And I never knocked your cousin, I never said my son didn't ever do anything wrong, I didn't negate a US soldier serving his country, and I didn't rag on him. :winkwink:

But you DID say I was blaming Bush, where did you get that?

:1orglaugh

Fletch I am from the South, I have miliary in every branch of the service.

My father and uncles were Marines. My dad's oldest brother fought in WWII with 82nd Airbone.

I also have lots of friends in the military, people I went to high school with.

I agree with you about the gov't should be doing more for its veterans and their famiilies - it is shameful what is happening.

There are some private groups who are raising funds to help those families. I can list them out if anyone is interested in donating. I have sent some off.

These guys are on the front lines putting their lives at risk for us.

You can debate all you want if the war was necessary or not. I think it was a good move, and will pay of inthe long term.

One thing that is NOT debatable however is the fine way our military has handled this situation. Our Military is one of the FEW things the Federal Gov't does well.

And thats all my post was about.

The gov says it will do one thing for its maimed and hurt, it does another.

Tell me your family has been rewarded for serving and I will send you an Easter card ;)

Other than that I have never seen the gov step up and take care of the soldiers.

And I know youre from the south hahaha

arent we all?

:1orglaugh

But the "anti-war" crowd wants less money for the military. They can't have it both ways. If there's less money to pay soldiers with, the soldiers make less money, have older equipment, etc. :(

I'm from the south too.

A lot further south, mind you.

:glugglug

I don't know about you guys.. but all i know is that this are still people's lives we are talking about and no matter you guys say about the figures 1,000 or 1Million this are still HUMAN BEING!!!

Of course there is always casualty when there is war, but this war is not really war. The question is "Who attack first?" Iraq or US?

She did "voluntarily and knowingly" risk her life in an exceptional way (less than 1% of the poplulation ever serve in the military) and the cause in Iraq is exceptional. She was a hero...as are all that serve...even during peacetime. Was she a hero as in "above and beyond the call of duty"...no.

I wonder how long til that number doubles.

The charges would have been dismissed by the Judge with the agreement that he enter the military. No military branch will accept a convicted felon. Some branches will not take someone that has been convicted of a misdeamenor...some will take someone convicted of a misdeamenor...dependent upon what the misdeamenor is.

My dad is ex-NAVY and he gets the shittyest (sp) treatment at the VA hospital.

Thank GOD my wife is a nurse and she got him out if that awful place:angel

I did active fund-raising for veteran Hospitals for 5 years. I personally raised, 10s of thousands...

To anyone claiming the government takes care of its victims, drive to a VA hospital, talk to a few soldiers, see how it is being maimed.

See how frequent the checks come.

See how long it takes you to get medication.

THEN come here and tell me life is all good after you lose both your legs and have a scarred face and soul.

the government doesnt give a shit, is never has.

Another thing that occured to me while rereading this post..

I bet almost all americans would have accepted more then 1000 as an "acceptable number of casualities" if asked on Sept 11th.

If i was asked if i would risk 1k of my countrymen to avenge and retribute the brutal attack and murder of 3000 innocent people (over the course of a couple year campaign)..i would say yes

agreed. but what does this have to do with Iraq?

That is because they are inferior to USA military.

So now Iraq was revenge for Sept 11th?

I though Osama Bin Laden did that?

Is he in Baghdad?

:glugglug

I can already tell I am going to love this guy

heheh

:thumbsup

OK lesson one...thread titles

" 1,000 soldiers dead since 9/11 "

With a combination of what the thread title is and whats posted on the first post, we can generally get a good look at what the Thread Starter is speaking upon. Using this information we can then PROPERLY respond to it and work at constructing a GOOD, RELEVANT DISCUSSION.


LMAO just fuckin with ya...i was responding to what occured to me while reading the thread, not the current discussion on iraq

I believe the problem is Iraq, not that Americans are being pussies about war.

When we went to Afghanistan, no one said shit - because we had a reason to be there. In WW2, no one said shit because we had a reason to be there.

Iraq is another Vietnam, we fly our troops halfway around the world for a cause that isn't really defined, and when the original reasons turn out false, we get another excuse from officials. The only difference is that in Vietnam we didn't have the technology that we do today, or there would be many more dead US soldiers.

1000 dead is unacceptable, ecspecially when considering the MUCH higher toll of those crippled and maimed from the war.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the greatest generation has come and gone. There was once a time when being part of our military was commendable thing, and time was served with honor. People willingly signed up to join our armed forces because they believed in the United States, the office of the President, and what it stood for.

One thousand members of our armed forces have died. This is a horrible thing. But it is vastly outweighed by the good done here. The middle east, while sitting on billions of dollars worth of oil, are still ranked as third world nations while their leaders build palaces. This was a government that openly supported terrorism in many forms while gassing tens of thousands of people.

