About that story about spitting on returning veterans.

Perhaps you knew that. I couldn't tell for sure from your post.

There's at least one scholarly book that investigated those stories and found no basis to them.

Here's David Sirota talking about the tenacious mythology in his review ("The Legend of the Spat-Upon Veteran") of the book, The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam.

Never been in the military myself, but I think these holidays are very in line with the continued glorification of the U.S. military and war culture in this country.

The more you can get the sheep, common citizens, to glorify the military and soldiers, the easier it is to manipulate them into supporting wars.

And seeing those who are disadvantaged and poor.

Thank you for sharing.

The media could certainly hear your voice on these days.

It's all good.

When people say... "Thanks for protecting our country." I want to tell them I did 4 years in the Marine Corps and never once..not even for a second.. protected this country.

I killed and brutalized lots of 3rd World people, but that sure wasn't protecting the US.

I don't say that, of course.

I can barely stand "Thank you for your service."

I have - from time to time - said that my most fervent wish as a veteran is that we stop making so damned many veterans.... time to dial back on the Empire.

Memorial Day. I hope many of you get to go out and barbeque... (envy!) I would love some BBQ Chicken!

You are here.

I enlisted in the Army, and volunteered for Nam. I was also 18, and believed all the lies that we were fed. At the time some of the bullshit didn't make sense to me, but I assumed that men who were "smarter and older" than me knew what they were doing, and I believed them. For every one of us who lived that nightmare, and speak up about today's lies, there are 100 sheep who have bought the MIC line and believe it like the Bible. Are we so gullible that we must continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over? We just wasted over 6000 American lives in the Mideast, and spent Trillions of our children's dollars on a war that brought profit to only a select few, and did nothing for the population of any country. And we still hear the same shrill voices in government calling for military action in many different parts of the world. How many Billions in profits must these bloodsuckers make before we stop them? If you have any answers, share them with the rest of us.

And it was more honest a hundred yrs ago when the wealthy paid for substitutes to go in their place. So a form of indentured servitude, uncomfortably close to being in prison. Well, I did volunteer at the height of '67 unrest and from a campus where unrest was the norm, for my own reasons. And I've said the thank-you stuff irks me, to which somebody here said, "Why can't you just be gracious and say you're-welcome and let it go." Fine. Too often it's the chicken hawk wingnuts who do it, which smacks of the underlying message, "Thanks for going so I didn't have to."

That said, we're sometimes The Angry Veteran. Today I saw a scowling dude with a black t-shirt on that said, "EVERY DAY IS VETERANS DAY." He wasn't attuned to the "memorial" part of this particular day. But then, neither are the long-weekend partiers.

And the bloodthirsty NeoCons took as their main lesson from the anti-Draft portion of Vietnam protest that they would not allow for the Draft to distract from the wars they had waited so long to wreak.

Our story is identical... except I was a medic in a M.A.S.H unit.

When I was drafted in "65", Vietnam was beginning to heat up, but hadn't become the killing fields it became. I had no idea that this place and time would forever alter my life and the way I see the world and the people in it.

Today, I mourn those left behind and regret very much that they did not get to see this day.