Mikeyavelli wrote:
Well done as well, Lord Byron.
I was spiking ties on a railroad construction crew when a 6 foot crowbar recoiled from a spike I was removing hit my left knee. So I switched my stance and tried again. And the bar hit me in the right knee.
Well soon after that I had to travel 60 miles to take my army draft physical.
At the end, we all lined up in our under shorts for a final review. My knees looked like grapefruits were attached. I was told to take two steps foewahd! and wait.
Then I got an examination from a doctor and went back with the rest of the kids thinking I was going to Nam.
Nope. 4F, women and blind children and me.
My knees are fine now, but they sure did look bad back then.
Well done as well, Lord Byron. br I was spiking t... (
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I'm going to try to make a point here, and we'll see how well I do. I'm a Vietnam era veteran who enlisted but never spent a day on Vietnamese soil because:
A. It was winding down.
B. Chance (maybe luck? who knows).
I respect the hell out of those who spent any time there or in any combat theater. And I respect everyone else who served because even in "peacetime", lives are lost, families are disrupted and broken up, 95% of us were certainly not doing it "for the Benjamins", and after taking a solemn oath, you performed your duty until your ETS (always some exceptions here). And those who chose NOT to serve were able to enjoy living in the greatest friggin' country the world has ever seen, free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
Here's the thing. I don't think we should demean anyone when it comes to serving in the military or not serving. There are just as many reasons that people choose to serve as there are reasons not to serve. During the draft years, many had few if any choices. Those folks had the dice rolled for them. Others had options (wealth, connections, whatever) and made use of them or didn't. Nearly every group of people, however you divide them contain those who would serve and those who would not.
For example, go through the list of those in the Senate. Very roughly 25% have military service in their backgrounds. Does that mean that 75% of the Senators are cowards? I don't think you can draw that conclusion.
Now I would single out Senator Richard Blumenthal for his stolen valor, but other than that...
President Trump has made no bones about the fact that he did not serve. That should be the end of it. There have been 12 Presidents who never served in the military (including Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, FDR, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama) and 4 more who did not see action (Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, and James Polk). Some pretty good Presidents in those last 2 groups.
If you want to demean President Trump for not serving, the problem is yours, not his. He should be judged on his actions as President, and if you're a veteran maybe how he's treating the military. I have no complaints.