Gallagher, for his part, is fit and ready and admits to several motives - he's not making much money here, he's tired of construction, he's in debt. And he just wants to do something new and different, to "help people" though it's not clear which people that might be. The Iraqis? He even sounds like he looks forward to combat, of all things....Everyone sitting in the room feels slightly uncomfortable, whether it’s the heat, the awkwardness of being interviewed for the first time, or perhaps more philosophically, the pressure to explain why, in the midst of a discouraging and overwhelmingly unpopular war, military service seems preferable to a civilian career.
Miller is fit but seems not so ready, and frets that she'll miss her family and won't like the clothes she'll have to wear. Uh, yeah why not put it off a while eh?
But that's not the issue to the Independent.
As the war on terror grinds on and the body count rises, the United States’ occupation of Iraq has become increasingly divisive. In recent months Helena, Great Falls, Bozeman, Butte and Missoula have written and passed resolutions voicing opposition to the war in Iraq.Yes, the cities of Montana have spoken. Hasn't the word gotten out?
Every night the news out of Iraq and Afghanistan plays on like a broken record. "Several soldiers died in Iraq today…a helicopter carrying six Marines was shot down…A car bomb in Kabul today…" All told, the Department of Defense puts the death count for U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq at 4,386, with 24 from Montana alone.Certainly, one can understand enlisting for the pay and benefits and college money - but it would have been wiser to wait until a Democratic president pulls the troops out next year, no?
The reporter would have been similarly mystified had they interviewed a young Mike Mansfield, who enlisted in the Navy during World War I, then upon discharge enlisted in the Army for a year, after which he enlisted in the Marines. Perhaps the guy was seeking adventure, travel, knowledge of the world. Maybe he wanted to become something more than he already was. Maybe he thought it was worth the risk and the inconvenience. Maybe he was patriotic. And maybe he needed a job, too.
Anyway, to those of you who gave up your safety and creature comforts to volunteer for military service (or answer that draft notice), God bless you. You have achieved an enduring dignity that no amount of money or success or academic credentials can buy.
29 comments:
Why can't they figure it out? Because their idea of public service is taking someone else's money and giving it to someone else.
Their idea of personal sacrifice is the reward that comes from carrying cardboard signs and wearing pink bunny ears.
Their idea of reward is getting grants and expanded entitlements.
the "independent" is just grinding the "defeat americans first" party line.
I assume that all of you patriots have offered more money to the government to pay for the war, or looked into how you can serve.
I hear they keep raising the age limit of enlistees.
Are your duties with 101st Fighting Keyboardists keeping you too busy to contribute?
What, are you saying we're not paying taxes or what? I'm paying OTA.
And I'd be ecstatic to join if they took people my age, which is, approx. X-17+10.
Pogie: You sir, are an ass!
Who are you to question what anybody has done in service to their country? Although, since you started it, I am sure that you have contributed mightily in some fashion, right?
Care to get out from behind the anonymity and explain what that was?
There are only three major themes in the liberal media’s anti-military, pacifist playbook:
1. We support the troops, but not the [fill in any name] War.
2. Kids who voluntarily join the military have been defrauded or hoodwinked in some fashion and therefore must be protected from recruiters.
3. The military will turn your son into a permanent mental case, if not a serial killer. [Gender variant] Your military daughter will be abused, gang raped, or murdered.
Those are the major themes, examples of which can be found every day in the liberal media. Of course, there are many variations on those themes because liberals are not totally uncreative.
The Missoula Independent is anything but.
And how predictable that the libs trot out the tired "chickenhawk" meme. This from people whose idea of self-sacrifice is to listen to Indigo Girls albums.
By the way, the Dixie Chicks still suck.
You may be sure that you won't see pogie type prople volenteering for the good of the nation, unless it is to get in the food line for a government handout.
Yeah, but only if they are vegan, certified organic, handouts.
“By the way, the Dixie Chicks still suck.”
--Mike LaRoche
According to David Crisp, Montana’s greatest authority on all things liberal and inconsequential, the Dixie Chicks don’t actually suck. They just get confused between business and politics. That is, they’re stupid.
I'm pretty sure that Great Falls hasn't passed a resolution opposing the war. So include factually inaccurate in your criticisms.
