I Am F*cking TIRED Of Being Conflicted On Veteran's Day!

[matcom]

local pub jut bought me lunch. that was nice i guess.

people I don't know saying "Thank You for serving"

It's appreciated but knowing what my country is involved in right now does NOT make me proud. sorry. I just don't want to wave the flag these days.

Please, no "thank you's" in this thread. I am just venting. I didn't serve in war-time. I wish none of my veteran brothers and sisters have to either. it was a hard enough sacrifice without the bullets flying.

you know, Vets say that today "Is for the living" - "Memorial Day is for the dead".

why can i not stop thinking about all the dead Iraqi Civilians as their country burns?

[JI7]

1. tell them that when they thank you for serving

"you know, Vets say that today "Is for the living" - "Memorial Day is for the dead".

why can i not stop thinking about all the dead Iraqi Civilians as their country burns?"

[JVS]

2. How do they know that you were in the military if they don't know you?

[matcom]

4. they saw the bartender buying me lunch and thanking me

[Mountainman]

3. As a vet, we are what's left after all the hoorays and all the glory is

won and the people decide to forget about what happened and some try to rewrite history for some political gain.

We have our memories and we have our life's tragedies. The dead are gone and maybe not forgotten but we live on.

I am not proud to have served in Vietnam. I believe like Kerry that there were atrocities committed by my fellow vets. I believe when we go to war we become the lowest form of humans we can be because there is no morality in war. No one is right and no one is wrong,. It all becomes a game of survival and vengeance.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

5. Wartime atrocities are probably the norm

Train anybody to be a killing machine and then put them in a life and death situation.

The outcome going to be pretty most of the time.

That's why I keep encouraging anyone hating on the men and women serving in Iraq to remember they didn't go there of their own free will.

Once they enlisted, a great deal of their freedom was taken from them. At that point, the leaders are responsible for the actions of the troops.

The last thing we need is a bitter, hateful homecoming for this latest generation of vets.

[driver8]

6. Matcom, I agree

I am a vet, also. It is nice to know that people appreciate what we have done, but it is hard to feel proud while our military is in Iraq burning it to the ground.

I am hoping no one thanks me today...

[Squeech]

7. A song for Matcom and other vets

Well we were heroes then, and the girls were all pretty
And a uniform was a lucky charm, bought you the key to the city
We used to dance the whole night through
While Al Bowlly sang "The Very Thought Of You"
Now Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now

Well I gave my youth to king and country
But what's my country done for me but sentenced me to misery
I traded my helmet and my parachute
For a pair of crutches and a demob suit
Al Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now

Hard times, hard hard times
Hostels and missions and dosser's soup lines
Can't close me eyes on a bench or a bed
For the sound of some battle raging in my head

Old friends, you lose so many
You get run around, all over town
The wear and the tear, oh it just drives you down
St Mungo's with its dirty old sheets
Beats standing all day down on Scarborough Street
Al Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now

Can't stay here, you got to foot-slog
Once in a blue moon you might find a job
Sleep in the rain, you sleep in the snow
When the beds are all taken you've got nowhere to go

Well I can see me now, I'm back there on the dance floor
Oh with a blonde on me arm, red-head to spare
Spit on my shoes and shine in me hair
And there's Al Bowlly, he's up on a stand
Oh that was a voice and that was a band
Al Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now

-- "Al Bowlly's in Heaven," Richard Thompson

[Lisa]

8. how about I thank you for being a pretty decent human being, then?

Matcom, and driver8, and a whole ton of other DUers who served and are horrified by what this war is doing to the soul of America.

If there were more of you -- the world would be a lot happier, I know that much.

[The Sad Little Pony]

10. I am also a veteran...

...and I ALWAYS feel uncomfortable when people thank me.

Maybe it's the feeling that they're not REALLY thanking me, as much as feeling smugly self-satified, by the ACT of thanking me.
At least that's the feeling I often get.

[OnceAndFutureTruth]

12. There may be other motives. I remember the Vietnam war, and I now

thank vets because I feel guilty for a much different response I had back then. It is the government that ultimately is responsible for what happens in wartime, but I was to young to understand that at that time of my life. I am embarrassed to say that I thought the vets themselves were responsible when I saw the pictures on tv, or heard about the horrors of the war. So, now I thank vets, recognizing that my previous response was so unfair to the veterans of my own generation.

[REP]

19. I Mean It When I Thank a Vet

I'm pretty much anti the wars in my lifetime (Viet Nam, Gulf Wars I & II), but I will always be unashamedly pro-vet. Maybe it's because I come from a long line of low-level enlisted men; maybe out of gratitude for them doing a crappy and dangerous job (even in peacetime, it's crappy and dangerous) for whatever reasons and then being treated like dirt by the government when it's done with them. It infuriates me how badly vets are treated by the government that was too willing to use them as cannon fodder.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vickers]

11. I'm not conflicted...I'm a vet, and we're in Iraq illegally.

If the dumbshits in our government would attempt even a casual reading of the Constitution and various international agreements of which we are signatories they would realize that.

But Dumbyah was never really *in* the military, so he wouldn't know how pissed off that makes a real veteran feel.

[are_we_united_yet]

13. "why can i not stop thinking...

about all the dead Iraqi Civilians as their country burns?"

I believe that is the price you pay for being a considerate person.

I left a political conversation in anger after speaking to two people who were suggesting we just level Iraq since "they teach their children to hate Americans".

I left the conversation (furious of course) but not before shouting, "they don't fu#king have to teach their children. US foreign policy fulfills that role much more effectively than Iraqi parents ever could."

[LifeDuringWartime]

14. ive heard similar things many times

'just fuckin nuke all them towelheads'

etc etc etc

:mad:

[are_we_united_yet]

15. Right. And it just pisses me off when they say sh#t like that.

Here are some of the questions I ask of them:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
How can you only think of yourself? What makes you think that is a good solution (to nuke everybody but you)?

What freakin planet is your wingnut brain on (which never goes over well)? How come you can't recognize the simple fact everthing is connected?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If you ever come up with an effective strategy to convey these seemingly simple concepts to the wingnuts, please let me know for I have failed at every turn.

[Skittles]

16. I am with you there, matcom

I've been thinking about the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan all day.

[RunningFromCongress]

17. I don't like it b/c we're honoring people we're not taking care of enough

[JSJ]

18. thank-you- not for serving, but for your honesty... a rare occurence...

...among vets.

[The Sad Little Pony]

20. I disagree...

...that "honesty(is)a rare occurence...among vets".

That's a bit of a broadbrush, to suggest that MOST veterans are dishonest.

Happy Veteran's Day.:eyes: