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Happy Veterans Day
As we stop to remember the sacrifice of so many, we thought perhaps some reflection from over 50 years ago would provide a little context for that 'shared' sacrifice...
(h/t Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform blog)
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I think of what he did to the German POWs after Germany capitulated. He should have been a defendant at the Nuremberg trials.
Yeah, Ike shot the president from West Wing.
There were millions of young men, just as scared. They did not run away.
He should have been shot on site.
You are watching a freakin movie. Do you think that perhaps the real world was a little different?
Slovik, not Jones, Thompson, James, Peters, Hope, Hopgood, Paulson, Hardy, Hopewell, Harper, Johnson, Green, Brown, Smith,
Slovik, not, Greer, Mason, Good, Harley, Masters, Wright, Mc Sweeny, Dodwell, Deed, Manning, Pope, Kilgour, Barnes, etc etc........
Very bullish :
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=291295
Report: Israel forced to change Iran strike tactics
'Sunday Times' report says Iran's nuke site hidden safe from conventional airstrikes; Israel left with nuclear, ground options.
Military Industrial Complex Day. Support the Individual Soldier but the Military Machine is way out of control.
Sorry, the soldiers have blood on their hands too.
I was a precocious 13 year old when President Eisenhower made that speech, and soon to be pursued by a CIA recruiter, a friend of the family. Glad I had the the prescience to take the road I did, and not the one so generously proferred. How far we have come in a mere two generations from what was then the remaining fragile ideals of a republican democracy, still embodied in a President. Yet slowly all the shades have finally been lifted from my eyes such that I now trust no one and believe but a few. No illusions remain. Thus is the price of empire. Gangsterism in the name of the many!
The pity is that over the last 30 or so years the newest cohorts of young American men and women have (surely the majority of those who traffic here at ZH are under 45) had little or no historical connection with what, to me, is the seemingly quite recent past . . . so that the full context of their/your conscious life has been governed, managed, and controlled by an increasingly intrusive and evolving state that is totally inimical to its historical antecedents. Woe unto us/a!
I hope I make it to the other side of this abyss, and that I might be lucky enough to meet some of you there.
Surely Ike knew that 'alert citizens' would be no match for a permanent, government-funded arms industry and intelligence infrastructure.
His Military Industrial Complex speech burnished Ike's personal legacy, but achieved nothing politically.
If he'd been serious, he would have shut the monster down while he still had the power to do so.
Fifty-two years later it still grinds on, bigger and badder than ever. And we STILL haven't demobilized from WW II.
11:11, Nov. 11, 1918 -- The "Armistice" of "The War to End All Wars".
BREAKING NEWS FROM GREECE...
Vote tonight on the budget at 5PM EST.
Whatever happens, Greece runs out of money Friday...
Shall be an interesting week.
Would I be an ass if I said, "LET IT BURN" ?
queue riot dog
frantic butt bashing reported amongst new dawn hardoners of fascist neo nazi political porn...its a big nite all around.
The commies have all jumped into the Aegean sea and intend to launch a raid on Popes of the monasteries of Mount Athos, to nationalise them and thus make Greece rich again.
The Most Beautiful Yet Precariously Placed Monasteries on Earth
You have no idea how ingenious human nature can get for the best and for the worst.
War is what happens when all else fails. it is an admission of failure. There are no "just" wars because wars don't just happen. It should be a day of mourning for not honoring.
******War is what happens when all else fails******
The words of, either, a lunatic or a moneychanger!
The last "great man" to hold the office.
Comparing him to what we are now electing and choosing between is truly shocking.
dupl.
This is my annual tribute to the men of the 173rd Airborne who were slaughtered in a pointless attack on a wothless hill in Vietnam. I am a veteran of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. I did my tour in the Rock n Roll Slaughter House as a grunt in 65-66, before my old battalion was butchered in this meatgrinder. Time and time again Army and USMC infantry units were ordered to assault heavily fortified NVA positions without adequate air or artillary bombardment. All the dug in NVA on Hill 875 could have been blown to hell with a B52 raid dropping 2,00 pound bombs and not a single American life would have been lost. Time and time again the brass ordered suicide assualts by Army and USMC grunts on known NVA troop concentrations that could have been wiped out by B52 raids. Not one writer (other than myself) has pointed out this repeated pattern of murder of entire American units. I knew a guy who survived Hill 875. He said it was the heaviest concentration of NVA fire he faced in two tours. He told me almost his entire platoon was wipped out as soon as they got out of an NVA trench line they had overrun and began their main “assault”. Fuck all the brass who went along with this mass serial murder of entire American units. The brass were cowards and punks who ordered these assaults from bunkers far removed from the battles. I have more respect for a dog turd in a gutter than I have for the brass who murdered their own men and then awarded each other with medals and promotions.
Fighting Behind a Four-Foot High Wall of Body Bags
Tom Chittum December 3 2003
Check out this quote describing an attack on a hill in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 1967.
” … when Matt Harrison had landed on the DZ, he couldn’t believe the scene he surveyed as he tried to get a grasp on A Company’s disposition.
He described it simply as, ‘The Third Circle of Hell.’ Bodies and body parts were strewn everywhere, the wounded groaned and asked for help. Enemy soldiers were firing from as little as 20 meters away. It was impossible to determine exactly where friendly lines stopped and enemy lines began. Matt helped to put some of the dead into body bags. They became part of a four foot high wall that helped provide cover for the living.”
How did it happen that the soldiers of the world’s most super dooper, high-tech military wound up fighting from behind a four-foot high wall of body bags? It was all planned that way, my friends. So get yourself a bag of popcorn, you’re all going to the movies with Sgt. Skull. The fighting described above took place on a hill designated Hill 875 because its highest point was 875 meters above sea level as marked on the maps. The attacking unit was the 2nd battalion of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. That was my old unit. I was in the 2nd battalion of the 173rd Airborne Brigade during my tour of Vietnam in ’65 and ’66.
On November 19, 1967, the 2nd battalion began their assault up Hill 875 against multiple defensive lines of trenches and machinegun bunkers. Four days later, they captured the top of the hill. Link here for a picture of the top of Hill 875 after the battle. Approximately 350 soldiers of the 2nd battalion began the assault on the hill. Eighty-seven were killed and 166 wounded. That’s a casualty rate of 72%.
How did this mess come to be? I quote from the book, “The 173rd Airborne Brigade,” published by the Turner Publishing Company.
“In early fall, 1967, enemy activity began to escalate in the Central Highlands. Intelligence reports indicated that the Dak To region was threatened by six NVA regiments and, once again, the 173rd Airborne was airlifted in the area. This time, the operation was code named, MacArthur. Although American staff planners were unaware of it at the time, this buildup was part of a gigantic deception designed to draw U.S. combat strength away from the cities in order to help ensure the success of the “Tet Uprising” scheduled for January, 1968. … A Special Forces (Green Beret) B-Detachment, conducting operations on 18 November, discovered an extensive network of NVA trenches located atop Hill 875. After suffering ten wounded, the SF detachment withdrew, and called for indirect fire and air strikes against the enemy trenches. They did not know that these trenches, built months earlier, were covered with up to ten feet of earth and log overhead cover. In addition, the positions had the advantage of six months of jungle growth to enhance their camouflage.”
Know this: A hill with manned trenches means one thing and one thing only – a major NVA base camp. Any grunt who had been in the ‘Nam for a few months could tell you that. At this point, the damn hill should have been flattened by multiple B52 strikes using 2,000 pound bombs. A 2,000 pound bomb makes a crater big enough to bury a small house in. Nothing short of extremely deep and concrete-reinforced bunkers can withstand 2,000 pound bombs. 2,000 lbs. bombs would have turned Hill 875 and all its trenches and bunkers into something resembling the surface of the moon, and killed every last NVA there, case closed. A squad of boy scouts could have taken the hill after that. But the powers that be didn’t call for B52s because this was just another Hollywood war made by Illuminati productions. Thank you Gen. Wastemorelives. Thank you, LBJ. Thank you, me Lord Rothschild.
One grunt in the 173rd said that prior to the assault, “They told us that there was at least a regiment dug in on the hill. We just looked at each other like we were dead men.” On the morning of November 19th, the Air Force hit the hill with 500 pound bombs and napalm, and the brigade’s artillery pounded it with high-explosive rounds. Companies A and B were held in reserve on the first day. Companies C and D of the 2nd Battalion began the “assault.” That means approximately 160 guys actually started up the hill against an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 NVA regulars dug into multiple trench line and machinegun bunkers.
Think about that – 160 guys charging uphill against at least 1,000 NVA regulars in trenches and bunkers. I knew one guy who was in the Herd (the nickname for the 173rd) when I did my tour in ’65 and ’66. He signed up for a second tour. (Don’t ask me why, he must have had scrambled eggs for brains by that time.) He said the fire they ran into was the most intense he ever experienced – recoilless rifle fire, mortars, rocket propelled grenades, machineguns, chi-com grenades, the works. He was shot through the hand almost immediately, and his platoon leader told him to fall back. He did as ordered, and he told me that just about everybody he knew was subsequently killed.
Mind you, being hammered by 500 pound bombs and napalm is no picnic. Still, the point is that this tactic of working over dug-in NVA with 500 pound bombs and napalm and artillery never really worked. There were always enough survivors to man the firing positions and lay down hellish fire on the attackers who were exposed and moving. Know this: that damn hill was a bomber’s dream – hundreds of NVA concentrated in a relatively small space just begging for a massive B52 strike. Even the normal air strikes would have done the trick if they had kept it up for several days. A direct hit by a 500 pound bomb is sufficient to collapse most bunkers, or at least leave the defenders with blood oozing out of every orifice of their body.
The initial assault on the hill was doomed from the start. By pure raw courage, the attackers overran the first trench line in some places, but not in others. The NVA counter attacked and overran portions of A company that was guarding the helicopter landing zone at the base of the hill. The battle on Hill 875 became a swirling hell of confusion and close up butchery for both attackers and defenders. Most fighting in dense Vietnamese jungle was so close that the fighters could have hit each other with rocks. Think of it as Neanderthal warfare with rocks and spears and clubs and conducted at about the same range and you’ve pretty much got the picture.
The initial fighting in such conditions is a hell of automatic weapons fire that rakes the area. The Chaplain of my battalion described a similar battle this way, “To stand up was to die.” Take a good look at the picture of the hill linked to above and you will note that if you lay on the ground that there is usually a lot of downed trees and churned up earth that provide substantial cover. That plus the fact the many of attackers and defenders are killed and both sides run low of ammo. In such circumstances attacks bog down almost every time, and both sides hunker down in the confusion and try to pot shot anybody who moves or sticks his head up.
I’m not attempting to give an exact account of the assault on Hill 875 here. Instead, I’m pointing out why the circumstances of the situation caused such attacks to bog down and fail just about every time. Everybody knew this, but time and time again army and marine units were ordered to conduct the same doomed, stupid and pointless attacks. Time and time again, known concentrations of NVA were spared B52 strikes and the brass fed battalion after battalion of grunts into the meat grinder in attacks that they knew full well were pointless, stupid and doomed.
