Take it from a vet. From Fred Reed at antiwar.com:
If you are a young man wondering what to do with your life, you may consider enlisting in the military. Don’t. Yes, the military has its appeal, or seems to. You may need a job. The uniform looks good. There can be adventure. You might get laid by Asian lovelies in foreign countries. These things have their appeal. They did for me as a young Marine. But they aren’t worth being mutilated, blinded, or spending the rest of your years in a wheel chair. This can happen. It does happen. And Washington doesn’t give a damn.
Recruiters won’t tell you of this. They are liars. They lied to me. They will lie to you. At the very least, they will talk only about good things that might happen, about college money and job training you might get but probably won’t. They will make you feel welcome. You are joining a team of brothers, they will say. You are a patriot. You are defending your country.
Don’t believe it. The US military does not defend America. The last time it did this was in 1945, at the end of World War Two. Since then, American soldiers were sent for twenty years to Afghanistan. Is Afghanistan America? No. Was it, is it, important to America? No. Then Iraq, Syria, Iraq again,and Serbia, bombing helpless cities. Iraq isn’t America. In my day – I’m an old guy – it was Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, where 63,000 Americans died, and killed huge numbers of peasants who did nothing wrong–for no reason. Washington is now getting ready to start a war with China. China is on the other side of the world.
What if Fred is smiling and enjoying a gar and refreshing beverage in a veritable Shangri-La while we are the ones living in banana republica?
Tip of the hat.
Is the emptying out of South America so the cockroaches known as “elites” can scoop up everything for pennies and live in bunkers like moles?
I need to start drinking decaf or something. (/s)
This just in from Eddie C. Campbell:
The Red Rooster.
Mr. Fred Reed ! Your article impressed me very much. Thank you for sharing you experience. It is hard to find generous people. Indeed monsters that are in politics take us for suckers just because we’re poor.
America was not being defended in WWII.
I have noticed a preponderance of military recruiting billboards in rural economically depressed areas of the country. Selling the glory of defending USA to their poor white sons.
The last soldiers who fought for my country wore gray.