toldailytopic: Memorial Day Weekend: What does it represent for you?

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Buzzword

Buzzword

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Well, I liked Mr. McCloskey's speech myself.

A few other quotes to consider in the discussion:

"Our GIs are not vassals or mercenaries.
They are the nation's sons and daughters.
We put their lives at risk only for worthy objectives.
If the duty of the soldier is to risk his life, the responsibility of his leaders is not to spend that life in vain."
-Colin Powell

"There should be a law, I thought. If you support a war, if you think it’s worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line. You have to head for the front and hook up with an infantry unit and help spill the blood. And you have to bring along your wife, or your kids, or your lover."
-Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
 
elohiym

elohiym

Well-known member
Buzzword said:
Well, I liked Mr. McCloskey's speech myself.
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It made me feel uneasy.

Perhaps it was stuff like ... "but we suffered only slightly over 400,000 deaths" ... "less than 12,000 have died" ... and ... "No longer do we fight with rifles, grenades and bayonets, as did most of the young men lying here in these beautiful rolling hills." :idunno:
 
Buzzword

Buzzword

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elohiym said:
It made me feel uneasy.

Perhaps it was stuff like ... "but we suffered only slightly over 400,000 deaths" ... "less than 12,000 have died" ... and ... "No longer do we fight with rifles, grenades and bayonets, as did most of the young men lying here in these beautiful rolling hills." :idunno:
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I think he used the numbers to point back to the Civil War, and also to emphasize that the face of war has changed, as you know.

A nation's military strength is in no way determined by the size of its standing army, which was the standard for thousands of years.

Less troops on the actual battlefield = less casualties from each new war.


What made you uneasy about the "No longer do we fight...." statement?
 
elohiym

elohiym

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Buzzword said:
What made you uneasy about the "No longer do we fight...." statement?
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We do still fight that way, at least some of our units do and have in recent history. It wasn't a smart bomb that took out the Somali pirates and saved lives.
 
Buzzword

Buzzword

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elohiym said:
We do still fight that way, at least some of our units do and have in recent history. It wasn't a smart bomb that took out the Somali pirates and saved lives.
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Ah, so it's more of a "this dude has no clue what modern warfare really is" uneasiness?

I think he used that particular word choice to contrast the man-to-man fighting of yesteryear with push-button warfare, rather than make a factual statement about the details of waging war in the 21st century.
 
elohiym

elohiym

Well-known member
Buzzword said:
Ah, so it's more of a "this dude has no clue what modern warfare really is" uneasiness?
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Not so much that. I just didn't like the way he seemed to diminish what modern infantry soldiers still have to do from time-to-time.

Buzzword said:
I think he used that particular word choice to contrast the man-to-man fighting of yesteryear with push-button warfare ...
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Right. That's what bugs me.

I'd like him to explain the differences he sees between an armored unit's movement to contact against Rommel during WWII and say, the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment's movement to contact against Russian T-72 tanks in the Iraq during Desert Storm.
 
rocketman

rocketman

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Granite said:
Oh, nonsense! What is this fascist insistence that any critic of war is somehow a traitor? Shame on you.



I see, and you do, because you support the military industrial complex? Nice racket.

I denounce any bug-wit who claims that a critic of war is somehow unfit to enjoy the liberty to do so.
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No Granite, Shame On You! for having no concept of what Memorial Day represents, it does not promote war, or the military industrial complex, it is a day to honor those that have paid in blood for this country. The soldier does not question the motives of conflict, he/she just does his/her duty. This thread is about memorial day, a day to honor this country's fallen soldiers, not an anti-war thread. Bad form...
 
eameece

eameece

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elohiym said:
Couldn't you just have a different day to honor those people?
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Why? It's "Memorial Day." Soldiers are not the only ones who are memorialized. We already have a Day. People can use it how they wish. As America gets more mature, it will glorify war less.
 
eameece

eameece

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rocketman said:
A predictable response from America hater such as yourself. Don't try to deny it, your rhetoric on this board is proof for all to see.
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Those who love their country, like me, want to see it get better. Those who hate it stick up for the status quo driving us into oblivion.


Anti war statements are not statements of hate for America. Duh.
 
rocketman

rocketman

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Hall of Fame
eameece said:
Those who love their country, like me, want to see it get better. Those who hate it stick up for the status quo driving us into oblivion.


Anti war statements are not statements of hate for America. Duh.
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You love this country, really?, Yet you cannot honor, much less admit that many have died to assure that it exists. Your beliefs of this country, and what makes it what it is, are convoluted. :down:
 
eameece

eameece

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rocketman said:
You love this country, really?, Yet you cannot honor, much less admit that many have died to assure that it exists. Your beliefs of this country, and what makes it what it is, are convoluted. :down:
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convoluted from your comprehension.

I said I honor them, not just them exclusively.

I agree we need them, and they protect us; but the reality is, like another poster said, most of them did not die protecting our freedom. Or, our freedom did not depend on the wars they fought and died in. To say our soldiers make our country what it is, is extremely narrow thinking. Many others do too.

I think some of you conservatives get a kick from knocking others who don't share your "patriotic" beliefs. But remember, the soldiers are protecting our right to speak, including to question our country's policies and the typical beliefs of conservatives like you. Freedom to question these are "what makes our country what it is."
 
eameece

eameece

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For most people, holidays are nothing but a day off from work.

And an inconvenience, since many stores are closed.
 
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