That first day of the battle was topped off just after sundown when a 500 pound bomb accidentally scored a direct hit on the 2nd battalion’s command post where the wounded were collected, and where most of the officers were. The wayward bomb killed about 40 guys and wounded many others. The bomb blew one grunt in half. His torso wound up in a tree and his guts fell down onto the guys below. Dead bodies and body parts were everywhere, both American and NVA. The stench must have been incredible; grunt meat rots fast in the jungle.
The surviving medics were completely out of morphine at this time, and everybody was out of water. The NVA gunners shot down three helicopters attempting resupply missions that first day. Hill 875 was a Stalingrad in the jungle. If the NVA had been on the ball, they could have swarmed down the hill with their superior numbers and wiped out the whole damn battalion, no problem. But they didn’t, and so the battle entered its second day.
On the evening of the second day of the “battle,” the 4th battalion of the 173rd arrived and reinforced the survivors of the mangled 2nd battalion. On the afternoon of the third day of the battle, the 2nd and 4th battalions again assaulted up the hill. This attack made some progress, but it failed for the same reasons the previous attacks did, and the grunts of the 173rd were driven back to their original lines.
On the morning of the 23rd, units of the 4th Infantry reinforced the 173rd, and together they began the final assault on the hill. Luckily, the NVA had mostly withdrawn, and only 5 guys were killed when a mortar round scored a direct hit on a group of 173rd soldiers. Total casualties of all units involved in the fighting on Hill 875 amounted to 107 killed in action and 282 wounded and 10 missing in action. Another account claimed 158 killed in action and 411 wounded. The NVA managed to shoot down 11 helicopters, and two guys from the 173rd were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor … posthumously. Here’s an account of the evacuation of the wounded survivors during the battle.
“Late on Tuesday afternoon, a landing zone was finally cut near the base of the hill, and the wounded started out for evacuation. Men who were peppered with shell fragments carried the legless in litters rigged from ponchos. Blinded troopers stumbled down the hill, their hands on the shoulders of the men in front of them. The helicopters began to land, and it took two hours for the 140 injured paratroopers to be lifted out. … More choppers came in, carrying food, water and desperately needed ammunition. The Brigade’s combat engineers came in, too, carrying demolition charges and flame-throwers. There was still a ridgeline to be taken. “
I’ve read numerous accounts of the assault on Hill 875. No account ever identified who ordered this pointless butchery. Every account always uses the passive voice, saying something like “the soldiers were ordered to assault the hill.” Every account agrees that Hill 875 had no “strategic” value. In fact, the 173rd abandoned it shortly after its capture. It was just another hill, and the only attraction was the known concentration of NVA there. The powers that be didn’t bomb it to hell for the same reason they didn’t bomb Haiphong Harbor or torpedo the ships carrying supplies into it.
I think most sane people can understand that something has got to be wrong when soldiers in the world’s most high tech military wind up fighting from behind a four-foot high wall of body bags. The whole damn, phoney baloney war was a contraption to put the American taxpayers into debt to the owners of the Federal Reserve and the NWO banksters. I hope Lord Rothchild and Mr. Soros enjoy their mansions and yachts. We Vietnam grunts paid for them.
here's to those our friends and comrades who are not here to celebrate veterans day.
hobo, it sounds like you have a few to remember.
I am sadden at Our and Your loss, Happy that you put the blame at the correct ones that should rot in hell.
awarded each other with medals and promotions.
As an ex-serviceman that says it all.............
sounds like a typical red army tactics during the WWII. here's one of my favourite wartime songs, in memory of my late grandfather who survived that war, and his brother who did not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgJdJXzLYmc&feature=related
I had a friend that was there and he said the same thing......... He passed away via a heart attack about 5 years ago........
That war was hell........... I have a friend whose brother got his brain destroyed in Afghanistan............... that war is hell. War is the last resort................ maybe the people that think they are good should be the ones l.leading the boys and girls into battle................
To all the vets that read this page..... I personally appreciate everything you have done and congratulate you on your service.............. let us never forget how bad war is and how much our vets sacrifice...
The reason for honoring came to a virtual end when the Drsft ended.
Yesterday was the Marine Corps birthday. I used to feel really proud.
Now? Not so much.
Thanks, 9/11. You ruined my November 10s forever.
two hundred thirty-seven years of rompum stompum health death and destruction, the finest fighting force the world has ever known.
Semper Fi
The USMC has nothing to be ashamed of.
It's not the Corps, it's the fucking corrupt bastards who sent us to war that I'm ashamed of. If only I had known then.
super great post; i learned so much from the comments, too. thank you!
What’s so terrible, is you send it to your friends, and they discount not just a president, but a **** General who knew exactly what his fellows were like.
That’s the worst thing about the sheeple (including our relatives) you love and warn them, and they think your the loon.
Even when one of the great leaders of the 20th century warns you over 50 years ago and lays the cards on the table before leaving office.
What a tragedy!
You have to give some blame to people stupid enough to fall for soldiering.
If citizens refused to serve maybe the world would be a more peaceful place.
At least the friction would be limited to local skirmishes.
I've seldom heard such total disregard for reality outside a Grateful Dead parking lot.
He should have told that to his soldiers before they stormed the beaches of Normandy. I wonder what they would have thought of the fact that Wallstreet invested a lot in nazi Germany prior to the war. Or that the eugenics society loved Hitler and his euthansia programs. Or that Rockefeller invested into thse programs not to mention the relation of standard oil and the nazis. If only soldiers on either side would have known. Well, soldiers nowadays can know what to expect from politicians and tycoons. Still, they storm beaches. I salute their bravery but their courage is misused. Same old story.
Oh well.
HOBO, a very, very small part of me feels deeply your trauma, anguish, and hatred for your superiors.