Funny statistics. If there were 4386 US servicemen killed over 6 years, that is about 700 or thereabouts per year which is a little less than 2 per day. Actually that is pretty good odds as compared to NYC where I live. There are more killed here per day than in Iraq and Afghanistan and those guys are fighting a war.
Dick—
You don’t understand how the commies work: It doesn’t matter how many US troops have been killed in Iraq—they died for nothing! They were duped into volunteering by shifty recruiters who preyed upon the young people's poverty and ignorance. They were sacrificed on the altar of oil profits by Darth Cheney and Halliburton! Etc., etc.
Listen to “Pogie.” He’s got the party line down pat: Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight! He’s what they call a cookie-cutter commie.
And check out the alternate boilerplate: “Oh, I’m not a commie scumbag. I’m just a little loving humanitarian person, and all I do is just count up all the innocent Iraqis that have been killed. More than 150,000 human beings are dead since George Bush started the war. Isn’t that just so awful?”
[Note: That figure was 600,000 last year, but that was an election year.]
Let's take all of our noble ideals about this ugly attack on a country that threatened us in no way, and project them on kids who do our bidding for us. Let's forget for a moment how public education doesn't prepare kids to think rationally, resist advertising or the military. Let's forget that our military is often the best way out of poverty for a large chunk of these kids. Let's pretend they are all Mike Mansfield's instead.
Mark T, get off your high horse and ask their families of the some 3000 folks killed by the missile-ing of the world trade center buildings, whether thery think they felt threatened. You have been eating to much "soilent(sp) green".
You’d think that after what e5 wrote, Mark Trotsky wouldn’t have launched into a sing-song rendition of the party line. But I guess once you teach a parrot to talk, there’s no shutting him up.
Dick: 'Only' 2 servicemen killed per day. How nice. I'll bet the families of the dead servicemen feel the same way.
Ayn: 9/11? Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Iraq did not have WMD. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi citizens and Saudi funded. (Bush is planning on selling the Saudis 20 Billion dollars worth of arms). Even Alan Greenspan admits (in his new book) that we invaded Iraq to secure their oil supplies. As the old saying goes: "Follow the money".
The truth is, joining the military is a personal decision. Military service can be honorable, fulfilling, challenging and rewarding. There is nothing wrong with that. Politicizing military service by claiming the troops are unwitting pawns or unconditional heroes is just another oversimplification of a complex issue that most Americans couldn't care less about. Now excuse me, American Idol is about to begin.
Ayn - a large percentage of the American public think The Iraqis attacked the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. The Bushies have very cleverly intimated this propaganda line. But I am isolated among people who know better. You're one of the few I've met.
I think we should encourage the Saudis to buy Bank of America. That would fix 'em.
in the midst of a discouraging and overwhelmingly unpopular war,
Heh.
I haven't read the Independent article, but I would just like to note that military service is not a partisan issue, and partisans who attempt to make it into one, do so at the peril of their cause.
I was in the Navy when Argentina and England went to war over the Falkland Islands. My ship was in the Caribbean so we were close, relatively. Oh how I hoped we would be sent into the conflict!
I didn't care what the issues were. I didn't care whether England or Argentina were in the right. I didn't care whether the war was a 'just' war. I just knew that I'd been trained to fight, and I wanted to fight. I wanted to fire my missiles at something other than a dummy target. It's human nature, and it's part of the reason we have civilian control over the military.
And you won't find anyone more liberal than I.
But I guess once you teach a parrot to talk, there’s no shutting him up.
Evidently.
Bush lied...squawk!....Americans are stupid....squawk!...etc. etc. ad nauseam
"...in the midst of a discouraging and overwhelmingly unpopular war."
Nancy— “Discouraging” to the Muslim terrorists, “overwhelmingly unpopular” with the liberal media.
Coobsian.
Squawk!
Now this is just getting silly...
Go Navy!
"Let's forget for a moment how public education doesn't prepare kids to think rationally"
I'm still supporting Uncle Miltie's ideas that would put competition into education and leave behind the Edsel that is the current model of public education.
It won't be long before we are strapping alarm clocks to the heads of smart kids so they won't challenge the teachers with tough questions. The theory of equality of outcomes has infected public ed more than any other insititution in this country.
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