OK….So, I keep getting all these “Support The Troops” emails...Here’s my take.

My response to yet another "Support Our Troops" schwag-mail.

"I was a troubled 16 year old kid whose only way out of the road back to the Florida 'School for Boys' in Marianna (Google that nightmare...) was to get the hell out of Dodge, join the Merchant Marines, and get my ass shipped off to Viet Nam in April ’68…Saw more shit that any kid should have...Saw rotting, headless, limbless corpses, saw burning children, did things that human beings should never be "required" or "expected" to do...saw terror, felt terror…still do. Cried like a baby when when I got there, and when I left…My buddies, my Home Boys were left behind in that shit storm.

SEGUE.........

That was over 40 years ago. The images are still with me…as are the smells, the reactions I have to loud noises, or to someone coming up behind me...my fear of lightning...all that happy shit that goes along with WAR...I lost several friends...we were supposed to grow old together…tell lies, have BBQ’s, raise kids...all that stuff.

You wanna support these troops, man??…send them the fuck home. And create some decent paying JOBS!! Like my friend Lee said, " You want to end the housing crisis?? bring the troops home, and give them VA home loans..." Well, now...there's thought.

I DO NOT subscribe to the rank and file attitudes of Armchair Patriots…This goddamned war is being fought by kids/men/women who probably couldn’t find work, need healthcare for their families…had no other options than to find the deluded “glory” in fighting for whatever bullshit reasons the spin doctors come up with, etc. I know this is true…up close and personal. It’s happened to my family. It happened to me.

I have 5 sons…none of whom will be participating in this fucking holocaust. PEACE…OK??…YOU GOT IT ???…PEACE NOW!!! FUCK WAR, MAN…

The Afghans want us GONE The Iraqi’s want us GONE…the world is watching while we continue to spin all this hyperbole about “well, we gotta get ‘em over there…before “they” come here…Shit, man…”they “ are already over “here”…and “they”…are us. WE created this nightmare…with this religious ‘crusade’ against an intangible enemy… “terror”

Oh, and BTW, in 1973, when the 'Oil Embargo' pretty much killed all the jobs in Fla., I 'joined up', too...I was a proud member of 2d Battalion (Airborne) 505th Infantry, 82d Airborne Division.

Please remove me from this mailing list…I’ve heard enough bullshit for one lifetime

Posted today by n2doc
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6980559

I am so sorry for your pain and your nightmarish memories. I am so glad you have 5 sons to bless you. :hug:

for causes we cannot hope to resolve. It'd be nice if our government would "support the troops" by making living wages and a good education available, so that kids don't have to trade their lives for promises of a wage and education.

They can't question your patriotism -- you joined up, you fought, and you paid a grave, grave price.

on edit: I wonder, though, if you might want to point out to these people the reason we have all these wars, which has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with oil & defense industry corporate shareholders.

This is my first post...I've just had enough of this collective hypnosis...