But, what in the hell let you (and tens of thousands more just like you . . . and I too have knelt crying before the Viet Nam War Memorial in D.C. for all the wasted young lads) enter that meatgrinder? Sheer stupidity? Or just simple ignorance, the well meaning youthful bragadocio of the young patriot willing to unquestioningly serve his political masters? Or simple capitulation, the wrong lottery number, nonething else to do attitude? Come on' man, its way past time to man up.
I don't expect that you should have had access to to the historical knowledge that led me (with lottery number 28) to Canada and Europe, and back again two years later only to lie my way through my physical with a psychologiical excuse. That required a certain fortitude. But I didn't have the emotional strength to shoot off a couple of toes on my left foot, OD on drugs, expatriate, or pull off any of the myriad other avenues that friends and acquaintances did do. So what's your excuse?
When I say this, I hope you unerstand that I do not denigrate your personal experiences. They are what they are. You did what you did. It is and was all horrible. Your lucky/unlucky to have survived. But for christ's sake, man, learn from your mistakes. Don't condemn new generations of youngsters to the notion that if only AMERIKA had bigger balls and bombs everything would have turned out all right! That is the exact blind alley we careening down for more than a hundred years now. Like those above have shown you, read General Smedley Butler, an American hero if there ever was one. And then study up on what the ESTABLISHMENT did to honor him!!!!
My father (a communist) advised me as a 20 year-old when my number came up, to enlist, learn everything I could about every modern weapon possible, and then take out the maximum number of my leaders I could. An obvious act of suicide, well-meant advice, but self-defeating in the end. I chose to love life, learn the truth of the world, and pass on my hard won knowledge to my son so that he had a small chance of living a better life in a better world.
You should do the same!
“Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” --Henry Kissinger, quoted in “Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW's in Vietnam”
Sometimes it's the only job in town.
probably one of the best posts I've ever read here at Zero Hedge, certainly true to the original spirit of why I created an account to enter the fray.
would that more shared these first-hand experiences of opting out of the many systems of mind control - at every level, even down to what most believe to be the essence of "themselves" that may in fact be yet another suit of armor set upon their shoulders, one they've learned to honour and defend.
I see you've been here since early on. I hope you post more often, even as I acknowledge I spend less time reading threads.
respect.
skepsis101: you did not serve when called- your communist dad wanted you to to attack the service itself-I did serve and with a member of 173rd airborne who lived thru the battle hobo posts each year-in the years I was in Nam 69-71 things changed it was not hobo's war a year after he left. draftees made up the majority of the unit 101st ..I went coming from a military family vs your communist one. what I saw in Nam was what most of those who were against the war were saying all along. it was FUBAR. the place tested us in ways you will not ever know. I loved it for the highs and the simple rules of stay alive and help others to stay alive ..our training never prepared anyone for Nam.
If you see as in some movies of Nam the crazyness..it was there in spades..what you will never see is those who risked everything to save many from the madness..you could of been one who could have done that..kept people who were innocent from death, I reported false positions and refused orders to do just that. IF we had more who just avoided contact and used their humanity overthere less would have died or been wounded on both sides and most importantly the poor veitnamese who just wanted to left alone fewer would have died.
you should have served and taken the opertunity to have impacted so many lives than may never have been lost.
as crazy as it sounds if more like you went there the less that war would have taken if you could have put action to the humanity you claim.
ps the spelling errors above i let stand as emotion still is strong whenever I think about that war.
The unqualified praise heaped on "all veterans" makes me want to puke. Believe me, there are many veterans you wouldn't want invite to your dinner table. The military is full of gangbangers, drug addicts, and wife beaters. Still, the good guys in the military are the only people in the position to slap the cuffs on the Golfer in Chief. Congress certainly won't impeach the impostor.
I'm personally not too keen on wars yet hold an admiration for those who have served with honor and bravery.
This poem was read at a family funeral. I found it very moving and asked for a copy.
Here it is.
A Soldier, His Prayer
god bless the soldiers. without them there would be no war.
There has always been war - it's the nature of man.
Bullshit.
War is the nature of government, a.k.a. institutionalized sociopathy. And I have some small hope that society in the future will recognize sociopathy, and the desire to rule over others, for the crime and mental aberation that it is.
Meanwhile, one could have equally argued 200 years ago that there has always been slavery, it's the nature of man.
War is indeed the nature of instutionalised sociopathy, as practised by nationstates via govern-ments, but wars are fought on their behalf by those who have made the choice to identify themselves with their govern-ers, particularly since enlistment has been voluntary of late. there is a long history of cultural respect for "men in uniform" - globally.
I don't "blame" anyone who was drafted unawares - the average age of a drafted man then was 19, and given the times, nationalism was just starting to be questioned by such types as "hippies" and others that were infiltrated by government, and over time, discredited amongst the public - but I wish more would start to realise that saluting the flag, and these "holidays of respect" continue to instill a kind of cultural amnesia, ignorance even, of why these wars are fought, on the behalf of.
and while it seems a difficult hurdle to get past, until more stand up and tell the truths, kids will continue to believe the cultural myths, and continue with the murdering of other peoples, and suicides within the military will continue to rise. . .
I totally agree, Cathartes.
And if anything, I am even more loathing of nationalistic bullcrap than you may be --- I can NOT stand the mindless obedience and herdlike behavior when the national anthem is played, with sheep standing with their hands over their hearts facing the flag as if they were doing homage to their god (which they are, whether they realize it or not).
If you really want to see kneejerk, pure unthinking, unadultered hindbrain herd behavior, just don't stand for the national anthem any time it is played.
fortunately I'm never to be found in any gathering that would even think to play the national anthem. . . I don't do crowds any more, not even for music, which is my constant companion.
