(06-12-2023, 03:33 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(06-12-2023, 03:03 PM)americus 2.0 Wrote: I have. My ex husband and I were good friends with a group of folks back in 2005 until he went sideways in 2009 (midlife crisis and PTSD are not a good combination). About 2/3 of this group were what we know now as progressives and they never, ever wanted to acknowledge we were both veterans. They preferred to 'forget' we served our country. Its not like we talked about it on the regular but from time to time the subject of OIF/OEF came up and we'd comment on our experience or POV or whatever and they did not want to hear it. 

They also had no respect for our military even on a basic level. They never said it directly to us but in general conversation they had nothing good to say. 

I remember a protest I went to in Five Points in '05 or '06 where there were pro war folks on one side of the street and anti war on the other. I had a sign that simply said I Support Our Troops and walked around in both groups. If the anti folks said something to me I said I support our troops but not the war. They're people with families doing their jobs. Some said they could respect that but someone actually did shove me off the sidewalk. When I turned around to say something they all moved away quickly. I didn't pursue them because I knew it could turn ugly and I could go to jail. 

There really are folks out there who absolutely do not support our military and they're likely the same ones who want to defund law enforcement.

I got together with some high school friends around that time somewhere in Mandarin, and one of them, a UF student who had just come out as gay, started bragging about how sometimes he'd be out late and wander around the UF parking garages to steal as many "support our troops" magnet ribbons as he could.  We told him that was dumb and he insisted it wasn't about "support the troops," he really thought all of those people with car magnets were hypocrites because, to him, the best way to support the troops was to end the war.  No one really bought that argument, but he did insist that he did support the troops.  I never heard from him again.  Not sure he ever had a straight hangout ever again in his life.

If you really want to support the troops, you're better off setting up random care packages that give them some of the things they can't get over there from home. Other than that? It's really up to Congress and these administrations to give a [BLEEP] about the troops. That's what our tax dollars are supposed to be for. 

Pretty [BLEEP] what's happened over the last century or so here with our military. A lot of these guys signed up with and for good intentions only to turn around a few years later to be treated like [BLEEP] by the people that sent them off to die and for reasons that were not as they seemed where beneath the surface a lot of it was potentially fabricated to benefit some rich [BLEEP] sucker's pockets. 

My parents talked me out of joining the military when I turned 18 back in 2006. Threw me for a loop. Same for my girlfriend's Dad at the time. The Navy was really good to him for close to 20 years or more and he got a damn good job and career afterwards building ships and helping with weapons management on them for fleets I believe. They both told me not to sign up. I was shocked. It wasn't because they didn't think I couldn't hack it physically. They said the mental toll it takes on you, the war at that time going on and just being away from family at such a young age could prove harmful in the long run. 

Fast forward a few years later with my career here and I ended up working with a guy that went that route at 18. Joined the Navy. Got stationed somewhere around the cape or coast of South Africa fighting pirates. His mom got sick all of a sudden and she died before he could get back home to see her and say goodbye and well after she was buried. His dad became an alcoholic. It [BLEEP] him up for years he told me. 

I guess it makes more sense now when you think about it in terms of the fact that life goes on for everybody, not just those that join and sacrifice their time and lives. Those are two things you simply cannot get back. When my girlfriend told me at the time that her Dad would basically spend six months out to sea out of Mayport every year. Took me years later to realize. 20 years in the Navy meant 10 years with his daughters. Having a son of my own now approaching 3 already? That hurts to think about. He went to sea and blinked. Both his daughters were grown, dating and off to college before he knew it. 

It's rough. I feel for military men and women. And I especially feel for their families. If anybody asked me what I thought about them joining? I would tell them it's up to them. However, make sure you're mentally prepared more than you are physically. Make sure you do your homework on our history as a country with war and what we're really getting into. It wouldn't hurt to read War is a Racket and a number of other source materials out there that make most of wars very questionable in nature.

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