smitty wrote:Well, there are many folks like me who were/are in the military. It does take a lot of sacrifice to serve. It's not easy to understand if you haven't done it. It's a totally different world.

I know for sure combat must be something harder than anything I've experienced. Much harder. I'm talking about what people I know said when they went into the military. Not once did I hear anything about serving their country. But much (most?) of the military never sees actual combat. My friends and family weren't going into the military to go into combat. They were going in to get decent pay and retirement benefits at some monotonous job WAY behind the lines. Maybe they were ticked because they knew the war was a contrived sham. Anyway, I never heard anything about protecting our freedoms.

It's not that I don't appreciate sacrifices made. It's just that I don't feel any more warm and fuzzy about soldiers than I do about firefighters, nurses, social workers, etc.

Monkeyboy wrote:

smitty wrote:Well, there are many folks like me who were/are in the military. It does take a lot of sacrifice to serve. It's not easy to understand if you haven't done it. It's a totally different world.

I know for sure combat must be something harder than anything I've experienced. Much harder. I'm talking about what people I know said when they went into the military. Not once did I hear anything about serving their country. But much (most?) of the military never sees actual combat. My friends and family weren't going into the military to go into combat. They were going in to get decent pay and retirement benefits at some monotonous job WAY behind the lines. Maybe they were ticked because they knew the war was a contrived sham. Anyway, I never heard anything about protecting our freedoms.

It's not that I don't appreciate sacrifices made. It's just that I don't feel any more warm and fuzzy about soldiers than I do about firefighters, nurses, social workers, etc.

Ok. They are/were REMFs. Don't know much about that. I was a combat arms man. Our training was long and hard. It wasn't just combat that was tough. But being on a training excercise could get pretty brutal, too. But at least no one was shooting at us. Guys got hurt, sometimes killed. Not an easy life for a field troop.

Today, guys have been in combat deployments multiple times. And our special operators and Air Force and navy pilots are in danger often these days.

I understand what you are saying. But it's hard to understand what being a soldier, sailor, airman or marine is unless you've been there and done that.

While I certainly believe there are folks like smitty who joined the military for patriotic reasons, I don't know many in my age group or younger, personally at least, whose motivation had much to do with love of country so much as it was simply a job they wanted (or didn't want) to do. And there's nothing wrong with that, as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't make their service any less noble.

I have respect for those who serve, not the least reason being because it's a job that I certainly would not want, and would probably be awful at. However, I don't know if this is the case with every generation's veterans who have served during wartime, but there is definitely this elitist attitude among young vets that us civilians need to shut the fuck up and kiss their ass. We shouldn't question or criticize anything about the military, otherwise we're unpatriotic. Maybe it's a small minority of them, I don't know, but they're vocal and obnoxious. I think that's where a lot of the discord stems from.

The folks who criticize the military the most are folks inside the military. FUBB, FUBAR, SNAFU and many other terms are used a lot by soldiers. It was in my day and I'd be surprised if it wasn't still true. A lot of vets will talk this way amongst themselves. But don't want to hear it from civilians.

Our President-elect also criticizes the military a lot. They lose and are losers. He prefers winners.

smitty wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:

smitty wrote:Well, there are many folks like me who were/are in the military. It does take a lot of sacrifice to serve. It's not easy to understand if you haven't done it. It's a totally different world.

I know for sure combat must be something harder than anything I've experienced. Much harder. I'm talking about what people I know said when they went into the military. Not once did I hear anything about serving their country. But much (most?) of the military never sees actual combat. My friends and family weren't going into the military to go into combat. They were going in to get decent pay and retirement benefits at some monotonous job WAY behind the lines. Maybe they were ticked because they knew the war was a contrived sham. Anyway, I never heard anything about protecting our freedoms.

It's not that I don't appreciate sacrifices made. It's just that I don't feel any more warm and fuzzy about soldiers than I do about firefighters, nurses, social workers, etc.

Ok. They are/were REMFs. Don't know much about that. I was a combat arms man. Our training was long and hard. It wasn't just combat that was tough. But being on a training excercise could get pretty brutal, too. But at least no one was shooting at us. Guys got hurt, sometimes killed. Not an easy life for a field troop.

Today, guys have been in combat deployments multiple times. And our special operators and Air Force and navy pilots are in danger often these days.

I understand what you are saying. But it's hard to understand what being a soldier, sailor, airman or marine is unless you've been there and done that.

Well I agree with that. I could say the same about a nurse or fireman or whatever. Heroes all over the damn place, I tell ya.

I agree my man.

The 'c'mon man' segment pre MNF is actually kinda funny.

Alabama hasn't beaten anyone good.

Wish the Patriots plane crashed instead of the Brazilians

Ronaldo bust is actually pretty good, and captures a smirk that has a high degree of difficulty.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/spor ... adrid.html

the mortgage interest deduction is kind of bullshit

I will agree with you in 4 months!!

Roasted red peppers are not good

I have gotten bored with IPAs. I pretty much avoid them now.

IPAs suck

Charles Barkley is the best part of the ncaa tournament.

The hoagie is a stupid way to construct a sandwich

phatj wrote:The hoagie is a stupid way to construct a sandwich

I think this is kind of wrong, but there is an important sandwich truth underlying it. The hoagie construction is appropriate for some sandwiches-Italian, roast beef, maybe turkey are good hoagie sandwiches. But a pastrami hoagie would be ridiculous.

Does "I love Diners Drive Ins and Dives" qualify