I was once given a week's detention by a middle-school "social studies" teacher for refusing to recite the pledge of allegiance with my hand over heart - he would have loved the right to some type of physical punishment, but whacking kids with rulers had been made verboten by then, heh.
peace akak.
You as well, Cathartes. Despite some somewhat rancorous exchanges we have had, I bear no ill will toward you, and you have given me a good deal to think about, even today. Just because I do not promptly respond to every comment, or respond at all, does not mean that you have not given me food for thought, which you usually manage to do.
our exchanges have backstory - it was a year ago we entered into the dialog, yes? - and every time we go another round, I remember previous outcomes, and believe we both take something away each time, else why bother?
I do appreciate your post, putting it *here* for others to read just underscores the worthiness of exchange.
Fight Club, we do battle our psyches. . .
see *you* around.
I also used to refused to do the pledge in high school. They made you stand but I stood silently. People thought it was odd.
I like to sing the national anthem in the shower just for kicks. The trick is to start as low as possible so that you can hit the high notes at the end. People would probably call that odd as well.
Cathartes Aura said:
I would suggest that the voluntary aspect of enlistment is more of an example of successful marketing and propagandizing. My view of the military recruitment system as it is currently operated is that it is a de facto draft of the poor and lower middle classes.
The last US wartime draft was during the Vietnam conflict. The results of this draft included widespread antiwar protests, civil unrest, and, in the case of the Kent State shootings, an ironic example of one of the War Party's rallying cries for "Moar War!": a government clearly killing its own people. More importantly than any of this, though, was the erosion of the carefully crafted myths that the USA is "the good guys" and that military service is an honorable way to "serve your country".
Three other factors from that era should be considered. First, the news media weren't yet completely beholden to this country's corporate masters and thus some of the unsavory truth ended up in print and on the air. Second, because student loans were a recent development and hadn't yet led to the preposterous rise in tuition rates we see today, college was affordable. Third, the economy, even though it was about to enter a long decline, was far more robust than today, and a high school diploma was enough to get a decent middle class job.
In comparing the time of the last military draft to the present day, we can see significant differences. The news media are completely owned corporate tools, so you never see the grisly aspects of war or the flag-draped coffins of the thousands of returning dead.
The propaganda machine has been working overtime to shore up the myths of the USA as "good guys" and the honor of "serving your country". Here are some examples that make me want to retch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3wtUCPWmeI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEtZ5r0CIYI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvlkdyTstlI
Of course, all of the shootin' and killin' military-themed video games are nothing more than thinly veiled tools used for conditioning minds to become accustomed to perpetual war and to accept that killing people can be fun.
The economy has been circling the bowl for years. The currently accepted propaganda is that you gotta go to college to get a decent job. Student loans have, over the years, pushed tuition prices out of range for many people. The wealthy can always afford college, so to them it doesn't matter. The upper middle class can, with some inconvenience, afford college, although it comes with the risk of driving them down into the thick of the middle class. The lower middle class and the poor have two options available to them: debt slavery to student loans or joining the military.
Of course, the recruiters will play up all of the "benefits" of joining, especially the paid tuition part, and minimize the risks, because they're paid to lie. When you think about it, recruiters have to be some of the best paid liars on the planet, since their job is to convince people to sell themselves into slavery on the gamble that, if they make it out alive and whole, mentally and physically, and go to college, and then if there are any jobs at all to be found, they might end up better off. Of course, once the kid signs the papers, he's as trapped as any conscript ever was.
The so-called "voluntary" military solves a lot of problems. It sounds quite patriotic. It provides "opportunities". It avoids the messiness of protests and demonstrations. It allows the wealthy to keep their kids out of harm's way without having to buy favors. Best of all, it allows the Empire to kill off the poor in its eternal quest for more.
ahh, you've given much thought to the subject, as I'd expect from you, and I see it's paid off - although perhaps not within the cultural story. not that you aspire to that acclaim.
but yes, you are pulling at the many seemingly loose threads that contribute to social fabrics, which of course, will leave you threadbare in the end, and you'll have to weave your own garments from personal truths. at least they'll offer better protection against the storms. . .
the irritation I can cause by expanding your thoughts above to include the false "gender story" might be re-considered as something that can overlay the points you raise, in that "warrior" culture grooms warriors, and that has much history behind it. of late though, the "warriors" aren't getting the full on volume from culture, they're getting mixed memes, and are having to re-think where they fit in, where's the most "heroic" space to display? CEO$$$ or decorated 4****officer? where's the glory, to what shall we aspire? and it's crowded where it used to be streamlined, women are in the boardrooms, and now the barracks - what can be done?? can't be real men if women are watching. . .
carefully paging through the historical narratives might reward one with the realisation that "men" and "women" were kept mostly separated except for breeding purposes - men went "off to work" or "off to war" (both in the company of men) while women kept the "home fires" burning - even religions echo the separations necessary to keep the story alive - but if the genders spend enough time in each others company, they'll begin to realise there's not so much difference outside of complimentary body parts - unless they're invested in maintaining separate realities, of course.
it's a perfect time to *pop* out of their carefully constructed narratives, and make one's own way, in the world, and in the minds. but we have to question (their proffered) reality, particularly the social reality most believe absolute, when science, the great white-coat of authority, even science tells us our perspectives shape our outcomes. . .
Hayes Carl ~ KMAG YOYO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElnaO3WQkZc
(reckon you'll like the lyrics, and geetars)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhkHG-oKCEU&feature=related <---(gratuitous added song, because it's hella funny, IMO)
peace oh 4th one.
Cathartes Aura said:
I've come to question social reality from a variety of angles and concluded that an absolute belief in any one of them is unhealthy. I think that's why I liked to gobble so much LSD during a time that coincidentally coincided with the Reagan administration. It let you take social reality, shake it like an etch-a-sketch until it fell into pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and reassemble it in a variety of ways, each one giving you a different picture and perspective.