What the United States has done here is both right and just; I don't give a rat's ass who is getting rich off of it.

And before any of you question my family's military background, please note that my Grandfather died in WWII as a US Marine, my father died in Vietnam as a US Marine when I was nine months old, and I also served as a United States Marine.

no kids should die for your fucking oil

"We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean for our economy and our national security when we have only 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on foreign countries for 53 percent of what we consume?

I want an America that relies on its ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi royal family. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/29/po...rint&position=

america rather send its kids to die than use its ingenuity

The american government seems to get away with just about everything since 9/11

ask more money, less privacy, alot of dead soldiers, etc

magic word that they use to make people approve all this: terrorism

ofcourse they don't give a shit about those soldiers, they never did


about Osama Bin Laden, funny how after so many years of looking for this fucker the US "can't" track him down.

:thumbsup

A good post...but I will point out that there are still those that think serving in the military is an honorable thing. Since Afghanistan and now Iraq...retention levels are good to go and all branches are more than meeting their enlistment requirements. There have always been the fuckwads that mock the patriots that put their lives on the line for those very fuckwads...though admittedly the fuckwads seem to be more numerous than ever.

You said "good to go" - What branch of the service were you in?

It's been said that anyone in the militrary spends their time training for war, but the last thing a professional soldier wants is to go to war. I was there and was willing if needed. But nothing pisses me off than keyboard warriors.

I served 12 years with the 82nd Airborne...and my career was ended during Desert Storm.

You'd think people would have worked out how to live with out having to go to war. It seems so primative.

Fletch

What breed of dog did your cousin steal ?

Too many fucking soldiers had to die for this deal. Stupid war. We shouldnt even be there at all. Whatever happend to the phrase SNOOP AND POOP. Sneak Around first, take people out silently, avoid the WAR. Send in spies, under cover people, Rats and people to help out first. Always seems better to me being a Marine from Desert Storm.

It's not just the middle east, nearly every country with significant oil exports (that represent 30% or more of total exports) are poor, have spotted records of democracy and are generally cursed for their natural abundance.

Only real exception is Norway.

There were 1 million deaths during the Battle of the Somme in WW1.

Nothing wrong with speaking German ;). Wish I could since I'm living here, but unfortunately it's wrong. The Russians would have destroyed the Nazi's, so we'd be speaking russian.

we're getting more and more of our oil from west africa. you think the middle east despots were bad, you should get a load of these guys.

i know this is almost bordering on cliche by this point, but it's the truth. we made saddam. every one of our oil interests from the mid east to south america to africa are ruled by a violent, brutal dictators who starve their people and live in lavish luxury. read up on the 'king' of equatorial guinea (where we're getting a huge amount of oil from). the people live in poverty, opposing political partiy members are killed and imprisoned and the son of this 'king' is living the high life in paris. these people are set up and funded by big oil and the u.s. gov't. they give these oil companies free reign of the oil fields (equatorial guinea keeps about 5% of the revenue) and we keep them in power.

THAT's why we're in iraq. not because of WMD or freed'm, or nucular weapons or anything else. big oil used the united states as a tool to clear the second largest oil reserves in the world. and NO, you will not participate in the wealth. gas is more expensive than ever, and oil company profits are skyrocketing.

but let's vote the cocksuckers back in office one more term. let's see how much more money and blood they can take from us. i mean, you love freedom right? </rant>

The sooner the US Government stops sending it's young to die, the better! :2 cents:

#1000 on the casualty list was an Ohio National Guard.

I really feel sorry for all those National Guard and Reserve units. Most of them probably were doing it just for a few extra bucks or college financing and thought the worst case scenario was being called up for natural disasters and a weekend or so a month.

The military would probably have been lucky to get 1% to join if they knew they were going to get a year of active combat duty in Iraq.

Yet we are 1 year into the war with Iraq and the military is experiencing record recruitment and reenlistment numbers.....

Just because some people don't understand what joining the military is really all about, doesn't mean everyone is that clueless and shallow and only wants to do it for some extra $$$. :winkwink:

OK, but if that is so, how come the US are asking to extend the tours of the reservists and National guards ...

This may come as a shock to you, but it actually takes time and MONEY to train soldiers :) When the military already has experienced and trained troops that are contractually obligated to be called up, why WOULDN'T they call them up? :eek7

In fact, right now the Army has instituted "Operation Blue to Green" where they are recruiting airmen and sailors leaving their service due to force reductions into the Army, which is temporarily increasing its ranks.

Recruiting, basic training, core training, security clearances, etc. aren't cheap and the "anti-war" crowd wants military spending reduced, so it makes perfect sense to call up those already enlisted :)

Because there are force end levels...imposed by Congress. The military cannot accept all that are qualified and want to enlist.