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[–]zyxzevn[S] 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

I respect them as human beings, but they still supported the war machine.

If someone kills another humans, or only threatens them, they are acting in a violent way. We should like any violent action, consider each action whether these are criminal or not.

Vets have killed innocent people in Vietnam, often out of anger. Sometimes by command. If they have any soul left, they can often not live with themselves any more.

It does not help them to thank them for a crime. Instead we should guide them in a way to pay back what they did. Soldiers should be helping countries to rebuild infrastructure and become friends with the people there again. They need to be able to forgive themselves and maybe other need the people to forgive them. Otherwise they will fight an eternal battle in their minds.

If you look at the Roman empire, you can see that they build infrastructures in the conquered areas. They allowed normal markets to grow. And they were helping citizens more like a police, with people from the area.

The US empire just destroys things and build factories and mines for the US rich. They also help local criminal bands (or terrorists) to be stronger. They are the inverse of the police. The CIA creates a market for weapons, drugs and slaves.

[–]astronautrob 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Murder & killing someone in combat is not the same thing. Vets who have killed innocents or civilians should not be thanked for their crime, I agree, but that is a very small percentage of vets. Most veterans have never killed anyone, &a lot have never even fired a bullet in combat. What the U.S. does after the war has nothing to do with the individual veteran. We have a waitress day. Would you not thank a waitress because restaurants make people fat, or x reaaon or y reason. Its not their fault really. There are a lot of good people who are veterans who fight the good fight now. To put them all one category because some soldiers kill some civilians in war is silly. Killing in combat, which few vets have done, is not a crime. Killing innocents is murder of course but even less vets have done that than killong in combat. Plus this cartoon mentions the CIA which is tech not a military branch, it's silly.

[–]zyxzevn[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The cartoon is a plane that is killing civilians and destroying their homes. That clearly military. I think it is related to Vietnam war. But could also be Iraq war with the B-52.

Killing is always violence. Even if it was "justified" it leaves a mark in the soul in a way. Just talk to some vets that are no psychopaths. Even self-defence can break a man. I don't think that a soldier who killed someone needs punishment, but that he needs a way to pay back his guilt.

Indeed most of the time soldiers are just shooting air, guarding, transporting, or dropping bombs at empty places.

But even exercises can be oppressive. Like fake attacks on Russia or fake attacks on China. What does that do to such a country other than incite hostility. In the EU we had good relationships with Russia, like music, trade and work. Now it is more cold due to the election hoax.

Soldiers often need to guard a "strategic place". But what are they guarding? Resources and infrastructures that are property of the people themselves. Like the oil in Syria is property of Syria. According to some news-reports, it is a war-crime to claim the oil, in this fake war.

The soldiers are also guarding Al Nusra (former Al Qaeda) or supporting the Saudi Arabia soldiers in killing civilians in Yemen. Most of the actions of the US military are totally fucked up. They bombed soldiers attacking ISIS. ISIS who were killing civilians. They are also guarding the Israeli bombing attacks in Syria, by switching out responder codes and other fucked up tricks.

Supporting a war is still an act of war. If you give weapons to a crime lord or terrorist, or even train them, you are a part of the war. And you are supporting the crimes that they commit. Saudi Arabia is one of the worst dictatorships, but a good friend of the US. This shows that this is not about humanity.

The reason there is a war is for Oil or Lithium or Poppies. This is what the US is there for. Not for any humanitarian reason. "War is a Racket" - also explains what the wars really are for.

It is sad that the soldiers are so brainwashed that they don't see that. I think the whole US is brainwashed towards war. In the EU most of us are brainwashed in accepting migrants and carbon-taxes. So that is why it is very good for different cultures and continents to communicate with each other. That way we can, via reason, learn what our propaganda is doing to ourselves.

There are soldiers that want to change things in a good way. And like Charles/Chelsey Manning, they get punished severely. The same is with journalists.

[–]astronautrob 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

You make way too many generalizations in your argument to respond to all of them. You're speaking about a whole military industrial complex, I'm talking about individual people who join the military. Again, I would never blame an individual part for the action of the whole. The military in its self is not a bad thing. Read some history, militaries throughout history have been of some benefit for the less "civilized" world (&not just the Romans). But even taking the Romans as an example, the vets of the Roman army probably killed far more civilians than any modern military. The Romans made it a point of thejr warefare to kill any and all civilians in towns even after they've surrendered. When you're thanking a vet you're not saying thank you to the MiC, which was my point jn my original statement, you're thanking them for the sacrifice they gave to be in the military. Everyone makes spme type of sacrifice to be in the militsry, some more than others, &that's all that vets day is supposed to honor or recognize. That these people do or have done a job that requires a bit more sacrifice than your normal 8-5, that's all. We honor a lot of different jobs like this: police officers, teachers, paramedics, etc., it's a way of honoring those who do the jobs that are kind of shitty &other people don't necessarily want to do. No one os asking you to pledge your allegiance to the United States government.