourselves in combat tell the horrible truth about what we've seen

Going AWOL won't help. The only thing it will do is marginalize those brothers and sisters in arms that are needed to stand up against Bush.