Stream of Conscious babble on the Military
I think the anti war stance, to the extreme is extremely insulting to our military personnel. Their job is to go into the danger, some times. Like a Firefighter. Does your child play with soldiers, or firemen, or chemistry sets, or doctor's kits...they are all occupations that kids are introduced to at a young age. All honorable. All deserving of respect for their chosen, and difficult occupation that puts food on the table.
Our friend Ben, who is the most intuitive guy evah, said back in 2004 when things were clearly amiss with the war, "all these Nationalguard personnel are basically being swooped from their lives, and dragged off to Iraq" or some such thing. But, it is the occupation they chose. I told him he was being disrespectful of a whole group of professionals...just as sure as he sits in his quiet country home arguing the point. Love him. But, his family is in the science biz and they don't work for the military.
My old boss had a media job in the guard to earn extra cash his family really needed (there was TMI discussed...he couldn't afford lunch, and I, at $5 an hour, bought him sodas). His thing at the time, prior to Iraq occupation, was one weekend a month and two weeks a year in suburban IL. But, in his day job where I worked, he was good at being an objective media guy, except when he listened to Rush Limbaugh and told me that "being a liberal is the most gutless choice you can make."
To which I spewed defensive statements. Which he argued. But, I felt differently about things then.
And, then there's my friend from back in my Milwaukee days as an admission counselor who invited me to join Facebook recently, which I did, but haven't gotten into. And, her husband is an ME in the Air Force and they are strong pro-Military, pro-Bush people. They know he's not popular, for sure, but they believe he has integrity. Also, her hubby has flown on Iraqi missions several times, once while she gave birth to her second kid.
So, in sum, I think people who are not involved in any way shape or form with the military but get on Air America and the like to talk war should check themselves.