But I needed to write something about William Arkin's "mercenary" comment, because it struck a nerve.
The offending quote:
Why do people sign up? For one thing, it is a way for some people to go to college who otherwise wouldn't get to. For others it is an escape from their small towns, a chance to see the world. There are many reasons to sign up. I did it to get my student loans paid off and to get paid to learn another language. My outrage would swell to unbearable levels if my soul were rotting in the deserts of Babylon right now and contemplating mortality and murder in the name of Government and Religion and Markets and God knows all of the other stupid reasons to fight War, especially considering I don't believe in this war. People volunteer to DEFEND the country, not necessarily to be an occupying force.
The NBC report made it sound like all of the troops believe in this war, but they showed THREE soldiers. (Isn't NBC supposed to be the "liberal" one?) All of the soldiers I knew wondered what they were fighting for. But then again, most of the soldiers I knew who were in the war are no longer in the Army because when it came time to re-up, they did not. A third or fourth tour in Iraq was just not their idea of a good time.
Many of the soldiers in Iraq these days are post-9/11 soldiers, those who followed their blind patriotism into the military to get revenge on an enemy they don't understand. In the NBC report, Specialist Tyler Johnson wasn't even old enough to join the military when 9/11 happened (and wow, it's been that long, hasn't it?) I don't know Specialist Johnson, so I'm not saying he is one of these, but I remember a wave of sheeple that entered the Army back then and flooded the Defense Language Institute with anti-intellectual flagwaving. There were some pretty dim bulbs in that group. Of course, back when I was there, Iraq hadn't started, and it was pretty easy to support what was going on in Afghanistan, given that's where the actual enemy was! Still, even with an unthinking belief in what they are doing, these soldiers are not mercenaries.
Another offending quote:
Arkin also shows disrespect by referring to Johnson as "junior enlisted man Tyler Johnson" rather than including his rank of Specialist. Amazing how he condemns the soldiers for exercising their right to speech while at the same time denying that they have that same right.
I disagree with the soldiers who were interviewed, but I would never show the amount of disrespect that Arkin did. They are going through hell. They have a right to say what they did because they don't want to feel like they have been fighting in vain, as one soldier says. That, despite it being pretty close to the harsh truth, would make their lives unbearable. Yeah, soldiers, you can support the troops but not the war. It's called getting you out of there and giving you something real to fight for.
The NBC "report" can be seen here:
I never thought I'd see the day when I shared outrage with the likes of Michelle Malkin and those other flagwaving, bigoted creatures on the right, but this time I have to agree with them. Of course, the sheeple who follow them are using Arkin's comments as proof that "liberals hate America" and "want the terrorists to win" and all of that other non-thinking garbage they spew on a daily basis.
___
The offending quote:
...it is the United States, and the recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.Does this jerk think that soldiers actually want to be in Iraq? Granted, some of the high school drop outs and forty year olds who have enlisted since the Army's desperate attempts to get people to sign up do want to be there, but a vast majority of soldiers did not sign up to spend months and years in a desert misery.
Why do people sign up? For one thing, it is a way for some people to go to college who otherwise wouldn't get to. For others it is an escape from their small towns, a chance to see the world. There are many reasons to sign up. I did it to get my student loans paid off and to get paid to learn another language. My outrage would swell to unbearable levels if my soul were rotting in the deserts of Babylon right now and contemplating mortality and murder in the name of Government and Religion and Markets and God knows all of the other stupid reasons to fight War, especially considering I don't believe in this war. People volunteer to DEFEND the country, not necessarily to be an occupying force.
The NBC report made it sound like all of the troops believe in this war, but they showed THREE soldiers. (Isn't NBC supposed to be the "liberal" one?) All of the soldiers I knew wondered what they were fighting for. But then again, most of the soldiers I knew who were in the war are no longer in the Army because when it came time to re-up, they did not. A third or fourth tour in Iraq was just not their idea of a good time.
Many of the soldiers in Iraq these days are post-9/11 soldiers, those who followed their blind patriotism into the military to get revenge on an enemy they don't understand. In the NBC report, Specialist Tyler Johnson wasn't even old enough to join the military when 9/11 happened (and wow, it's been that long, hasn't it?) I don't know Specialist Johnson, so I'm not saying he is one of these, but I remember a wave of sheeple that entered the Army back then and flooded the Defense Language Institute with anti-intellectual flagwaving. There were some pretty dim bulbs in that group. Of course, back when I was there, Iraq hadn't started, and it was pretty easy to support what was going on in Afghanistan, given that's where the actual enemy was! Still, even with an unthinking belief in what they are doing, these soldiers are not mercenaries.
Another offending quote:
So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?Where does he get the idea that the life of a soldier is so luxurious? Since when is making $17K a year (for a junior enlisted soldier) getting paid a "decent wage?" How about asking the soldiers who are in dire financial situations, whose cars are being repo'd while they're in Iraq, whose 2% annual raises aren't enough to cover inflation? Apparently he missed the countless articles about military families having to get food from food drives for the needy because they couldn't afford to buy enough to feed their families. And the quality of this "health care" he refers to is enough to make one wish s/he could shell out money for a private doctor. And obscene amenities? OBSCENE AMENITIES??? The troops don't even have enough armor, and he thinks just because some people are shipping a few iPods, etc. to make their hell just a tad easier, they are being pampered?
Arkin also shows disrespect by referring to Johnson as "junior enlisted man Tyler Johnson" rather than including his rank of Specialist. Amazing how he condemns the soldiers for exercising their right to speech while at the same time denying that they have that same right.
I disagree with the soldiers who were interviewed, but I would never show the amount of disrespect that Arkin did. They are going through hell. They have a right to say what they did because they don't want to feel like they have been fighting in vain, as one soldier says. That, despite it being pretty close to the harsh truth, would make their lives unbearable. Yeah, soldiers, you can support the troops but not the war. It's called getting you out of there and giving you something real to fight for.
The NBC "report" can be seen here:
I never thought I'd see the day when I shared outrage with the likes of Michelle Malkin and those other flagwaving, bigoted creatures on the right, but this time I have to agree with them. Of course, the sheeple who follow them are using Arkin's comments as proof that "liberals hate America" and "want the terrorists to win" and all of that other non-thinking garbage they spew on a daily basis.
___
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