Maybe they should chill out and not take themselves so seriously. It's just a job, people -- and one for which servicemembers are paid twice, sometimes even three times what they'd make in the civilian world for comparable work. (Try getting paid $40,000 a year to be an EMT, secretary, or truck mechanic on the civilian side -- they'll laugh in your face.) Any vet who tells you he didn't do it for the money is lying to you. There isn't a person in the military who'd show up for work if he knew he wasn't getting that guaranteed paycheck every month. Veterans screamed to high heaven when George Bush proposed eliminating all combat pays. I should know -- I was one of those who screamed.

While I certainly met quite a few jingoists in the military, I didn't meet too many true patriots, at least not any who had a genuine understanding of the principles upon which this country was founded. I did, however, meet a whole lot of people who openly admitted to being too scared to try to make it in the civilian world and whose main reason for staying in the military was that it was perceived by society as more honorable than living on welfare. (And let's face it: the military lifestyle truly is one grandiose welfare scheme.) The number-one reason given to encourage soldiers to stay in: "It's easy money." Which it truly is.

No joke.

"Formo" wrote:

So who really is doing the disrespecting and dishonoring?

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

Exactly how does someone wearing the uniform of a land he loves on a patriotic holiday show disrespect and dishonor as long as he himself is acting in a respectful and honorable fashion?

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

How are servicemembers more sacred than doctors, nurses, lawyers, garbagemen, teachers, computer programmers, farmers, or any of the other professionals we rely upon on a daily basis and without whom our lives would suck?

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

How are servicemembers more sacred than doctors, nurses, lawyers, garbagemen, teachers, computer programmers, farmers, or any of the other professionals we rely upon on a daily basis and without whom our lives would suck?

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

They don't? You do realize that at one point in the war, there were more civilian contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan than military servicemembers, right? Among these contractors were doctors, nurses, lawyers, garbagemen, teachers, computer programmers, and I'm sure some farmers too, though they may have been performing non-agricultural jobs. Why is it that none of the 1,315 civilian contractors who died in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 are honored in the same way as the military servicemembers?

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

Also, there are areas in places like Los Angeles where paramedics wear Kevlar when they go on runs because the neighborhoods are so dangerous. More people are murdered in an average month in Detroit than are killed in Iraq.

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

There are plenty of civilian jobs that entail an overall greater degree of risk than deploying to a combat zone. At the peak of the Surge, I did the math and found out that per capita, an American was six times more likely to die in an automobile accident than be killed in Iraq. It would seem our roadways are more dangerous than a combat zone.

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote: