Can We Keep Giving Our Nation's Veterans the Respect They Deserve?

[McCamy Taylor]

Little bit surprised to see a thread about how our veterans are over rated climbing up the charts at DU just as the National Guard is being called out to fight COVID.

There are many reasons to respect our veterans.

Being in the military service means giving up your civil rights. Freedom of speech? Not happening. It might jeopardize national security.

OSHA and a safe workplace? That is strictly "Need to know." If it makes our nation's security even one iota weaker in the eyes of even one military expert you will never find out what chemicals you were exposed to when you served.

Mother-child bond? Father-child bond? Fiance-fiance bond? Country comes first.

If your superior officer tells you to push the button and launch the bomb, you do not get to try to decide how many innocent children might be hit. You are expected to do your job. Imagine the kind of moral crisis that can cause.

Not to mention if you are told "You are on point" you cannot contact your union rep and say "But I need better gear." If you showers electrocute you, then your only option is not to shower. If you are stationed in a country where you allies sexual harass and even rape you, you are expected to keep your mouth shut for the greater safety and good of the military alliance.

People who sign up to serve and who compete their services and get an honorable discharge have made sacrifices that most Americans would never be able to make. How many of you out there would be willing to let someone else make all your decisions for you? Where you sleep, what you eat, how your train? How many would allow yourself to be stationed in some of the most dangerous places on earth?



There are very good reasons why the usual laws do not apply when it comes to war. War is not the natural state of a society. All the rules are upended. And the people who serve are like Alice thrust into a very dangerous Wonderland. They did it for you and me, so we would not have to.

[Skittles]

1. I saw that thread

sickening

it's always someone who never served whining about the kudos for the military

[blueinredohio]

3. I had two nephews join for the excellent financial aid for college.

Once they got out they found out the aid wasn't as good as they were told.

[GeorgiaPeanut]

4. I'm a veteran and I am sickened by the disrespect

I agree with you

[Alex4Martinez]

5. Happily, I didn't see that thread. Typically, such posters haven't had the opportunity to serve...

...their country or their community.

I went by a parking lot that had a tent set up with tables and people with masks, in front of an urgent care.
Curious, I drove back wondering what was going on, no patients around but five young ladies, in gowns, clearly ready for any comers. A sign indicated they would perform respiratory exams.

Curiosity satisfied, I thanked them for what they are doing, acknowledged that they are on the front lines and that they are appreciated.

I'm pretty sure they were moved by being acknowledged, even as I was that they were there, for anybody who needed them.

A bit off topic, but we are at war and we are all on the same side, we are all mobilized, and this is a shit time to criticize anyone in the service, military or civilian.

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. Just goes to show that a person "sees" what they want to see.

That thread said NOTHING disrespectful of military personnel.

[Skittles]

12. I absolutely disgaree

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. That is OUR right

[Skittles]

14. good bye

[atreides1]

7. Sure

When it's deserved.

I'm a veteran and I don't believe that respect should be blindly given just because someone puts on a uniform!

Timothy McVeigh wore a uniform...as do the white supremacists who are still wearing a uniform in several of the services...

As for laws...there are laws that apply during wartime...if you're told to push a button to drop a bomb on a church or historic site...that's an illegal order...unless the enemy is using it to fire on your side...

I enlisted in 1978 and I wasn't "Alice" and there was nothing "Wonderlandish" about the US Army. I knew when I signed those papers, what was expected of me...as did all of the other trainees in my unit.

[UTUSN]

8. I think that thread was trying to acknowledge other ways of "service".

I myself detest the thank-you-for-your-service thing when I sense it's being said by Wingnuts. It started by the Shrub-CHEENEE cabal in the run-up to the Iraq Attack, because what they learned from Vietnam was: NO DRAFT, to avoid protests. They relied on volunteers, so the thank-you thing was to capitalize on military baiting.

At a grocery checkout, the teenaged cashier sincerely did the thank-you thing because of my ship's cap (and dog tag on my neck, and Navy ring, and... ) - and I said, "Thank YOU for YOUR service!1" And he was totally 'whelmed, said, "Oh, sir, I'm not a veteran!" And I said, " You SERVE by coming to work, being courteous to people, helping your family, everything you do." And he was just speechless.

And, yes, I persist in wearing my veteran's stuff on me at the same time that I don't want the attention. It's my stuff, it's part of me, and I want to wear it without being hassled about it. As I say, when the Thanker is a sincere, humble person, I am gracious. To the ones wearing SHITLER caps, I refuse to shake their hands - well, shaking hands is gone forever anyway.

Trying to say here, that that other thread maybe said it abrasively, but the ones he cited (public servants) are just as extreme in their type of service as some (not all) veterans, but "they also serve who stand and wait."

*******I think my contrarian persona shows that I am a died-in-the-wool CIVILIAN, even or especially during my four years in the military, where the military authoritarianism rubbed me wrong the entire time (although I understood it), and why I don't use the VA and prefer to co-pay through my employment retirement insurance.

[cwydro]

10. This.

I saw nothing wrong with that thread, and I also am a veteran.

He meant no disrespect, and I can’t see how anyone saw that.

Several posters in that thread proved that OP’s point quite well.

[Skittles]

11. using coronavirus to smear the military is not commendable

no INDEED

[pat_k]

9. Our military infrastructure appears to be to be the only part of government exhibiting foresight.

And as far as the people serving? My gratitude is hard to express.

Ultimately, I think this crisis will involve doctors and other medically trained military personnel to be deployed across the country, along with engineers and labor to erect hospitals, security personnel, and I don't know what else.

From the bits of information that can be garnered from the army times and other sources, there are plans in place to meet the needs as the situation demands.

I think the military hierarchy and infrastructure, including the national guard, are prepared to bring their advance planning, training, and skills to confronting the crisis. My only worry is that our "commander in chief' will somehow derail the effective execution.