Let us Never forget our Young Fighting Men and Women
Posted by liberty4us on Wed, 06/04/2008 - 01:51 in Even if you've seen this before, it's worth seeing again and
Passing on. You need speakers to hear the music, though.
To watch in full screen...at the bottom of the page, click full view.
http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/Impish_Dragon/?action=view&curr...
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I think it is noble that someone would want to join the military in order to protect American freedom, but the video you linked seems to me to portray our current military exploits as something worth idealizing and idolizing.
I've got three brothers and two sisters-in-law that are in the military. One of my brothers is air force special ops and has spent a considerable amount of time living in privation and seeing his buddies killed while doing his job. While I admire a person's ability to perform under difficult circumstances, I think it is important to remember that the members of the anti-Nazi White Rose Society were executed because they were convicted of not supporting the troops, and hence, the nation.
The video you linked to seemed to blend the current, illegal, immoral war in Iraq with support for the troops in such a way that is reinforcing the propaganda that you cannot support the troops without supporting their current mission. I think we need to be very careful about how we approach such propaganda. Obviously I support the troops, or I would have to say I don't care if half of my family were killed, or suffered undue hardship while deployed, but I want to show support for them by bringing them home, and keeping them safe here--not by lionizing what they are going through in the Middle East. I would prefer that they are not having to be toughened up in such harsh circumstances.
Not a single one of my family members joined the military to defend American freedom. They knew that that is not what the military is in the business of doing nowadays (in fact has not been in the business of doing for a long time). My brothers joined up in order to give their lives order, and to gain valuable skills. They knew ahead of time that some of their work would not be in support of freedom, but would, instead, be part of the NWO machine. While tenets of our faith resolve that contradiction for them, it is still something that weighs heavily on them--especially as they see their buddies being killed.
I agree that being sent downrange is a tough job, but let's please not link to propaganda that portrays militarism as patriotism.
The purpose of the military is the defence of the nation against all foes both foreign and domestic. Period.
Placing a political idea as a purpose negates the ability of the military to rise above internal control. It keeps the military, as it is in Turkey, as an outside agency whose task is to defeat the elected representitives of the nation if those officials negate, in the eyes of the military, the nations supposed ideals.
The military in the US was never intended to be the watchdog for the nations ideals.
Defence of freedom is the goal. Unfortunately, your sense of freedom is not the same as the majority of the nation.
Our military does indeed keep us from being invaded by hordes who would take what is ours. In that regard, our freedom is safeguarded.
My idea of what freedom is IS different than the majority of people in the nation today. People today think that because they can vote for their next master, then they are free. Tocqueville told us, nearly two hundred years ago, that the American public would eventually devolve into that kind of stupidity. That's no surprise. I do not think we are really free and his fore-telling of our current predicament only adds credibility to my belief.
IMHO, our military has not been called up to truly defend our nation since the Civil War--and even that can be reasonably argued between students of the Declaration of Independence.
I haven't seen any "hordes" trying to take away my freedom--except those that dwell in D.C. I would love to see "hordes" of Middle-eastern terrorists trying to invade the U.S. That would be a bungling sight to behold. Besides, who would finance such an obvious waste of manpower and material? The U.S. subsidizes and feeds nearly half the planet, so who could possibly have enough resources to pay for the invasion of a nation of 300 million people, with hundreds of millions of firearms at our disposal? The mere notion is beyond nuts! As it is, an invading horde from the Middle-east would never make it out of the Persian Gulf--unless the U.S. was already in shambles from destroying its own economy through war and stupidity. Even then, you still have to deal with 300 million people and millions of small arms to "take what is ours." No one could do it; no one would attempt it--not in the situation that exists today in America.
Instead of blowing all our cash in the Middle-east, our military ought to be positioned along the U.S./Mexico border stopping the real invasion of America by the drug cartels, and other criminal professionals, who cross into our nation from the third-world every day.
This issue of being against the war meaning you "don't support the troops" is a real ace in the hole for the neocons.
I think of it this way. I respect and admire everyone that puts it all on the line to join the military. They do not make the decisions about where they are going to fight and where they are not. They put a solemn trust in their civilian leaders to send them into battle only in defense of our liberty and security, and for no other reason.
Iraq was never a threat to our liberty or our security. Our soldiers in Iraq are not "defending our right to wear that t-shirt" as this video suggests. Not in anyone's wildest imagination could Iraq have ever caused the United States to surrender one ounce of its freedom (although the United States itself is doing just fine at that all by itself).
Nonetheless, I do not blame the soldiers one bit for going there and fighting. It is their duty as soldiers to follow orders and to fight when they are called upon to fight. This does not make them "unthinking grunts" as some have suggested, just because they find themselves in an unjustified war. No military can function if every man and woman in it has to sit down and debate or deliberate whether or not to follow the order to fight. They must surrender this right when joining the military, placing a sacred trust in their civilian leaders to make the right decisions. Of course, if they are given an obviously unjust or immoral order, like shooting a baby, they have a responsibility to disobey it. However, short of that, they must follow orders and do their duty.
It is our civilian leaders that are to blame for exploiting the sacrifice and trust of these brave men and women. For that alone, they should be tried for treason.
Tom Mullen
www.tommullen.net
www.myspace.com/skepticsongs