Are you a veteran?

[tedln]

Yesterday was Veterans Day. I always have mixed emotions on Veterans Day. I am a veteran. I am proud of my service in the military. I love my country and I am proud of my country. I will always believe I gained more from being in the military than my country gained from me serving in the military.

On Veterans Day, I always try to avoid being in any group or situation where veterans are asked to stand to be honored for their service. I simply believe being a veteran holds no special honor and should receive no special recognition beyond self pride. I've never asked for or received any monetary benefits as a veteran my service entitles me to. I believe you shouldn't receive anything you don't earn.

I do believe any person serving in the military and their families should be well rewarded and honored, but when their service ends, special recognition should end.

I'm curious about how other people feel.

Ted

[Charlie MV]

Navy veteran, destroyer man from 1971-74. Bought my first house on the GI bill. Once. Couldn't afford that kind of interest on the houses I've bought since.

I was spit on upon return from Vietnam. I came to agree with the reasons they had to protest but not the methods. We need to stop being the policemen for the world, for free.

I'm a pacifist now.

Probably another deleted post Cousin Ted. No warm fuzzies here for our military. I'm ambivalent about being an American these days.

[tomf]

Yes I am.

[thanrose]

Not a veteran, but I appreciate the sacrifices vets made. Charlie, I remember those days back in Viet Nam era, though I was a bit young. My ex was similarly treated when he left the Army in '72 and returned to college. I was in junior high. Had older cousins that all became teachers, go figure.

Veterans Day is kinda like Memorial Day to me. I don't see anything wrong with it, and maybe it's helpful to some vets to have these infrequent days when people actually express gratitude. If that means you can get a complimentary sandwich or cup of coffee, why not?

[DoubleDogFarm]

We need to stop being the policemen for the world, for free.

First I'd like to say, Thank You to all Vets.

I also agree with the quote above.
We need to stop being the policemen for the world. Period....

Eric

[Charlie MV]

Double Dog, I'll buy you and Bugger a beer if you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods.

Cousin Ted, I believe in a universal draft for all. Everybody should be a veteran whether it's military or Peace Corp.

We'd probably get along better with the rest of the world if every mothers child had a stake in the game.

[tedln]

Double Dog, I'll buy you and Bugger a beer if you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods.

Cousin Ted, I believe in a universal draft for all. Everybody should be a veteran whether it's military or Peace Corp.

We'd probably get along better with the rest of the world if every mothers child had a stake in the game.

I agree about the universal draft. I don't care if it is the military or some other form of service. We have too many young people growing up believing it is all about them and what they want. They should be required to perform some kind of service for other people while they are still young.

I said in my first post that I got more from the military than they got from me. I meant it. They took a basically worthless kid and forced him to learn self discipline. They gave me the opportunity to learn that you can overcome fear. They taught me that I had more value than I thought I had. They taught me to never give up. All of those lessons they taught me have helped me progress through life as an adult. I really don't think I would have been worth much as an adult if the military hadn't forced me to try.

Ted

[Charlie MV]

[quote="

I said in my first post that I got more from the military than they got from me. I meant it. They took a basically worthless kid and forced him to learn self discipline. They gave me the opportunity to learn that you can overcome fear. They taught me that I had more value than I thought I had. They taught me to never give up. All of those lessons they taught me have helped me progress through life as an adult. I really don't think I would have been worth much as an adult if the military hadn't forced me to try.

Ted

Agreed 100%. My story is exactly the same. I think the universal draft would make our country and our relationship with the world much better.

[cynthia_h]

Veterans (those who actually survive their service and return home to tell about it) receive ongoing benefits. Sometimes. When Congress funds these promised benefits.

Read up on the Walter Reed Hospital scandal re. mold in the units where Iraq/Afghanistan "heroes" (in the words of Prez 43) were being treated. Read up on how Prez 43's Congress did not (would not? I really don't know) provide enough $$ for the hospital to remove the mold until the conditions were published in an exposé by the Washington Post newspaper.

Ongoing health care for veterans. Good. In a mold-infested hospital? Very bad.

Raised in a military family, men on one side of the family military in this or another country back to the mid-19th century in an unbroken line, up to and including my brother. We'll see about my nephew; he's only 2 years old!

I make quilts for veterans. *And* I protested American involvement in Indochina/Viet Nam and other areas of southeast Asia. (I graduated from h.s. very young.)

But I never confused the hapless troops DRAFTED to serve in Viet Nam with the policy-makers in Congress who made sure their own children were safely out of the line of fire (e.g., Prez 43). Drafting, to my mind, devalues the military as a chosen way of life.

In any case, without veterans and those who sadly gave their all and did not return from the Somme, Iwo Jima, Midway, the Ardennes, Poland, France, Korea, Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, or other places our policy-makers have sent them, many freedoms we experience would not exist.

Cynthia, trying to keep philosophy sep. from politics

[tomf]

I also feel we need to stop being the police but this is not the reason we do it; we do it to protect our ability to obtain resources around the world.

Like it or not there is also a need for us to be able to defend against nations that would attack others and simply take what they wanted. With out an army we our selfs would have been taken over. I would love to see people work together and get along but the reality is that it is a harsh world out there and there are a lot of people that are not nice.
I feel we need to honer veterans for the sacrifice we have given. It is such a small thing to do for the big thing veterans have done for all of us.

[gumbo2176]

I was on my way to being a Vet right after high school. I enlisted in the Navy prior to graduating and left the summer of 70 for Orlando, Fl. for boot camp. An unfortunate accident in the 7th week of training that caused a severe shoulder separation led to the discovery of a pre-existing condition and a penchant for such injuries. I'd had at least 8-10 prior to enlisting, disclosed this info to the recruiter and was accepted------quotas.

The Navy said "So long, go home, we don't want you." They wouldn't operate because they didn't want to accept any liability on something I had prior to enlisting. I got back to N.O. and after 2 weeks to mull things over I tried to join the Marines---no go. I even went to see the Army recruiter and they sent me home telling me "If the Army don't want you with Nam going on, nobody wants you". It was a major disappointment to me because my father and almost every uncle in my family served in WWII and/or Korea. I felt as though I was letting them down.


My hat's off to all Vets for their unselfish service to our country in times of both war and peace. I just wish we had more of the latter so that we stop losing so many brave young men and women.

[tedln]

Gumbo,

I finished high school. Started college and remembered how much I detested formal education. I knew the draft would eventually get me so I decided to get it over with by volunteering for the draft. At the initial physical exam, they told me the X-rays indicated spots on my lungs which meant I had tuberculosis. It made me mad because I knew I was in perfect physical condition. They sent me to a private radiology lab where X-rays reveled the Army was using bad X-ray film and my lungs were in perfect condition. Thinking about it years later, I thought it was funny that I had to fight to be drafted.

Ted

[tedln]

I got caught today. We went to church thinking the veterans day ceremonies were over. I knew I had a problem when the pastor came in wearing a patriotic tie and a flag pin on his lapel. Sure enough, midway through the service they asked the "veterans" to stand to be honored. I wasn't going to stand until my wife who doesn't agree with me on this; elbowed me in the ribs. That always means you better stand or you will regret it later. I stood.

I am always surprised and thankful to see so many ladies standing to be honored. Womens roles in the military were very limited when I was in the service.

Ted

[Charlie MV]

I think we should celibate Veteran's Day by sitting in a veteran's lap. I coming to Texas next Veteran's day cousin Ted.

[Kisal]

Charlie, sitting in someone's lap in Texas usually doesn't lead to "celibate."

Too funny!