Why I Hate the Military

http://www.rollingstone.com/features/featuregen.asp?pid=1698

see what really happened

very few things in this life are worth hating.

nt

Hate is an emotion that clouds better reasoning.

nt

nt

nt

The whole military?

RS is such a politicized "music" rag. They haven't had any respectable journalism since the Duke(Dr. Gonzo) stopped writing for them.

nt

Reads exactly like incidents that ocurred in Vietnam, Korea, WWII, WWI, and so on and so on.

Shit, you go back far enough, and you'll find Tacitus probably wrote about a Centurion captain who was a little sword happy and lopped the heads off some civilians.


My guess is an investigation will be conducted, and there was an illegal killing(although the whole damn invasion was illegal), and a court martial will occur.

It's a fact of life. Since we are Americans, the US military is "good" and the people they kill are "bad".

It takes a while to learn to believe this, but once you do, it feels better. Soon you'll be able to appreciate how our boys kick some ass (slang for killing people)!

Just imanagine if you were an 18 to 19 year old male who was getting shot at a lot, in a country where you dont speak the language, cant even look at the woman, and have been told by your commander and chief that you are fighting evil, not to mention very little sleep.

Anyway the Marines Evan Wright writes about seem just a little too uncomplicated to actually be real.

from E-1 to O-10, go to war only when elected representatives of the people say GO. Don't hate the troops, hate congress.

and they went in on his say so. I do not support their Commander-in-Chief, I do not support the War, I do not support the Occupation and I do not support how the US is conducting its self as the occupying power. If I said "I support the troops" I would be a hypocrite because I don't support anything they are doing in Iraq.

run or go to jail? If you choose options 2 and 3, you lose your rights as a citizen although you could be pardoned as President Carter did for many that ran during the 1960s.

good read

I have a pretty complex attitude towards the military. I'll state my bias out front: I'm a socialist. I believe that the current American government is nothing more than the "executive committee of the bourgeoisie".

The United States is the main imperialist and neo-colonialist nation in the world. It has troops in nearly 120 countries. More often than not, its military acts to defend the interests of this country's ruling class, not of its people generally.

At the same time, a military (albeit a drastically reduced one) is necessary to defend the country from actual threats.

I would discourage anyone interests from joining the military. But I don't hold any grudge against those who choose that path in life; I have friends in the military. I view soldiers more as victims than anything else.

At the same time, I recognize the right of nations to self-determination. If they must assert that right through violence, so be it. Better they attack soldiers than civilians.

I feel the same exact way, although I'm not quite a socialist.

Without a military other countries will walk all over us. For example, China is walking all over the Bush administration for three reasons, IMHO:

- China has a whole bunch more folks, that they can call to active duty, than us. This lessens our military power over them.

- China knows that Cayman Island mega-corporations (that were once registered in the U.S.) have economic intrests in China and the Bush administration always puts the economic intrests of these big buisnesses ahead of everything else.

- China is fascist and Bush likes fascists.
PBS: So it's no longer a communist state?
Kissinger: I don't consider China a communist state, no. I know that sounds paradoxical, but it's my view.

PBS: It's not a party of the workers and the peasants?
Kissinger: Certainly not a party of the workers and the peasants. In fact, Jiang Zemin in recent weeks has officially said that capitalists and the entrepreneurs should be enrolled in the Communist Party.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/china/interviews/kissinger.html

But that does not work in the real world.

As a former Army captain, I can't agree. I believe the military, especially the company-grade officers, NCOs and enlisted troops are just doing their jobs in a difficult situation. We should not blame them for this.

Now some of the generals and admirals- they can be blamed for sucking up to Bush and the neocons (remember though that many Army generals did not want to invade Iraq and had reservations about the Rumsfeld plan to do so).

If a soldier or marine commits an illegal killing then it should be investigated. Many of these events occur when troops are extremely fatigued and tired of being shot at and mortared, and have imperfect information about the enemy and situatio. We don't always behave appropriately under these conditions. Let's try to be a little more empathetic to these folks.

