To All Veterans

[Arumi Zy]

[member="Meric Nadun"] No reason to be rude to him, he is entitled to his opinion. Chris Kyle and me and the others fought for his right to freely express it and we must always remember that. We didn't just fight for you, we fought for everyone no matter how bad their opinion etc is.

 

[Seris Caine]

I know, but I made this thread in support of the soldiers and I don't like his attitude. If he wants to be negative he can go make his own thread.

 

[RC 212]

There will always be two sides of the aisle. Those that agree with soldiers and war. And those that don't. As for me I'm ok with either side to be honest. Though I hate to see servicemen and women looked down upon, in the end that is why we serve. So you, the civllian can have an opinion and speak openly without the fear of beind dragged away in the night and executed.

Freedom isn't free by any means. Remember that!

 

[Preliat Mantis]

It's not that I disagree with war.


If I did, I wouldn't be joining the USMC. I wouldn't be in support of my father who's in the Army, my mother who served, or my brother. I just know not to blindly clap my hands and wave my flag for all the American heroes that I see in all the movies and in the TV and on Fox News or Conan.


It's blind patriotism that got us into this mess.

 

[Seris Caine]

Actually it was the terrorist attacks that did that.

Anyway, I wish people would stop bringing up Fox News. Whenever anyone says anything remotely Republican you get "You need to lay off the Fox News kool aid" or some such. I never watch Fox News. EVER. Still Republican. Still support our troops. Still like learning about heroes.

 

[Preliat Mantis]

Was it? Did Norway go to war when they were attacked? Did France mobilize troops in foreign countries when they were attacked by Islamic extremists? They reacted. They did not invade a country that will now become our problem for the next hundred years or so. There's an interesting statistic that America has not known peace, there has always been some sort of conflict for my nearly 20 years of living, from Somalia, to the relief in Bosnia, Sierra Leone, East Timor, among many others.



I support our troops, I do. I support our marines, our sailors, our airmen, our soldiers, our coast guard, everyone in the service. But would I consider them heroes? Would I consider someone who's in the Army, sitting at Fort Bragg a hero? No. Military service doesn't automatically qualify you to be entitled to anything except what you signed up for, everything else is earned. From what I gather from being with people from other countries (South America, Eastern Europe, Asia) they don't have the hard-on for their militaries like we do.


Maybe it's just a matter of perspective. But I would advise you not to be a blind patriot, waving your flag and saying THANK YOU to every soldier or servicemen you see. Chris Kyle is an example of what happens when a narcissist goes into the service. In my book, and the soldiers I've met and seen, he doesn't act like an American hero should. I appreciate, however, what he did and tried to do for servicemen with PTSD, even though i disagree with what he said in his book and allegedly did, especially when he said that he found WMD materials, didn't feel any remorse for killing anyone, or punched Jesse Ventura and made him seem like a bad, perhaps permanently damaging the man's reputation.


Don't let anyone tell you that we invaded a country for 9/11. If we wanted to invade a country, you should know that it was 19 people who started two wars. 15 out of those 19 were Saudi Arabian. The others were from Egypt and Lebanon. We didn't invade their countries. We attacked Afghanistan, perhaps justifiably so, but I fail to see a reason to go into Iraq, which created a power vacuum as soon as we left- and now allowed groups like ISIS to establish control in many areas of Iraq.

 

[Wan Min Brightsky]

[member="Meric Nadun"]

Its a pretty good movie and shows a lot of what we actually go through, war isn't glorious and glamorous. Its brutal and it destroys, those of you who have known me for a while know i have ptsd and its not easy.

If you really want your mind blown watch this, shows some sad stats and details

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_l4Ab5FRwM

I know it sounds a bit underwhelming to say, but thank you for your service and your sacrifice. That goes for all current and former military members as well. I have a very good friend who I met while I've been teaching in China who did two back-to-back tours with NATO forces in Afghanistan with the German Special Forces, and he has PTSD from his tours there and elsewhere in some not-so-friendly Third World nations. He had some bad days when he was here that I saw and tried to help him through, and I can't even begin to imagine how hard that is. In that light, saying thank you feels paltry and small.

 

[Arumi Zy]

@DasGeneral No need to thank me i came back relatively intact, thank those still serving or who made the bigger sacrifices. Theres a lot we can do for our vets, many vet groups need donations, volunteers etc. Even white tails unlimited accepts guided hunts for our wounded warriors.

Remember All gave some, some gave all but we gave it freely.

 

[Wan Min Brightsky]

There will always be two sides of the aisle. Those that agree with soldiers and war. And those that don't. As for me I'm ok with either side to be honest. Though I hate to see servicemen and women looked down upon, in the end that is why we serve. So you, the civllian can have an opinion and speak openly without the fear of beind dragged away in the night and executed.

Freedom isn't free by any means. Remember that!

But...but I thought that living in China means my "Freedom of Speech" is protected by the glorious men and women of the People's Liberation Army who are here to protect me from the vicious self-immolating Tibetan separatist splittist clique terrorists who want to destroy China's glorious and ever-harmonious unity and from the evil Xinjiang knife-wielding terrorists and even MORE evil Western imperialists..........wait, I am one of them! Sorry, had to add in my sarcastic response. In a non-sarcastic response, thank you for your service! Freedom is most definitely not free and the service you and everyone else who has volunteered gives us the opportunity to speak our minds. And this is from someone who voluntarily lives in a country where being dragged away in the middle of the night is an actual danger to dissidents and political activists.

 

[Shuduc Macar]

As a 6 year vet of the Navy I can only say I don't much know what mr. Kyle embellished but I also know it is not really him touting his life nearly as much as political candidates and pundants. To me that is where I get sick when people tout us as heros to score points. I am no hero I will say that now. All the people I consider hero's there are the ones who died. I will second the words however that war is not glorious or fun. I lost 3 schook friends in Iraq and I am damn surprised I didn't die myself. To me if we truly want to honor sacrifice let's be sure to watch out for those trying to make careers of the backs of others acts. Just my 2 cents though.