We’ve seen the ads, “Join the Military and get job training that employers want”.. yeah right. One of my friends in El Paso was at the time a Scout for the Third Herd, 3rd Armored Cavalry. Stationed at Ft Bliss but spent most of his time (between the constant wars in which America has been engaged, unofficially) in this patch of Hell called MacGregor Range sandwiched between the limits of Ft Bliss, Biggs Army Air Field, White Sands Missile Range and Holloman AFB. His take on it was the job opportunities using his training would be either working as a cop or a hitman. (Personal aside, I don’t make any distinction at all between the two jobs.)
A double-digit percentage of the unemployed in Colorado are veterans. That’s about twice the percentage of the population who are veterans. The TeeVee college ads, trade schools actually, because the Wealthiest don’t want to spring for a real academic education, they want to keep us firmly planted in the Servant Class, make promises to recently discharged Veterans that strongly echo the lies of the Military Recruiters. “get training the employers are looking for”.
You know, it would be a Hell of a lot easier for you to Skip The Army Bullshit and just go to college or trade school without their help.
That way you don’t have to Kill and possibly Die for the benefit of the very richest. Let them send their own sons and daughters into the fight. Like Bush, Cheney, Romney, the entire Limbaugh Family, all of them DIDN’T serve “our country” and they don’t send THEIR nasty little piglets into the fray either.
The Bush Twins actually went on a speaking tour Campaigning for their Coward Little Daddy but disguised as Promoting the Military Service as a “career opportunity”. Essentially told high school kids to drop out from education and join the Killing Machine.
Advice neither they nor the scions of their Fathers Accomplices took.
Nor did their father or any of his accomplices. (Pretending to be a Fighter Pilot doesn’t count, everybody ELSE who had the word “combat” in his MOS at the time got sent to VietNam, save for a very few, very privileged scions of the very rich… like GW)
Face it, kids, you really DON’T owe it to America to join the Army. The United States has been in constant wars since the end of World War 2 and has not actually had a congressional declaration of war since December 8, 1941.
Nor have ANY of those wars actually been about American or anybody else’s “freedom”. To the veterans of those wars, there’s two different sides to that. The one told to you by the Government, saying how much they love and respect you.
And those of us who actually respect you, America and ourselves enough to Not Tell You Those Lies.
It’s a hideous thought that your time and the killing in which you participated, and the lives of your comrades, was exactly that meaningless… that the blood shed and destruction wrought was merely to fill the pockets of the Richest Bastards on earth, and who themselves declined to fight for their own wealth.
But that’s how it is, bubba. That’s how it is.
Rather than get all outraged about somebody telling you the Truth, why not focus that rage on the Sons-of-bitches who sent you into that using Lies, and pat you on the head every Veterans Day and any other War-related Holidays?
Which are the majority of state and federal “holidays”.
I should point out that Holiday is an English merger of the two words Holy Day. There’s nothing Holy about War.
The Military is just an extension of the Servant Class who are used by the Wealthiest at their convenience. Like the Rich who say they gained their money without exploiting their workers.
In their eyes we’re all disposable, allowed to live as long as we make them their money.
It’s the very core of Capitalism.
Let me guess, you’ve never served, right? After all, there are no “rich guys” fighting there next to soldiers/marines, huh? You, sir, have the experience of shower-less hippie
On the contrary, my DD-214 says “honorably discharged”.
I also didn’t serve America. Nobody in the military does. Nor do you fight for freedom. You have the stench of Redneck Ignorance about you. Let me guess, Voted For Bush? Twice?
I feel sorry for you, guy, but the Recruiter Lied to you.
I didn’t. And I’m not going to lie to the kids the Recruiters are trying to get into the “service” either. That’s what you do. Not what I do.
If you’re not getting PAID to lie, i’d suggest you go to your commander and demand payment. Make sure you count it before you leave the Temple, though. Sometimes they don’t give you the full thirty pieces for each soul.
Now, I’m not proud that when I was 18 I was dumb enough to join. That’s why the Recruiters target Kids, you know, because they’re easy pickings. You know what’s the difference between an Army Recruiter and a College Football Recruiter? The college recruiter isn’t allowed to come on High School Property. The Army Recruiters actually go to Kindergarten classrooms and tell the really young kids what a great life it is, killing other kids their age (and younger)
I am, however,Proud as Hell that I got out
Yes, you believe that you “fought for my freedom to say that” but you really Did Not.
You killed whoever you were ordered to kill without any regard to whether they even were enemies of Freedom or Enemies of the United States… you were told to kill and you killed. No idealism, no “fighting for…” anything, just doing what you were told to do and were stupid enough to do.
The people who told you to kill were the same people who told you that the people you killed were enemies. And ordered you never to question that.
Guess what, Becerra? I don’t Follow Their God-Damned Orders. Just like I wouldn’t follow YOURS. You don’t like that, too bad. You don’t run anything and neither do your commanders.