You know O-1 thru O-3?

See, that's what fatigue will do to a person (I haven't been sleeping well because my wife is 8 months pregnant and wakes up every two hours).

What's up, Superfly? How's civilian life treating you?

I joined the guard. I'm on M-198's now...I missed the smell of wolfpu**y, if you know what I mean!

Anyways, $560 for a weekend worth of work was a lot of money to turn down.

recall it going by the name you gave it!

My nephew is a combat engineer in the guard right now and in Baghdad. I shouldn't talk any crap about the Guard anymore because they are over there doing their jobs. I remember the Guard (during peacetime) to be mostly a bunch of wussies, REMF types who hated staying in the field overnight.

a bunch of overweight middleagers who want to play cowboys and indians for a weekend and don't know how in the hell to wear a uniform!

These guys I'm with are top notch, possibly even better than my active unit. Their morale is much, much higher than in the active Army and they tend to be a little "smarter".

They are shooting M-198's with AFATDS and BCS now, with charts and darts being the backup. I commandeered a few items when I left active service and they were an RDP, a Charge 4GB GFT, a 6-foot lanyard, and a M-107 training round (inert) with a M-557 PD fuze.

If you've forgotten what those things are, I'll refresh your memory...though a true Redleg NEVER forgets his craft!

Brian

RDP = range-deflection protractor
Charge 4GB GFT refers to the charge 4 green bag Graphical firing table
Lanyard is used to fire the gun.
M-557 PD fuze is a point-detonating fuse used for 155 mm howitzer ammunition.

I don't specifically recall the M-107 training round.

Wow, that was a long time ago. I am still trying to recall the army slang- stuff like "soup sandwich" "all ate up" etc. I am sad that those expressions have left my own speech.

Congrats on the baby thing! My wife and I are practicing for our first one right now.

Brian

This will be our first too. I am feeling like an old man. Need to get back into shape so I don't embarrass the young one when she brings her friends over for "play dates."

rest with those who made the choice to go to war. These men and women made a choice to join to the military and defend our country. They must be given great credit for that. The choice to join the military was made by these soldiers but THE CHOICE TO GO TO WAR was the decision of the pResident!!!

When they fight, they are fighting to a achieve an objective that has been set by the higher authorities (a.k.a the president/defense officials/intelligence officials). We should all cut OUR military alot of slack!!!

I got over being hated a long time ago.

Because they say things like: "Why I Hate the Military"

Of course we don't know if the poster is a Dem or something else.

that the times, they are a' changing.

but I served in the military...my father served 22 years of his life in the military...I don't think that hating the military because of one article is fair...

have you served in the military...?

You should direct your anger at the one's at the WH for starting this whole mess and putting our soldeirs in harms way for nothing...

Sheesh...I thought this was democraticunderground not marxistunderground.

Hell I am semi socialist and I think thats wrong. No I am not a vet nor is my father. I have some relatives though. We cant hate them its not their fault they cant help the actions of the generals and politicans remember a soldier knows the harsh realities of war. We should respect the fallen. IMO all are casualities of war. I've been showing this picture around and on a silly note I claimed I was him I would have loved to have served with him though all the survivors of Iwo Jima wish they could have died instead and have fond memories of Mike Strank. Please guys dont hate the military hate the people who send them there. I am not a hawk I believe in Kucinich's department of peace idea.

because sometimes those in the military commit illegal acts is akin to saying one hates all civilians because some civilians commit crimes. There is a code of military conduct and justice, and those who violate it are penalized, just as civilians who violate our civilian criminal code are. The whole argument is spurious and needlessly polarizing.

I despise those who send men and women in uniform to fight and perhaps die for their own selfish material gain. I despise those who command our military to attack nations that have not attacked us. I do not despise those who choose to serve in the military; humans aren't pacifistic by nature and those who don't maintain a defense will be abused.

Democrats should fight the stupid stereotype that we're against police and the military. Bill Clinton did a pretty good job of fighting this stereotype.