Veterans Day '10
"[O]n October 8th, [1954,] President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation" which stated: "In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible." "
The above is from this page.
Anyone who's visited this blog (and gone back to read my past entries) knows (or at least should know) that I support our military personnel, past and present. I may not like some of the policies or decisions by some our ("so-called") leaders, but that is a completely different matter. Our troops deserve our thanks, if not our respects. (They have both from me.) For it not for them, where do you think you would be right now? Do you think you'd be living in a "free country"? Do you think you'd have all of the rights and freedoms you currently enjoy? Maybe. But maybe not.
Our military force is made up of volunteers. That's right - (most of) the men and women who make up our military personnel are there BY CHOICE (there are a few exceptions, but just a few). No one forced them to join - they did because they wanted to. (I'm not going to go into whether some of them should have or not or other discussions of becoming disillusioned, etc. - those may be topics for other posts, but not this one.) I have heard (and still hear) many people complain about our military - how we're nothing more then a bunch of "bullies" trying to tell the world how they should act, and other...shall we say, disparaging "stuff", but usually this comes from stuck-up, elitist, academicians who have never served, or THOUGHT of serving in the military for even ONE DAY. So what do they know about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
They claim to be intelligent, but they don't even remember or read history (revisionist history, maybe). How many times has the USA been the aggressor in armed conflict? Zero. We've either been asked or were forced into armed conflict. Always. So to say that we're forcing the world to live as we live or we'll come bomb you back to the stone age is not only ridiculous, but absurd and a lie.
I can hear some of you blow-hards now: "What about Iraq?" Nope. Sorry. But we were forced by the events of 9/11/2001 and Hussein's harboring of terrorists and history of WMD use, even against "his own" people. Was some of the intelligence leading up to the invasion faulty? That does seem to be the case concerning (what was then) the current reports about WMDs, but it doesn't change the HISTORY of Hussein's WMD usage, defiance of the UN (which I'm not a big fan of, but all of you 'nay-sayers' seem to 'always' support them - guess it's just convenient memory loss that you don't remember that when discussing thing...but I have digressed from my digression...), MURDER, GENOCIDE, and all-round terrorist activities. Taking EVERYTHING into consideration (and not just the one or two items, like faulty intelligence), we were forced to act. And I still remember Iraqis, both here in the USA and back in Iraq, profusely THANKING US that we did. Have we stayed too long? Maybe. But to simply go in, and then leave without stabilizing or securing the country would have caused much more long-term harm. Do you think we simply left Europe when WWII was won? Absolutely not. We had troops (even combat troops) stationed in Europe for YEARS afterward. Eventually, we left, once things had settled. And we will leave Iraq, once things are settled. {Ok, end of my digression.}
Some may conclude from the above that I am a warmonger. Not true. I despise war. I wish we never had to fight a war, ever. But if we want to maintain our freedoms, sometimes it is inevitable. Because the world is a scary place and there is always someone, some thug, some tyrant, who would be more than happy to take everything you have away from you - EVERYTHING. And if you let them, they will.
Hopefully, not in my lifetime.
So to all of you military service personnel, wherever you may be, you will ALWAYS have at least ONE person (me) who truly, deeply, and humbly says "Thank-you". From the very bottom of my heart and soul: thank-you.
Happy Veterans Day, everyone!
The above is from this page.
Anyone who's visited this blog (and gone back to read my past entries) knows (or at least should know) that I support our military personnel, past and present. I may not like some of the policies or decisions by some our ("so-called") leaders, but that is a completely different matter. Our troops deserve our thanks, if not our respects. (They have both from me.) For it not for them, where do you think you would be right now? Do you think you'd be living in a "free country"? Do you think you'd have all of the rights and freedoms you currently enjoy? Maybe. But maybe not.
Our military force is made up of volunteers. That's right - (most of) the men and women who make up our military personnel are there BY CHOICE (there are a few exceptions, but just a few). No one forced them to join - they did because they wanted to. (I'm not going to go into whether some of them should have or not or other discussions of becoming disillusioned, etc. - those may be topics for other posts, but not this one.) I have heard (and still hear) many people complain about our military - how we're nothing more then a bunch of "bullies" trying to tell the world how they should act, and other...shall we say, disparaging "stuff", but usually this comes from stuck-up, elitist, academicians who have never served, or THOUGHT of serving in the military for even ONE DAY. So what do they know about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
They claim to be intelligent, but they don't even remember or read history (revisionist history, maybe). How many times has the USA been the aggressor in armed conflict? Zero. We've either been asked or were forced into armed conflict. Always. So to say that we're forcing the world to live as we live or we'll come bomb you back to the stone age is not only ridiculous, but absurd and a lie.
I can hear some of you blow-hards now: "What about Iraq?" Nope. Sorry. But we were forced by the events of 9/11/2001 and Hussein's harboring of terrorists and history of WMD use, even against "his own" people. Was some of the intelligence leading up to the invasion faulty? That does seem to be the case concerning (what was then) the current reports about WMDs, but it doesn't change the HISTORY of Hussein's WMD usage, defiance of the UN (which I'm not a big fan of, but all of you 'nay-sayers' seem to 'always' support them - guess it's just convenient memory loss that you don't remember that when discussing thing...but I have digressed from my digression...), MURDER, GENOCIDE, and all-round terrorist activities. Taking EVERYTHING into consideration (and not just the one or two items, like faulty intelligence), we were forced to act. And I still remember Iraqis, both here in the USA and back in Iraq, profusely THANKING US that we did. Have we stayed too long? Maybe. But to simply go in, and then leave without stabilizing or securing the country would have caused much more long-term harm. Do you think we simply left Europe when WWII was won? Absolutely not. We had troops (even combat troops) stationed in Europe for YEARS afterward. Eventually, we left, once things had settled. And we will leave Iraq, once things are settled. {Ok, end of my digression.}
Some may conclude from the above that I am a warmonger. Not true. I despise war. I wish we never had to fight a war, ever. But if we want to maintain our freedoms, sometimes it is inevitable. Because the world is a scary place and there is always someone, some thug, some tyrant, who would be more than happy to take everything you have away from you - EVERYTHING. And if you let them, they will.
Hopefully, not in my lifetime.
So to all of you military service personnel, wherever you may be, you will ALWAYS have at least ONE person (me) who truly, deeply, and humbly says "Thank-you". From the very bottom of my heart and soul: thank-you.
Happy Veterans Day, everyone!
posted by TubaMeister at
18:30
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home