Veteran's Day 2014

[MarkD]

Is it me, or does Veteran's Day seem to be getting a lot more coverage this year?

Yes, and the people who used to denigrate Vets are now all "support the troops" now.

30 years ago the media portrayed Veterans as either nutjobs ready to commit mass murder at the next loud noise, sociopathic baby-killers, caricatures of patriotism with latent homosexual tendencies, or just too stupid to do anything else. When people who never had anything good to say about the military before start doing concerts to support the troops I want to vomit, where were you twelve years ago? Oh wait, we had a Republican President then, nevermind.

The portrayal of the military got a little better after Grenada, a bit more after Desert Storm, and quite a bit better after the War on Terror started, except that because it started under Bush you HAD to find a way to support the troops without supporting their mission.

There are plenty of actors and other performers who've been supportive of the military right along, and those people deserve our appreciation. Notably among the country-music performers probably because their fans wouldn't stand for anything else (Dixie whos?). Then there's the ones whose agents tell them "Showing support for the troops is popular now, so you better jump on the bandwagon."

[rant off]

[Vonz90]

I'm not a Veteran's Day fan. It was a job, I got paid and everything. No big woop.

[First Shirt]

I always feel a bit of a piker on Veteran's Day. From grand-dad in WWI, to uncles in WWII, to Dad in Korea, to cousins in SEA, it's really hard to come up with a way that makes what I did equal to what they did on their respective hitches.

[Greg]

I'm not a Veteran's Day fan. It was a job, I got paid and everything. No big woop.

To paraphrase Jerry Pournelle, we honor the troops so we can continue to get honorable troops. (I believe his quote was more to the effect of 'any nation that dishonors its soldiers will find itself defended by dishonorable soldiers'.)

[Lokidude]

I'm not a Veteran's Day fan. It was a job, I got paid and everything. No big woop.

To paraphrase Jerry Pournelle, we honor the troops so we can continue to get honorable troops. (I believe his quote was more to the effect of 'any nation that dishonors its soldiers will find itself defended by dishonorable soldiers'.)

Truth. And the Eagle Scout in me was just happy I got all the major lights at our Veterans Memorial burning before the holiday. The level of neglect that park has suffered was a crying shame. Mr Pournelle captures my feelings better than I ever could.

[The Wizard]

To all my comrades, those that stood on the line, and those that still do so today, I'm proud to be counted amongst your company.

As is my custom, A Pittance of Time

Well said. I salute all my Brothers (and Sisters) in Arms.

ETA: Propper PPE for sandstorms circa 2008

Shame we never crossed paths over there.

Indeed, while we had a broad AO iirc we weren't ever in the same places at the same times.

[arctictom]

God bless you all and thanks.