It must make your Fascist little soul seethe to read somebody you despise as a “hippie” telling you that. Toughie-poo, kid. Get used to it.
The recruiter only told you in nicer terms, but it was the same thing the TI told you in Basic, and the same thing you’ve been told ever since you raised your right paw toward heaven and swore that oath.
That your “superiors” are just that, Better Than You. You can believe that if you want, I happen to defy that kind of Arrogance.
Do what they told you you’re not capable of doing, think for yourself. It’s a painful experience but Liberating.
Here’s one thing to think upon. if they’re your “superiors” then just logically you must be their “inferiors”. Do you feel inferior to them? No? Then why let them treat you as though you were? Been kicked in the face so many times you came to think it was an expression of “respect”? Your commanders don’t respect you, never did and never will.
They look upon you as just another Expendable piece of equipment. They don’t care if you survive beyond the cost of training a replacement Foolish Piece of Equipment when it happens. They’ll give your ol’ lady a flag and a little gold star and then kick her ass off the base because she won’t be a “dependent” any more, clutching a list of “support” organizations who won’t give a damn about her silly ass problem of a dead husband and suddenly fatherless kids.
The Chaplain will give her that list, then turn right around and start propagandizing to the next wave of Expendable Soldiers, telling THEM about how great and glorious is your service, and how God tells them to obey every order from their “Superiors”.
It’s not like you have any choice. Or do you?
Your Recruiter, your commanders, your presidents, your Chaplains, all of them consistently lied to you.
I’m not going to.
By the way, after I got the discharge, I’m a Civilian. You know what that technically means? It means I not only outrank YOU but every Son-of-a-Bitch in your Chain of Command including the President of the United States.
If they’re your “superiors” merely because they outrank you, and pay Attention, son, it’s important I outrank THEM, how does it make you feel that a “hippie” is your Superior?
First of all, you only outrank me in your mind. Which isn’t worth much, seeing as in your mind Soviet Russia is still standing. Secondly, forgive if I don’t believe your claim of veteranship, seeing as you’ve said things on this blog that a basic private would know. Third, if I wanted Uncle Sam to powder my bottom as you believe you’re entitled to then I’d stopped giving a damn and turn to welfare, but I chose to join (yes, join, I wasn’t forced)the Marines knowing full well that my life would be in danger. Fourth, I see you’re using that old college vs military recruiter that you love to use so much, so I see I’ll just have to respond as you would.
“Bush lied, people died.”
“9/11 was an inside job”
“The Zionist Jews are planning to turn America into a theological imperialist fascist Nazi regime.”
“No one ever starved in Russia, it’s just a lie run by the Zionist Jew controlled media.
Forgive me if I’ve forgotten some of the usual comebacks.
“commie, hippie, blah blah blah”
Neither you nor your owners, own me. Get used to it. When I got out of the Air Force I got the Air Force out of me. There are many who never make that mental transition. Some only make it slowly.
If you really were interested in making a spectacular Propaganda Coup, you know, you could have stepped forward at the St Paddie’s parade three years ago and told the cops running the Repression of Free Speech, Freedom to Peaceably Assemble and such, and by a simple, no risk to you display of your uniforms and said that we were well within our rights to march in a public parade, not doing anything illegal and made the Bullshit Comment about “fighting for freedom”. As it was, we didn’t have anything anti-soldier displayed.
The Soviets spent themselves down, not for Communism or Socialism but Militarism. Same as your Masters just did to OUR national economy.
And, yes, bubba, unless you’re planning on unilaterally declaring a Police State/Martial Law, Civilians DO outrank you.
Again, get used to it. Your wealthy Owners don’t give three shits about your life, your welfare.
When they’re done using you for their profit they’ll dismiss you. Too bad, so sad.
When SSgt Howard Lanning, USAF, was dying of Agent Orange the Pentagon denied it was even service connected until 5 years after his death.
He worked at his small business until the day he died, his business that was sucked dry by his illness. His now-widow and he had 2 million in their business and they spent it all on his illness that the Air Force CAUSED and then exacerbated by “benign neglect”.
She was on the streets while undergoing chemotherapy for her own cancer, steadily paying down the bills for Sergeant Lanning’s death, bills that the Military and their Owners rightfully owed.
That’s what a “great career opportunity” the Army/Navy/Air Force/Marines provides for you.
Now you’re fighting once more for the Richest People in Americas dough-re-mi.
Your blood and that of your comrades and that of your so-called “enemies” is being shed to put money into the pockets of people like Cheney and Bush and Wolfowicz and their BILLIONAIRE spokes-freaks like Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, draft-dodgers all.
They wouldn’t fight for their money, they sent YOU to fight for their money instead. And SSgt Howard Lanning, SSgt Leroy Edward Brown, SSgt Peggy Reed, SSgt Lawrence W. Richard… those survived the wars, although Lanning died from the poison he was ordered to deploy for the Air Force and Richard and Brown died from really anomalous cancers after their Career Opportunities ended.
