Usa Thread

[Flashermac]

Agreed ... but still more of a vet that Willie or Obie. During the VN War active duty military had next to no use for the Reservists and National Guard, since they knew by joining them they were guaranteed not to have to go to war. At the end of training, we went to RVN; they went back home and hung their uniforms in their closet.

 

NG was taken to mean "Not Going" and ER (enlisted reserve) meant "Exit Running". GWB didn't mind serving, in fact he wanted to fly like his father - a WWII combat vet. GWB just didn't want it to interfere with "more important things" in his life, which having to do it full time and in another country would. He managed to enlist in an Air Nat Guard unit that was already way over strength, the same one Senator Lloyd Bentson's son was hiding in. Plus GWB was commissioned after 6 weeks of airman's basic training. He must have been a damn good trainee, since all of the others in his company graduated as an E-1 (OR-1).

 

Quite frankly, I am already sick of this election - and it has a year to go! I don't much like any of the choices.

[Flashermac]

I am all for a person serving their country but why do they expect the government

to provide them with uniforms, equipment, food, etc,?

 

If you look at the Arizona Rangers - they look exactly like a full pledge police officer - badge,

uniform, gun but each ranger bought at their own expenses their own gear and provide their time for free.

 

Sorta like how things used to be.

 

 

 

 

Exactly! And pilots should have to buy their own fighter aircraft and sailors their own ships and subs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Julian2]

I still think that a decision not to serve in wars like Vietnam shouldn't disqualify someone from public services, or for that matter be an excuse not to vote for him.

Would my father have volunteered for Vietnam?

I think not, but he went willingly and unconscripted to fight in WW2, because he saw that the world as he knew it was under threat.

Millions were like him, in 1942 even film stars and business executives joined the army.

Clinton had a choice, stay at school and miss the war.

Bush chose to play with expensive toys at the public expense and gets brownie points at election time.

[Bangkoktraveler]

Exactly! And pilots should have to buy their own fighter aircraft and sailors their own ships and subs.

 

 

It would save the tax payers a lot of money.

[Bangkoktraveler]

I still think that a decision not to serve in wars like Vietnam shouldn't disqualify someone from public services, or for that matter be an excuse not to vote for him.

Would my father have volunteered for Vietnam?

I think not, but he went willingly and unconscripted to fight in WW2, because he saw that the world as he knew it was under threat.

Millions were like him, in 1942 even film stars and business executives joined the army.

Clinton had a choice, stay at school and miss the war.

Bush chose to play with expensive toys at the public expense and gets brownie points at election time.

 

 

Hitler went to WWI.

 

Did it help him?

[Bangkoktraveler]

I think that calling GWB a vet for getting to fly jet fighters on the weekend with no danger of seeing action unless the VC invaded the US is a bit over the top.

 

 

GWB a vet?

 

A veteran of what war?

[robaus]

I still think that a decision not to serve in wars like Vietnam shouldn't disqualify someone from public services, or for that matter be an excuse not to vote for him.

Would my father have volunteered for Vietnam?

I think not, but he went willingly and unconscripted to fight in WW2, because he saw that the world as he knew it was under threat.

Millions were like him, in 1942 even film stars and business executives joined the army.

Clinton had a choice, stay at school and miss the war.

Bush chose to play with expensive toys at the public expense and gets brownie points at election time.

 

>> Millions were like him, in 1942 even film stars and business executives joined the army.

...except hypocrites like the “all American icon†John Wayne who sat out WW2 snapping up roles that much decorated true patriots like Jimmy Stewart missed out on.

 

From wiki..

 

“By many accounts, Wayne's failure to serve in the military was the most painful experience of his life.â€

..yeah, but not half as painful as the poor buggers who died in the Sands of Iwo Jima, while the Duke was agonising over his possible Oscar.

 

“His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt, writing: "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home.â€"

... another conservative Republican hypocrite, keen to whip up war fervour in later conflicts, but not so enthusiastic at the time his draft papers arrived.

 

[Flashermac]

All Wayne had to do was sign up for the Hollywood film making unit. He'd have probably been given a direct commission and could have said he'd worn a uniform. But for some strange reason he refused. One wonders what on earth he was thinking.

 

I've heard a lot of criticism of Wayne from WWII vets. There is a story that John Wayne went on a USO tour of the South Pacific with other stars. When he appeared on stage dressed as a cowboy, with six-shooters on his hips, the soldiers booed him. Never seen it verified, but it sounds believable. John Wayne also was one of the group of Hollywood "patriots" who sought out "communists" in the film industry during the McCarthy years. All of the group had dodged service themselves.

 

I respect someone who honestly opposed the VN War. But the dislike for Clinton was over how he claimed to be against the war, when he really didn't want to delay his entry into high paying jobs. There is a brilliant article by a member of that generation about how so many university grads used war opposition as an excuse, when they privately admitted they wanted to start  their careers immediately and not have to "waste" time in military service. There were alternatives to military service, but they refused to do them either. (One friend admitted to me he had stayed in the Peace Corps the maximum 5 years so he wouldn't be drafted. You could not be as long as you were serving, and by the time he finished conscription had ended. GWB took the easy option of having daddy get him into the Air National Guard. There are supposed to have been NG units filled with the sons of influential folks and off limits to ordinary proles. Dan Quayle was in one in Indiana.) 

[Redbaron]

But the dislike for Clinton was over how he claimed to be against the war, when he really didn't want to delay his entry into high paying jobs.

 

If you believe his autobiography, the first time he earned more than the missus was when he became prez. Then again, she was a lot smarter at school/uni/college than he was too so it makes sense

[Flashermac]

The killing of Awlaki’s 16-year-old son

 

Two weeks after the U.S. killed American citizen Anwar Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen — far from any battlefield and with no due process — it did the same to his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, ending the teenager’s life on Friday along with his 17-year-old cousin and seven other people.

...

 

My link

The new way to wage war ...