Don't Enlist - posted by candy on 7/25/2010

Message:
My son Jeff served in the U.S. Navy from 1994-1998 and active reserve from 2001-2007. I applaud him for his service immensely but I would strongly DISCOURAGE my grandchildren from enlisting in the Military. Since the Military has their saying "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" I thought we could expand on that saying just a little, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Enlist and go to Hell". Any thoughts? Candy

RE: Don't Enlist - posted by Mrs. Bruce on 7/25/2010

Message:
Hell is living or watching others live in Camp Lejeune's aftermath. It's obvious to me that the folks who let Camp Lejeune happen have no true concern for the values which inspire our young people to serve in the military. The theory seems to be use them up, discard them, discredit them and ignore their needs. Powerful people use our Patriotism against our families. Powerful people advertise service to our nation and the promise of education and a secure place in the Dream as a lure to our young men and women. They don't tell our young people that, if wounded or contaminated they will, after coming home, have to battle the VA and the stigma of being a Veteran for the rest of their lives. Once upon a time, our citizens welcomed our returning Military personnel home with parades and ordinary people bought them meals and drinks. The Vietnam era changed all of that. Our Patriotic defenders were labeled and spit upon. The labels and stigma are powerful tools with which to deny our Veterans and their families the help they have earned and deserve. ********* If a private sector company were to hire employees under such false pretenses (causing harm to the employees), there would be law suits. The Feres Doctrine protects the government from law suits on behalf of Veterans. Lawyers having an uncanny sense of who butters their bread prevents law suits against the government on behalf of civilians. That all works out very nicely for powerful people. It seems that efforts to protect what powerful people seem to consider their money from what powerful people seem to consider the unworthy clutches of Veterans and their families may backfire. Denying Veterans and their families does indeed save money but at what cost? ********* Most people are not stupid. Most people can see the condition in which this nation keeps its Veterans. Most people can see that Veterans and their families are unhealthy. Most people can see and the stigma with which our Veterans have been labeled. Patriotic families eventually come to understand that efforts to label and attach a stigma to Veterans are not a temporary anomaly which will be corrected in the near future. We begin to believe that those efforts are ongoing and intense. The result is that we begin to advise our young people to avoid military service as a way of preserving our DNA (AKA our loved ones). Smart people who disbelieve the labels and stigma which have been attached to our Veterans and their families avoid military service in order to prevent the disturbing stigma from being attached to their families. ********* Now let's talk about those who do believe the labels and stigma. They won't volunteer for service in the Military either! Why would they volunteer to serve beside people they believe to be so horrible? The end result is that no one will want to serve in the Military. Hows that going to work for powerful people, when some world power decides to separate powerful people from their money? Will they hire mercenaries to do their bidding? Mercenaries? Rome fell, when its people decided that they, for whatever reason should not serve militarily. Mercenaries were hired. One theory is that the mercenaries were less interested in preserving the empire and its values than they were in living to spend their pay. ********* Some will misunderstand this post and try to twist it to their purposes. They will try to use Patriotism to counter the message. They will say something about this line of reasoning being skewed because the failure of our families to continue serving this great nation militarily will deny the Dream to ALL of us. My response to that line of reasoning would be, "So you want the benefit of our service and the security of the Dream, while denying the Dream to those who served and their families?". That reasoning is self serving and circular in that it puts us right back to seducing, labeling and denying Patriots and their families. Carol