Well, this is really to all the posters here who have served in the military of late. I realize I've probably angered a number of you with my lack of support and outright hatred of the military. I'm done hating. It was an interesting forum gimmick and got a lot of interesting responses and was what I really felt. I was outraged at the behavior of a few soldiers that I had either encountered personally or heard about in the news. For all the support the country gives the troops, who are supposed to be the good guys, and then see a number of them involved in incidents like Haditha and the rape case, it's a betrayal.
I know I was raised to respect soldiers, I couldn't respect that. I also couldn't take the misperception of soldiers I'd met that my freedom was at stake in Iraq, or that we have to support the president no matter what, or hearing a general disregard for the Iraqis coupled with racial epithets, or that even though I have the freedom to say what I want I shouldn't be allowed to say certain things. The freedom thing really bugged me though, because I've had a personal experience in my life where I have had to fight for my freedom and rights, and I only had me to count on. There were no soldiers in sight.
In my own foolishness, I decided it would be easier to generalize. To those of who have served and post here, I extend my apology to most of you. Actually, I think there's only one person who I won't apologize to, and it isn't Usmarine2005. If they read this they can figure it out.
I do want to say though that I don't support the war and I honestly don't see the need to support the troops. I may change my mind on that, but I still can't. Though I will say, those of you who signed up because they wanted to serve the county, not because of money, not because of "Saddam did 9/11 and we're getting revenge," not because it's a chance to kill some Arabs, you have my support. It's an admirable thing to do, really.
This was sparked by the war stories thread. I was really impressed with how some of you refused to discuss it. I don't know how you feel about it, if you're comfortable with it or not, or if you're willing to talk about it elsewhere, but prudence was shown by not discussing it on a forum for a war video game populated with many teenagers that think war's a game and guns are toys.
The last thing I do want to stipulate that those of you who think torture is ok, or that an Arab life is worth any less than an American life, disregard this apology. This time though I will take issue with you as an individual, not a soldier.
I can understand if you don't accept this, I was way over the top on a lot of what I said. The hatred does nothing though, solves nothing. Take from this what you will. Thanks for reading.
I know I was raised to respect soldiers, I couldn't respect that. I also couldn't take the misperception of soldiers I'd met that my freedom was at stake in Iraq, or that we have to support the president no matter what, or hearing a general disregard for the Iraqis coupled with racial epithets, or that even though I have the freedom to say what I want I shouldn't be allowed to say certain things. The freedom thing really bugged me though, because I've had a personal experience in my life where I have had to fight for my freedom and rights, and I only had me to count on. There were no soldiers in sight.
In my own foolishness, I decided it would be easier to generalize. To those of who have served and post here, I extend my apology to most of you. Actually, I think there's only one person who I won't apologize to, and it isn't Usmarine2005. If they read this they can figure it out.
I do want to say though that I don't support the war and I honestly don't see the need to support the troops. I may change my mind on that, but I still can't. Though I will say, those of you who signed up because they wanted to serve the county, not because of money, not because of "Saddam did 9/11 and we're getting revenge," not because it's a chance to kill some Arabs, you have my support. It's an admirable thing to do, really.
This was sparked by the war stories thread. I was really impressed with how some of you refused to discuss it. I don't know how you feel about it, if you're comfortable with it or not, or if you're willing to talk about it elsewhere, but prudence was shown by not discussing it on a forum for a war video game populated with many teenagers that think war's a game and guns are toys.
The last thing I do want to stipulate that those of you who think torture is ok, or that an Arab life is worth any less than an American life, disregard this apology. This time though I will take issue with you as an individual, not a soldier.
I can understand if you don't accept this, I was way over the top on a lot of what I said. The hatred does nothing though, solves nothing. Take from this what you will. Thanks for reading.