You could say it let you see it as you really are.*
*Imagine peaking on six hits of blotter while listening to that. Fucking wild.
How could it be otherwise? Our perspectives directly influence our perceptions, which in turn are our only link with this universe.
Very cool. A long time ago, country music could be genuinely subversive, which is why, in order to tame it, it had to be popularized, corporatized, and mainstreamed. This song reminds me of those subversive days, as it is a song which wouldn't have gotten played on Hee Haw.
Hah! That's a good one. For some reason it reminds me of the Ronnie Dobbs story. BTW, I think I saw Spirit Of Truth standing in front of that theater.
Why thank you (it's in such short supply these days).
Back when American presidents were still independent rulers
Can anybody verify-corroborate below incident?
"A chilling report circulating in the Kremlin this afternoon released by the Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) states that Kosmos 2479 detected the firing of two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from a MQ-1 Predator drone yesterday being operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over the United States city of Indianapolis that resulted in a massive explosion [photo 2nd left], and from local US media reports resulted in at least two deaths.
Kosmos 2479 is an early warning satellite launched in 2012 as part of the VKO's Oko programme and monitors the US from geostationary orbit for all possible threats, including the tracking of American airspace for US Air Force and CIA fighter jets, bombers and drones.
The CIA's MQ-1 Predator drones, equipped with two fearsome AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, have been described as President Obama's “weapon of choice” and are currently most noted for bringing to Pakistan the same horror that Hitler's doodlebugs inflicted on London during World War II.
According to this report, after the firing of these drone-missiles, two distinct trajectories were recorded which were “near simultaneously countermanded” by countermeasures employed by an AN/ALQ-99 airborne electronic warfare system aboard a US Air Force EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft that had been dispatched from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to track this CIA drone that had, apparently, deviated from its assigned flight track.
read more; http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1627.htm
I'm wondering if it was an accidental ordnance drop by the Indiana Air National Guard who still practice over a portion of the Jefferson Proving Grounds near Madison, Indiana? Last report I saw said the "cause of the blast is still a mystery." I think somebody knows...
From Wiki:
IANG has facilities in Ft. Wayne and Terre Haute and fly the A-10 Thunderbolt IIs(Warthogs). It's not really that far from Indy to Madison as a Warthog would fly. Don't know that they would be practicing on a late Saturday night though.
I was a combat medic in Vietnam with the 1st Infantry Division. Whenever anyone parrots "Thank you for your service", I say, "You've got to be kidding me...."
Good for you!
I am sick to death of all these kneejerk pro-military, pro-war sheep who constantly bleat about how US military personnel are spread around the world in dozens of countries, and forcefully occupying several at any given time, in order to somehow "protect our freedoms". More like DESTROY our freedoms! (and our wealth)
Also, I utterly can't stand this tripe about "Support the Troops". Other than being neocon code for "support US aggressive wars and militarism", what exactly is that nonsensical statement intended to mean?
So the "troops" want to "DESTROY our freedoms! (and our wealth)"?
Perhaps you sould consider the ultimate Commander and how he directs the troops.
You really don't understand how the military or any other corporation works.
hmm.
yet you believe you do, and you support the corporate military?
not so very enlightened - unless by "ultimate Commander" you're referencing a religious hierarchy that utilises the corporate military, like an "ultimate CEO" kind of thing?
these ideas that take hold of minds, they can be very dangerous. . .
100 Preparation Items for Emergency Preparedness
In the near future we may see some serious problems. If you are spending your time on basic items, without a pot to piss in, like the thousands of people after Sandy that had no preparations, then you will be in much worse shape.
There will also be plenty of opportunities for advancement, and if you have your basic needs covered, then you will be able to jump on those opportunities.
With inflation and a worldwide push to competitive devaluation of all paper currencies, anything you buy now will likely just be more expensive later, so this is not wasting money. Turn paper assets in to hard assets. Have a good laugh as you hand someone paper and they hand you back a valuable object. Hilarious!
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/2012/11/100-preparation-items-for-emerge...
Wow a lot of political and highly charged comments here today, and that's all good. But let us never forget how great the American military are at what they do. You can disagree with the missions that they are given by civilian commanders and politicians, but it is indisputable that our soldiers are the best trained and bravest in the world. Given any mission they can achieve, often times with one hand tied behind their backs by ridiculous R O E's. All veterans alive or dead deserve our most somber respect, they are amazing and have freed 100's of millions the world over.
I'd trade bravery for intelligence anyday. You obviously need to brush up on your history. The US military has served as the elite's enforcement thugs for most of the last century. Name one war in the last 90 years that wasn't instigated by corrupt scheming bankers and their paid-for politicians.
While I place the majority of the blame on the puppet masters, the soldiers need to quit being such mindless robots and start questioning the status quo. Without their cooperation these ridiculous wars would cease.
Um, isn't a thinking soldier called unsubordinate or worse?
sorry i meant insubordinate, I think.
You don't have to make a new post, you could have just clicked EDIT and corrected the spelling... :-)
Our soldiers do exactly as they are ordered and that is the way it should be. They are not supposed to think and reevaluate their orders. Civilian leaders make the decisions and our brave soldiers carry out the objective. To call them "thugs" is repugnant and indicates clearly that you have no grasp of history and have obviously never served. On a day that is meant to honor our brave it is disheartening to see your post and so many others here.
.
I would think anyone who had a firm grasp of the historical narrative would be too well informed to become a "serve-ant" - it's the ones who swallow the "no guts no glory" uni-formed "man" meme that "do exactly as they are ordered" and understand "they are not supposed to think"
seriously, surrendering your life, your mind, your "service" to a corporate killing machine that works on behalf of global financial interests - profits! - that's not much to be bragging about.
