OT. It's a sorry world

R

RonS

Joined
Jun 26, 2000
Messages
201
I was in class tonight when one of the other students came in to take her final exam a week early. She is just out of high school, cute as a button, might be 120 pounds soaking wet and is shipping out to Afghanistan next week. There I sat, old and fat and useless, while a sweet kid like that goes to the armpit of the world to do what needs doing. I remember being that age, and I bet she doesn't have any more of a clue than I did.

Well, God bless her and all like her, and may she come back whole in body and spirit.
 
Amen to the 'God bless her' part, Ron. Maybe she'll make a difference. Still don't know about women "in harm's way". Probably just too old-fashioned.
 
Bless her, indeed.

Each night Lehrer PBS News Hour has a segment where they show, in silence, the faces of service people who have given their lives in these conflicts. Most seem like they are so painfully young, and I envision all their dreaming for the future, hobbies, friends, hell...pets...ended for them.

My heart aches for them, and their survivors.

Kis
 
I think the army should not take anyone under the age of 21.
Give them time to know what they will be missing if they lose.
Give them a life to remember.

Average soldier in WW2 was 26, and we did fine.
 
We are left with little other to do than Hope and Pray for those who go off into an undeclared war. And send smoke or light candles for them.

God I hope it's worth sending teenagers into that hell. And I don't blame the military a bit, they delivered what they promised. But now they are being used in a way that puts them into emotional trauma no teenager could or should be prepared for.

The other thread with the photos of Iraqis full of hatred and glee at burning those security guards bodies is profoundly disturbing to me because I want to return their hate with compound interest. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. It's the nature of the beast that if someone shows hatred toward you, you hate them back.

And it's justifiable and useful to react and be angry and on guard against those who hate you, as an initial reaction. Until you get out of the situation. Then you take whatever measures to be ready if it ever happens again.

The problem is that once the usefullness of anger and hate are past, they've become a consuming fire within you that sometimes can only be extinguished at a very high cost.

I don't have the answers to this.
 
Had a friend that was female that was a truck driver in the 1st trip to the sandbox. It can get hairy fer them too, and she had an M-16 issued and in the front seat at all times. For you 1st trippers of the 90's, you may recall a lot less action out there in the middle of nowhere, unltss you were a tanker.

Navy also allows women on board for missile firing and tracking, still a dangerous task.

I have not talked to one old soldier from any branch that would not willingly go there and raise hell in the stead of the young'ns sent these days.

Keith
 
Yeah. Jessica Lynch lives about an hour north of here. There is no draft anymore, so in a way most of the people know what they are getting into. On the other hand a lot of people here are "economically drafted" the military is one of the only ways to find a job, or secure money for an education.

I agree they should send older folks. These kids have their whole lives ahead of them.
 
bet she's probably a lot tougher and better-trained than we'd expect. ;)
 
hollowdweller said:
...the military is one of the only ways to find a job...
Click to expand...

Except when there is a National Draft, or in times of patriotic fervor, the Military has always been the refuge of losers, slackers, the uneducated, those of low socioeconomic status, and those with no marketable skills. There are also large numbers of confused adolescents seeking to "become men" or to "serve their country". In times of economic recession, the ranks are swelled by the unemployed.

I think we would have a higher quality and better balanced Military if we had a Universal National Draft where everyone was required to serve. This would include all men and women, and there would be no exemptions for any reason, including economic status, political influence, sexual preference, or physical limitations.
 
May not be like that fer long...czech this out...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...40420/pl_afp/us_iraq_military_draft&printer=1

"Senator says US may need compulsory service to boost Iraq force"
"...restoring compulsory military service would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."


Also says coalition allies Spain and Honduras pulled out. An article I read the other day said that a buncha German contractors got killed in a fashion concurrent with those US security contractors, and they pulled them and German troops out. So there ain't much of a coalition these days, Cept us, the Brits, Aussies, and some slavic countries. Wish I had more detail on the coalition forces over there now.

History shows armies of all nature, volunteer, conscript, levy, mercenary. Each has plusses and minuses.
 
"think we would have a higher quality and better balanced Military if we had a Universal National Draft where everyone was required to serve. This would include all men and women, and there would be no exemptions for any reason, including economic status, political influence, sexual preference, or physical limitations."



There is some merit in that idea. Being divesified is a strong military. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top