Lucrative_Glory wrote:
First off the bit about European soldiers being more mentally tough than American soldiers, please tell me what you are basing that on?
Firstly my father had British friends who served in Vietnam and they all said that about 75% of all the Americans they served with spent the whole time stoned trying to escape the reality of the hell they found themselves in (thats just one account and I'm not basing my whole view on that). Secondly just take Vietnam as an example, a tough hellish war, the US tried in vain for many years to make that campaign a success but up against a country like Vietnam - which was used to conflict over many, many years having repelled numerous attempted invasions from China and Mongolia - the difference became apparent. The Vietnamese won that war almost by pure determination, they would go on the smallest rations and practically live in their tiny tunnel networks to carry out their operations. Like Vietnam Europe has a long history of wars and battles, this kind of experience is inherited over the years in the military training of a nation and in the mentality and attitude of a nations people. America is a young nation, it is now making up for lost time in gaining military experience but it does not have the same tough mentality other nations have because you have never fought an opponent on your own soil. The US sends troops to foreign lands to fight battles that many of the soldiers do not fully understand or feel entitled to question. They serve tours of duty that can be as short as one year and there is always the knowledge that if they survive they can fly back home. Compared to the types of warfare other nations have had to endure this type of warfare is not as tough. The Vietnamese couldn't fly back home and say 'Oh well, we gave it our best shot', they either had to win or die (or be oppressed by their conquerers). Many of the wars fought in Europe have been territorial wars and so fought with the same mentality as the Vietnamese i.e. win or die.
Look at the Russian Army as an example of a European army (and yes Russia is in Europe). They sent many people to the front line to fight without even having any weapons in WW1. The suicide rate in the Russian army today is very high such is the mental and physical pressure they endure as part of their training. Contrast this with the accounts of ex US soldiers in books like Jarhead.
Lucrative_Glory wrote:
Finally to Braddock, your views are so skewed it sickens me, are you trying to say that in Europe you have no poverty? Every country has poverty, and to say that once you fall below a certain economic line that its almost impossible to bring yourself up is laughable, the US designates over $175,000,000,000 to programs that are put in place to help those in their times of need. Just so you don't think I am a hypocrite who says these things about other nations never having ever been to them... I was born in Germany and lived their until high school.
I never implied that Europe has no poverty I simply said that I believe we have a better mix between capitalism and socialism. And I said that 'IF you get sick at the wrong time in your life in America you CAN very easily find yourself poor and on the street with almost no way back' and by that I mean if you have no family or friends that can support you in times of need the conditions are there in America more so than in Europe that may see you fall off of society's ladder. I didn't mean to imply that every sick person in the US gets thrown on the trash heap of society, I do understand that there are certain programs in place to help the less well off such as the food stamp system.
Lucrative_Glory wrote:
the US designates over $175,000,000,000 to programs that are put in place to help those in their times of need.
Wow that's almost as much as you spend on the military!
US military budget for 2007: $470,000,000,000 (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_military_budget)
