| spurgeonryan said: Why thank vets? They are usually just people in hard situations. They join the military to better their life. Not heroes or anyone that even cares about America as a nation that much. They are just people who want that 20 year retirement, the bonuses, the college, the free healthcare, free everything, and constant annoying adulation from citizens. Where is the thank a cop or fire fighter day? Those are the true heroes who don't retire after 20 years draining our country of money. To the one percent who actually do it because you want to make a difference or if you originally join to be an 11 Series, I thank you! This is not to disrespect anyone, but like the knights of old.....it is all a fairy tale that the tv dumps on the public. Not glamorous or glorious and not honorable. I washed a soldiers brain matter out of a hummer after he was hit by a sniper. The bullet hit his helmet, travelled around to the back where it found a weak spot and broke through. I hated the guy before that day. Now he is a cripple that can only move his head. Thank him? Or should the Iraqi's thank him? We never found his attacker. He was one of the one percent that should be thanked. He wanted to be in the Army. Out of everyone that was in our unit in Iraq, maybe 10 out of 100 are still in the Army. The rest were just in for the bonus, skills, and money. The ones who stay will leave at twenty years even though they can stay longer. So long story short, I wonder who we are really thanking? Does anyone since WW2 need to be thanked? Or should we just thank the atomic bomb for truly keeping us safe since then? Would life have been horrible if fhe South won? Which side should we thank? It is a day I do not get. Memorial day I do understand though. |
Wow, hard to respond without sounding like an asshole.
I guess it's too bad that you believe that only 1% of those that serve give a shit. I can't disagree that many serve with the intent to take advantage of the few bonuses of dicounted education, low pay, poor healthcare and free breakfast at Denny's once or twice a year. I think that you need to think back to the first gulf war or the begining of the second. Only a handful of those who didn't give a shit deserted. So, if the poeple who signed up didn't really give a shit as much as you imply, they would have run for the hills. Also, anyone signing up in the last 10 years did so knowing that they might or will end up in the combat areas. Of course, there is always that % of people who are no good no matter the situation.
I guess my point is, don't blame people for taking the small positives the military does offer for serving and assume that was the reason people served. Maybe I just served with a different group of people. Most of the people I served with were good people, but of course there were a few that always did the minimum and hated the decision they made to join.
To me, Veterans Day and Memorial day are pretty much the same. They both seem to represent a time to acknowledge those that have fallen and those that made it home alive.
It is near the end of the end....
