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You're right on the money Saul
when you say it's overcompensation. I should have made that point. One of the things I wanted to accomplish with the essay was to help keep the pendulum from swinging too far back the other way again, to the way it was after Vietnam. I'm arguing for a middle ground.
posted by
jollyjeff
on November 17, 2007 at 1:15 PM
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Good post, jeff. This is a tough topic, because what you say is true.
However, sentiment toward a soldier's sacrifice for home and country runs high. Especially after the way the guys who were sent to Nam were treated. It's overcompensation. Still, I don't see anything wrong with honoring the contributions of the soldiers, who generally are far more than just soldiers -- the are soldiers in addition to being sons and daughters, parents, friends, policemen, firefighters, computer programmers, accountants, teachers, doctors, lawyers, carpenters, etc. None of this makes them any different than quite a few million others who've gone the same route, but it does make them different in that they've given up part of their lives in order to provide for the security of our nation and the world. Sometimes what they fight for isn't exactly what they signed up for and sometimes it goes against their principles, but they do what they are told in the hope that it will all come out right in the end. It is this sacrifice and the people that willingly make this sacrifice so that others, like me, have the choice not to.
posted by
saul_relative
on November 17, 2007 at 12:09 PM
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i would hope that more would be expected of a soldier
because they're watching each other's backs.
Many of them are not only soldiers... but doctors, mathemeticians, programmers...
Policemen and soldiers are revered for putting their lives on the line. They can not afford to do their jobs badly because their fellow soldiers, some of whom are my own family, could die as a result.
I would never be a soldier for this country. I believe you lose too much of your freedom in doing so. If I could choose to go to a war I believe in and stay home from a war I don't, I'd sign up in a second. But that's not the case. I honestly think one has to be out of their minds to join up. But they still deserve praise, if only having the GUTS to defend MY LIFE, with theirs. For that, they deserve to stand on a pedestal.
posted by
JustJilly
on November 14, 2007 at 6:16 AM
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posted by
afzal50
on November 11, 2007 at 5:25 PM
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