Yes, they're great. And one of these decades they'll actually win one of these wars. Maybe if we spent 3 times the amount the rest of the world combined spends on the military, they wouldn't have "one hand tied behind their backs".
Make no mistake they could win them with no problem if left alone by TPTB
I wish we knew what a "win" is. If we knew, then we could declare ourselves as having achieved it in Afghanistan, then wrap it up and come home. I also think we have to learn to separate winning battles from winning wars. We did pretty well in all the battles in Iraq, but in the end we have a people who hate us ruled by a Shi'ite who hates both us and the Sunnis, and who has made it the goal of his Administration to do harm to us, those who aided us, and anybody who doesn't think Ali got a raw deal. Morality aside, that doesn't seem like a win. I suspect if the military had overthrown Cheney instead of Saddam, the world would be a relatively better place today, though by no means perfect.
Great. Now can they free us?
Bring the boys back home
Bring the boys back home
Don't leave the children on their own
Bring the boys back home
- Pink Floyd
Bring the boys back home
Bring the boys back home
Don't leave the children on their own
Bring the boys back home
Happy Veterans Day ... Happy "Domestic Terrorists" Day
There, I fixed it for you, per Janet "Dung Beetle" Napolitano
LoneStarHog
USAF 1967-1972
Southeast Asia 1968-1969
Thank you for your service to our country, and as a cotemporary I mean that from the bottom of my heart!
Looking back over the last century, it appears to me that the socialist/statists caused far more war and destruction than the military industrial complex.
The two terms are synonymous.
weak
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/07/female-officers-sent-nude-photos-to...
Female officers sent nude photos to general facing sex crime chargesDeputy commander of the 82nd Airborne. Forcing his subordinates to blow him.
Salute to our "heroes" indeed.
eisenhower, a creature of the rockefeller axis of evil - though possibly oblivious to the fact that he was being used and abused - had the last word and rightfully so - the military industrial complex - expressed here as the bush crime syndicate, there as the rockefeller axis of evil, are the domestic terrorists who conquored america.....anyone thinking that he is free in this land is a fucktard - he is a slave of the state....(consumer, tax payer, anything but a person)
no doubt the men in uniform answered the call to valor, but as general smedley butler realized late in life, the only thing he ever served was the military industrial complex. he came to despise the fact that he was so used all of the years of his career to advance mic aggression....
The state birth certificate issued to me when i was drafted for Vietnam read like this...
Date of Birth: mo-day-yr
Subject My name (emphasis mine)
They were kind enough to issue it free of charge!
Forward, land,sea & air... Thank You for your service...
Let's give a special thanks to those for making a century of war possible!!!!
We would like to recognize:
Lord Balfour and Woodrow Wilson.
Allen and Foster Dulles contribution to the NAZI war effort.
A special recognition for selling out their own kind....Mr. Max and Felix Warburg.
Prescott Bush and George Walker for their contribution to the NAZI war effort.
The Rockefeller Clan for their contribution to the NAZI war effort. .
Henry Ford for his contribution to the NAZI war effort.
I.G. Farben who incorporated the worlds industry and managed all the patents to enable the flow of cash between New York and Berlin (via Bern) to finance, for a reasonable fee, Hitler even as American soldiers died on the beaches of Normandy.
The Gottwald family (formerly the Ethyl Corporation in Richmond Virginia but, renamed Afton Chemicals) for supplying the tetra ethyl lead formula to the Nazis to enable the engines of the Nazi war machine to run without knocking.
LBJ and McNamara for selling us out to corporate america to "bomb Vietnam into the stone age"
I forgot to give it up to Truman and Eisenhower for making 150,000 American troop occupation possible in Korea.
Ronald Reagan for his outstanding body count in Nicaragua, and Beirut; especially for the 400 Marines who were given a whole two rounds of ammo before they were blown to bits by Hezbolla even while Reagan sold cocaine to finance weapons sales to Iran. Bravo!!!!!!......let's not forget Ollie North.
Bush Jr. w/ his dark master Dick Cheney for killing millions in the mid east.
I want to congratulate the guy Cheney shot with his shot gun, he still lives. Good job.
Thanks to all the sick, twisted mother fuckers who care not who they kill as long as their share price of their war machine goes higher.
There are so many more US Gov't responsible for killing American citizens, to many to remember to name.
If there is someone I have left off please feel free to shout out their name so we might remember the dead by naming the killers!
My condolences to those who bought into their lies or got in their way.
To quote a great man, John Lennon:
"All we need is love! Give peace a chance"
If ever you need proof that the history books are written by the victors, check this out.
This makes Hitler look like a learner.
http://www.samarthbharat.com/bengalholocaust.htm
double post for some unknown reason
Forgot to shout out to the killers:
Condi Rice and Donald Rumsfeld.
General Westmoreland for Escalating Veitnam.
MacArthur, Patton for attacking WWI veterans with tanks in Washington D.C. in 1934? during the bonus march.
Rat bastards!
I don"t have enough terabytes to complete your list.
And, of course, the Rothschilds for financing both sides of the conflicts, for without them none of these wars would be possible!
I somehow think this one will be very well fitting here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqonCo0A68o
On Remembrance Day let us remember the countless millions that were murdered by those in service of the state.
Remember the Fallen
http://youtu.be/xzyOD6QhbjI
The military complex should be separate from the state/goverment.
Agree Chump.
I believe you are not clear on the concept, as explained by Ike in his last address to the nation. The MIC is part of state government to ensure total control over the budgets, taxing, spending and politcal support from each state. Therefore, it can not be, and will not be, separate from state/government.
