Felt the Need to Post this Song

[Aerabella Jarrus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_l4Ab5FRwM​

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So I felt that I needed to post this song. I've been planning to share it somewhere for a while and just couldn't think of the words to go along with this post. Truth is, this song speaks for itself. I guess seeing a Civil War reenactment inspires you to write.. anyway, a small bunch of you (more like 3 or 4 of you) know I have a brother and he's in the Army. He was a jerk to me and my parents, but were still living. Scarred, but alive. Until they aren't there to bother you, you never really how much you loved them even though they tried their best to destroy your life.

Truth is, we worry more about other crap than we do our Military. We put so much stress into protesting about what's right and/or wrong and we pay no attention to our military. There are people out there burning flags. American flags. They claim they're the Americans though. What about the men and women who fought knowing they could lose their lives? What about all we fought for, to gain freedom and peace? Truth is, the Army, the Navy, the Marines, all of them. They fought to keep that flag flying in the sky. They still pulled through when no one came to their cries.. no screams for help. They begged for help and someone ignored them.

The bottom line, is that our veterans and our troops right now, are highly unappreciated. Praise the politicians all you like, but remember, they're not going to be the ones getting out there on the battlefield fighting for their country. If you know anyone who protests, or knows of a flag burner, pass on the message that someone in the military died and risked their life to keep that flag flying high in the sky.

 

[Talmass Erillett]

I know how you feel all to well. I've got friends, good friends who want to join the military p, one wants to be a pilot, another a marine, but when ever I look at them, the hell that Americans put heir own troops through at home. I'm lucky my dad, who served in Germany as a helicopter maintenance in west Germany in e 80s didn't face what most veterans do. I actively argue against anyone I meet who claims the millitary is doing sh*t to help, or the ones who contribute to this hell. Don't even get me started on west borough. Nice choice for song btw, five finger death punch is always a good band.

 

[James Justice]

No argument here. Literally every male in my family (My father, both of my grandfathers, my uncle, my cousin, my great grandfathers, their brothers, and so on and so on) has served in the military as far back as the Civil War. They have given a lot, and these vets recently have given a lot more than ever before as the "bad guys" everywhere want to blur the lines between civilian and warrior ever further.

I won't get political or so on..... but yes. all the agreement here.

 

[Leo Vandermolen]

Most of my mother's side have served at one point or another in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). That's about the extent of our military service so I won't speak much on that topic, but I had a thing for FFDP midway through last year and enjoyed the message they were conveying.

 

[Lethia Morow]

I can't speak for everyone, of course, but I do have a few things to say in response to the OP.

The idea that we ignore our troops and our soldiers is true. The idea that our government doesn't value their lives is true. They're pawns in a game of geopolitical chess, to be discarded once their purpose is complete. That very fact is sickening, as someone who has a long family history of military service. Veterans are forced to not only take the lives of others, but watch their friends die, and are then expected to do the same.

Where I imagine the OP and I differ, however, is likely in our response to this information - but correct me if I'm wrong.

The soldiers who killed and died in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in any of the other countless engagements we've fought since World War II - the vast majority of them did not die in service to freedom and democracy. A vast majority of them likely believed they did, and I am not attacking the bravery or courage of those people, do not mistake me. They died instead because the powers that be deemed their lives, and the lives of those they killed, to be less important than profit. That idea sickens me - and it sickens many others, too.

While I understand the frustration you must experience when you see people like me protesting and flag burning and many other things that seem nasty on the surface, I'd like you all to take heart in this fact - many of us do not do so because we don't care about or understand the sacrifices made in the name of that symbol.

It's because we do understand, and we don't want it to happen anymore.

 

[Kad Tor]

The soldiers who killed and died in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in any of the other countless engagements we've fought since World War II - the vast majority of them did not die in service to freedom and democracy.

Okay first I can't ignore this since I come from a family that has fought in every war this country has seen, starting with the Revolution.

Hitler executed 6 million Jews and countless more of those whom he deemed to be sub par. Oh and he was trying to conquer and control all of Europe and eventually the world. His beliefs and methods heavily influenced by Margaret Sanger, go look her up if you don't know who she is.

Russia and China in this century alone have murdered 60 million of their own people. That's not including any soldier killed in battle.

Look at North Korea... those people are not free. North Korea has been described as the largest concentration camp known to man.

The Viet Cong brutally killing their own who opposed them.

Sadam Hussein was executed after standing trial for mass murders of his own people in the 1980's and early 90's.

Look at the Rowandan Genocide in my lifetime as well. I have friends living in Rowanda at the time. Many of the refugees settled in the city where I grew up and went to college.

Every war that we have fought has been about freedom and democracy. Every war since WW2 the countries we have fought were run by genocidal dictators MURDERING THEIR OWN CITIZENS. You can't necessarily say that the US was the direct benefactor of that freedom, but since WW2 our military has been one the largest forces eliminating dictators, who are relying on the principles of socialistic facism and socialistic communism, to enrich their coffers on the backs of their own people.

So go ahead and protest, and burn the flag if you wish (which is illegal by the way). Just remember that as you do, all the countries we have been at war with in this century would execute you for doing so. Those that have been liberated, now have the freedom to express their opinions.

From their perspective these wars and conflicts were exactly about freedom.

 

[Lethia Morow]

[member="Kad Tor"]

I respect your right to your own opinion - and I would be hard pressed to disagree that we've killed many a person who has deserved to die. But we've killed many innocents along the way, and we've lost many lives on our own side, too, people who didn't deserve to die.

I'll not disagree that we had good reason to be involved in WWII - hence why I said wars since that war, not including it. I'll even say that we could've done some good in Rwanda, perhaps.

But that is the end of our agreement.

Our destruction of the (admittedly horrific and despotic) Iraqi government caused the vacuum of power out of which ISIS was spawned. Not to mention we killed at minimum 200,000 civilians.

The leaked Pentagon Papers revealed that we deliberately bombed villages and other civilian centers during the Vietnam War.

And as for the rest - we killed bad guys, like I said, and I'll not disagree that many people our military has killed have had it coming.

But we're not the world police, nor should we attempt to be. We cannot be the sole distributors of justice in the world - not least because it's hypocritical.

If our government truly cared about human rights on a global scale, we would not maintain trade relations with China. We would not support Qatar or Saudi Arabia. We would not have tacitly supported various puppet dictatorships during the cold war. And we would not currently be supporting the rebels in Syria, who are majority extremists at this time - we would not be involved in Syria at all.

And no, I'm not saying that we should continue doing those things, and I'm not saying that America should not attempt to promote liberty across the globe - rather, I'm saying that there are ways to do that that don't involve bloodshed, not always - in an ideal world, not ever.

As a couple of side notes - fascism and socialism are economically and socially opposite one another, and socialistic communism is redundant.

And finally, Texas vs Johnson (1989) invalidated laws against flag desecration and decreed them unconstitutional, deciding that burning the flag constituted symbolic speech.

In closing, I don't intend to upset anyone here - I merely intend to share my opinions and beliefs, and to provide a counter point to the rather one sided viewpoints being expressed here. I have a love of debate, a love of my country, and a desire to see it made better - a sentiment I'm sure you share.

 

[Travis Caalgen]