"bd, that's not what I meant. I meant they don't understand their purpose there."
Oh, okay, my mistake. There's just so many people that it seems to be such a surprise and a mystery to them that they got deployed. I realize you didn't say that. I don't understand their purpose there either, really. I understand what they'd like to do but it seems just about impossible unless we're going to completely occupy them forever.
And some of these guys that snap are the ones that keep reenlisting. There are some choices to be made, and if they don't want to keep being deployed, people need to get out of the military. Though when they had Stop Loss, that was an entirely different story.
This was terrible. What a tragedy. So many kids. And so many of our soldiers will be attacked for this.
My guess is Bales is going to get a quick trial where they discuss his concussive head injury, then give him life in a military prison with no possiblility of parole.
It is interesting to me how so much time has been focused on what a wonderful soldier and person he was. Trying to make him such a sympathetic character, because everyone cares about the hardships of soldiers and how difficult the war is. And no time is given to the fact that he mass murdered mostly children.
"They don't know why they're there. We don't know why they're there. We haven't even declared war.
I still see the anti-war protesters every so often. Most of them have moved on. It's not as much of a hot button issue now because Americans are so ADD. Remember that this has been going on for ten years. I just don't think people have the energy any more or feel like they can do anything. There was some resurgence with the Occupy Wallstreet people. IIRC, they weren't there for the last few years of Bush either.
We've ended one campaign. Time to end the bloodshed in Afghanistan. I am very disappointed that Obama hasn't done it yet. However, as I've said numerous times, I do not pretend to understand the military or why we do what we do. I come from an extended military family and still do not understand it."
I'm very sorry about your brother in law, romani. What a tragedy.
I think the anti-war protestors are not particularly ADD, but it's that war doesn't feel as bad to them when it doesn't belong to Bush anymore. At least that's what it seems to me. I've seen a few of them coming back lately though.
As far as the military mission, it is, as they say, "To kill people and break things." Sad as it is, that is sometimes necessary in what is the desire to protect our county. Whether that works so well, I don't know. I personally go for the philosophy of economic control over invasions, but what do I know. But though our military is the largest humanitarian airlift in the world, and we do all sorts of amazing, heroic things that help others, that is the basic mission of the military. And people who join and don't realize it can be sorrily surprised.
As far as your friends....do they know that they are there because they joined the Marines or the Army (or possibly the Air Force) at a time when almost everyone is at risk for being deployed? I know people are very upset about being deployed to Afghanistan (and Iraq), but we have been there for a very, very long time. If they didn't think they were getting deployed, they were completely duped or very naive. A friend of mine's kid wanted to join the Army as an officer, promised his mom he wouldn't be deployed. He was applying for combat support positions. Where did he think he'd be going, Denmark?
The Powell Doctrine includes defining the objective, making a plan, having an end strategy, and acting with overwhelming force to accomplish the goal. We are doing none of that.
The Powell Doctrine was coined when Powell was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and was responsible for the first Iraq war (just for background). I also just finished Powell's autobiography and would recommend it to others, though it was written in the mid 1990s and therefore does not touch on his tenure at the State Department.
We haven't accomplished anything in Afghanistan in years. They are a bunch of tribes. We are trying to build a centralized government and there aren't even roads. We should've got out long ago. We didn't go there to get women equal rights or to build a wasteland into a 21st century thriving country. We went to kill the taliban because they wouldn't give us Osama.
We should pull everyone out except for maybe 5000-10000 troops that basically run a drone program.
Where are all those anti-war protestors from when Bush was in office? They should come back, of course they won't since there is a Democrat in office now.
It was a hell hole before we got there. It is a hell hole now. It will be a hell hole when we leave.
this is so frustrating. We are wasting lives over there, period.
sg, I don't get it either. And we're at the age where it's our friends dying. I lost my brother in law in Iraq in 8th grade. I'm now a 3rd year college student. I cannot believe we're still in Afghanistan. I have two very, very good friends in Afghanistan. I have several other friends in various stages of the military (going there, currently deployed, or back from deployment).
They don't know why they're there. We don't know why they're there. We haven't even declared war.
I still see the anti-war protesters every so often. Most of them have moved on. It's not as much of a hot button issue now because Americans are so ADD. Remember that this has been going on for ten years. I just don't think people have the energy any more or feel like they can do anything. There was some resurgence with the Occupy Wallstreet people. IIRC, they weren't there for the last few years of Bush either.
We've ended one campaign. Time to end the bloodshed in Afghanistan. I am very disappointed that Obama hasn't done it yet. However, as I've said numerous times, I do not pretend to understand the military or why we do what we do. I come from an extended military family and still do not understand it.
-- Edited by romanigypsyeyes on Sunday 11th of March 2012 10:05:28 PM
