re: #120 Anymouse

The overwhelming majority of former military personnel, whether they hold liberal or conservative views, are patriotic and upstanding citizens.

Though I won’t downding you, I do take such a post as a personal insult to three generations of my family that faithfully served in the Armed Forces (and sometimes gave up their lives).

The sling at the mentally ill (and this guy is not mentally ill, he is a wannabe terrorist) is also uncalled for; the mentally ill are overwhelmingly victims of violence in our country, not perpetrators.

My kids will break a chain of four generations of all of the family members serving in the military (when they do veterans day at my kid’s schools, my kids take about 15 names with them, and we don’t even have to go back to WWI). Acknowledging that Bush fucked up the military by going into a stupid war and hiring less than adequate members to fill the ranks is not a ding all of the military or even most of its members. Its a ding on Bush and those who chose to use their time in the service, and the skills they received, to do a disservice to this country by being racists and threatening the country.

The military is not a talisman and is not immune from criticism. A person serving in the military isn’t a saint. I don’t think anyone here believes that the military is evil, and we’re all certainly smart enough not to associate one soldier or sailors actions with the rest of the service, during or after they get out.

So, please, stop trying to shut down any conversation about military members with the sacrifice of your family. Your families sacrifice is great, and is a credit to them. There are also plenty of military people here, plenty of people with family members that are in or have been in the military, and we’re all pretty good at knowing that one bad soldier or sailor does not represent the rest of the military. It’s important, though, that we discuss the fact that some military people are getting out and then joining militias that are set up to oppose the very government they promised to serve and protect.