I know those cases personally. Sergeant Reed and her husband boast of the killings they were accomplice to in Turkey and Iraq.
Fighting for “freedom”. Yeah, right.
Make sure you count the money BEFORE you leave the Temple, sometimes they don’t pay the full thirty shekels apiece for the souls you deliver to them.
Oh you were in the airforce…yah that was hardtimes…ha!
Well, I DID refrain from killing any of the asshole officers who were placed in Command over me. Probably a good thing.
The “skills” they teach are the same as in the Army Navy and Marines. Obey. Don’t Question, that sort of stuff.
I also learned that everything in the “service” is geared to Mission. meaning, Killing. Even the Chaplains are there to make people feel good about killing.
And, here’s the important part, they taught me that it takes far more courage to dissent than to obey. They didn’t intend to teach me that, but they did teach it to me.
I could be a true Coward and just accept every word the “Leaders” tell me as either Truth or at least to be questioned. Our Marine Friend who attempted to lecture me about being Indian, for instance, pops off with something that sounds like it was written by Karl Rove. Who isn’t any kind of Warrior. Nor was George Bush nor Richard Cheney nor Gordon Brown nor Tony Blair.
They call Blair “Bush’s Poodle”. I suppose our Marine Friend could be described that way too.
Not brave enough to ever question the Lies told to him by professional Cowards and Liars like Bush. The WMDs claims were fake, the claims of Iraqi involvement in 9/11 same way. Mr Bush’s allies, Blair and Brown, admitted it very recently, but said that it didn’t matter, Hussein wouldn’t be the Lap Dog of Mr Bush and the “New World Order” so he had to be punished, as an example to any other national leader who defied their Mighty Empire.
Perhaps that’s why Our Marine Friend is afraid to question their Lies and defy their orders, and merely licks their hand like a good little doggie. When they tell him to Bark he barks, when they tell him to Hush, he shuts the hell up, like a good little well-trained Doggie.
Except, even dogs have courage. For another Indian Example, he behaves much like he has the liver of a Cut-Nose Slave.
And calls it “courage” and “freedom”.
To eat his heart would poison my soul, it’s filled with such cowardice.
Oh, the Marine was in a different thread. Same deal. Are you such a Dog that you’ll do the bidding of a lying coward Puke like George Bush, without question, then grovel to him and beg him for mercy when he kicks you? Do you not have the intestinal fortitude to defy your owners? Question their lies, take the beating they always dish out when one of their Slave-Dogs rebels. Go to their dungeons just once for defiance and then lecture me about how you’re such a “badass”. or “Hard Core”. You obviously don’t know the meaning of the terms.
Here’s the link to that other thread:http://notmytribe.com/2008/howabout-an-unexpurgated-face-of-war-83922.html
I would do the HTML code on it but I’m in kind of a hurry, my landlady, whose husband was murdered by the Air Force service he performed (Agent Orange) and in keeping with the theme of this post, abandoned to die by the Service after becoming ill with the poisoning they handed him… needs me to go to the store.
Probably something you wouldn’t understand, when YOUR widow or orphans need the “opportunities” afforded by the military service, and of course you’re not there to care for YOUR family, who’s going to do that, take care of them?
It sure as Hell won’t be your Army or Air Force or Marines. Meanwhile I know one VietNam War widow who needs her groceries. So I bid you a pleasant adieu.
“while intelligent people can simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple”….”the heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wiseman is in his heart”
I presume you will complicate these quotes with your mouth.
To be heard one must speak through their hearts not with mouths of anger. You are quite passionate about that which you speak, carry on dark knight but to truly be Heard, you will touch many with words and actions expressed through heart and not the harsh “ego” of your mind. I challenge not what you say, but challenge how you say it. Light touches many…be not a pillar of darkness but a warm light of truth…blessings mighty warrior….
True. But the stupidest thoughts can fit on a bumper sticker. I just don’t do slogans.
Keep in mind how Saint Paul spoke and wrote. (He dictated most of his letters, though, because he probably had arthritis in his hand. One really short letter said “Behold what a long letter I have written with my own hand!”
And when he was preaching on his way to being arrested in Jerusalem, he talked so long he put one of his listeners to sleep, a youth named Eutychus. Dude fell out of a third story loft and everybody thought he was dead. Paul examined him, reassured them that he was just knocked out and then went back talking. Until dawn. A couple of his letters the first chapter is one long sentence.
The prophet Isaiah was the same way.
But if you want a more modern study on the differences between slogans and actual discussion, read Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World – Revisited”.
Slogans are really effective for selling, objects, ideas, concepts… but they don’t actually make people think.
We need more thinking and less buying right about now. The Pentagon is selling. I’m not.