Ran into two National Guard members in a mall the other day

[lebkuchen]

My friend, a Vietnam vet, went over to talk to them.

They were from the IA National Guard, training in MN. They said they were about to deploy to Iraq, third deployment (two to Iraq, one to Afghanistan).

One soldier said a lot of his friends had either been killed or wounded in past deployments. He said a lot of guys he knew were going back to take revenge against the Iraqis.

Instead of a military unit sent to rebuild hospitals and schools and bring democracy to the Iraqi people, Bush has reduced our military forces into a hateful vendetta machine.

Did he do it on purpose, in preparation for Iran?

[Raine]

1. I don't blame NG for being angry

and bitter but they are taking it out on the wrong people. Chimp is the one who they should be angry with and they should work to get his ilk out of office.

[atreides1]

2. All Bush did was send them to war

They are the ones who are choosing to become vengeance filled murderers, perhaps if they got rid of the wind-up keys in their backs, took the blinders off, and actually read their oaths of enlistment,
maybe a light might shine somewhere in the dark interiors on their souls.

If you see them again, ask them if they're actually defending the Constitution, or just following orders without question.

I have, I keep getting this "dear in the headlights" look. Then I just shake my head and walk away, and wonder why I wasted 13 years of my life wearing a uniform.

[Lisa]

9. this is exactly what a couple of Vietnam-era Marines I know ...

... have said about the situation, atreides1. One of the guys just shakes his head when he sees some of the bloodthirsty ones being interviewed on the news -- he calls them "robots". (The other one has told his kids that they are absolutely not to sign up for the military, because he feels the troops today are being encouraged to ignore the Constitution.)

I am very sorry, because as long as people like them, and you, were in the military, I actually felt much safer -- knowing that it wouldn't be about greed or revenge.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. I think they're taking out their resentment on the only target they're

allowed to take it out on. Very productive response, if you ask me. Like finding a strength, out of a weakness.

Is it morally right? Of course, not. But it serves the Bush Administration's purpose.

[lebkuchen]

4. Bush started his presidency with a strong military

high recruitment/reenlistment rates, high morale, and he turned it into All Quiet on the Western Front in five years.

Sad.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. How different is what they're doing to the military, than what CEOs

and managers have been doing to the American workforce? Anorexic workforce, cutting back on supplies and service support, getting soldiers to multi-task...more stress everywhere. Same management tactics are being used, but in the case of the military, they can just be more careless about the casualties.

[lebkuchen]

8. good point

It's unconscionable that the GOP is playing politics with the minimum wage bill right now when the American worker is the most overworked worker in the western world.

"Laborers want a wage increase? Not unless the rich get another tax break."

The typical American doesn't see through that, for some reason.

I spoke with some breadbasket voters recently, who live in small town America (where Walmart has run the small businesses out of town). Sadly, unless the topic is sports, these folks don't know squat despite the obvious deterioration in their own standard of living, and it's a certainty they will vote the GOP status quo, just because.

Newtie's pronouncement of looming WWIII has gotten their attention, however, and they are at least concerned about that. His commentary won't be useful to the GOP in Nov, imo.

[mediaman007]

5. When we went to an all volunteer military, we lost

critical thinkers. Granted the drafted soldiers gummed up the works, but they kept the system honest. I think that the military has psych ops perfected, and they apply it generously to our troops.

[Ian David]

6. If they want revenge, the real murderer is at 1300 Pennsylvaia Avenue

And by revenge, I mean at the ballot box, of course.

For as long as the ballots are counted.