In honor of our vetrans I must recomend this book "The Filthy Thirteen: From The Dust Bowl To Hitler's Eagle's Nest
These were the MEN who wore mohawks and facepaint on D-Day.
Here is a little info on the Filthy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filthy_Thirteen
I call bullshit on Ike. He had is chance to rein in the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex, but he chose not too. He was part of it. At the last minute he decided to leave out the word "Congressional" when describing the MIC because he did not want to offend his "friends" in the congress. No person was more respected and in a better position to ensure the MIC was properly castrated before it grew too big, but he wussed out. Kennedy was just some rich kid who thought he was in charge, but found out otherwise.
Yeah. I served and it was while I was in the U.S. Army that I learned what a corrupt, crooked government I served. I must say that blinded by the light is not a figure of speech. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. But that's what TPTB are counting on--your ignorance.
http://dumbassfils.tumblr.com/post/12141582302/the-london-observer-monday-november-18th-1822
The London Observer, Monday, November 18th, 1822
WAR AND COMMERCE.—It is estimated that more than a million bushels of human and inhuman bones were imported last year from the continent of Europe into the port of Hull. The neighborhood of Leipzig, Austerlitz, Waterloo, and of all the places where, during the late bloody war, the principal battles were fought, have been swept alike of the bones of the hero and the horse which he rode. Thus collected from every quarter, they have been shipped to the port of Hull and thence forwarded to the Yorkshire bone grinders who have erected steam-engines and powerful machinery for the purpose of reducing them to a granularly state. In this condition they are sent chiefly to Doncaster, one of the largest agricultural markets in that part of the country, and are there sold to the farmers to manure their lands.
here is a must read
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-message-from-us-rich-plutocrats-to-all-...
A Message From Us Rich Plutocrats To All You Little People
And when we have mastered keeping the Military -Industrial complex in check we can move on to safely keeping Dragons as pets, and only using cocaine on the weekend.
Fuck the MIC .... that was a head fake .... of primal maternal proportions .... the problem is WIC ! (Women Infants and Children government nutritional program .... Monedas' twists the anagram (?) to mean Welfare Indolence Complex .... which dwarfs military spending !)
I question anyone that speaks in the 3rd person(tense) about him/her self. Bla Bla Bla...
How many times are they going to beat us over the head with this tired old liberal talking point .... what next .... WMD in Iraq ? Yen Cross, I am the real deal .... I'll talk in any tense .... including 4th person subjunctive .... your job is to listen up and learn ! Eisenhower was a decent man .... and like many of his generation .... was just not capable of imagining the depraved, parabolic level of public giving we've sunk to ! He would have warned us .... but the bloated welfare monster .... was just not on his radar yet ! I'm surprised that the Tylers would drag out this worn out and totally misleading cliche .... again ! It is so liberal to smear a revered General on Veteran's Day .... and claim they're paying respect !
Now you're making sense Modenas. It's ok ,I fall off the reservation from time to time :)
Glad you were still hanging around to read my poorly written gem ! I'm beat ! Fuck with your mind, later ! Good night ! Your Pal in arms, Modenas ?
Fuck Obama!
Thank you to all who've served for honorable reasons and I'm sorry they lied to you.
Happy MIC Day!
A Thank You to all the Veterans who have served or are serving.
Just exactly who and what are they "serving"?
Certainly not the cause of freedom, not in the last 170 years at least.
Americans will so love their troops when they are sent to kill anyone who wishes to secede.
If you are white and voted for Obama you are the lowest scum on earth. FUCK YOU!
A day to remember the poor dead deluded souls, fighting to advance the station and power of a handful of demented narcissists.
May we remember how we were last tricked into war.
May we remember to question those who presume to rule.
May be remember to value all human life.
May we remember humility.
And may we remember our courage, when it comes time for us to defend ourselves from tyrants.
.
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
Smedley D. Butler.
Do warriors get paid?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwwY9y6O3hw
a guy in the UK has been arrested for burning a remembrance day poppy and posting the photo on face book. so much for freedom of speech and expression, seems it is getting tougher to criticise the war.
...so they do get compensation above the mark of the beast, just not by 98.999.% of the people remaining silent and in contempt. Oh! Wait! Lol, jail means there is ZERO compensation. Imagine that, a bunch of delusional socialists have 100% control, and they have a military that still shows up for nothing. Smells like China, sounds like China, looks like China, just with a more diverse population of delusional idiots, with British accents. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrSXn3JOvAs
This was veterans day .... a day to respect the fallen and all who served .... not a day to exhume their bodies and wag fingers and deliver, cheap shot Socialist rants .... especially when Socialists institutionalized the use of force .... in state approved thievery and in collateral damage !
General Eisenhower's concern was valid .... but has since been dwarfed by a malignant welfare complex .... he could not have imagined .... having dealt mostly with Americans who were patriotic, thrifty, hard working, respectful and honest ! That all life is a perpetual Darwinian scramblle for lebensraum and power .... was not his invention ! He served his country with distinction and I salute him for it !
Eisenhower was a modest, soft spoken man .... so unlike Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and the rest of the vulgar Socialist clowns of death !
Forwarded message from a veteran:
"Just to be clear and to clear up any confusion, or aggravating cliche statements. NONE of the Military Occupations, NONE of the Drone Bombings, NONE of the Torture, NONE of the Rendition, NONE of the indefinite detentions, NONE of current WARS we are in have ANYTHING to do with "Fighting for Freedom" or making "America more Free". So when you "Thank a Veteran" today, debrainwash yourselves and say something meaningful - or don't say anything at all. We Veterans know we got duped, well a lot of us do, and more and more are waking up. "If the Troops fought/ defended for Freedom, They'd attack the Government."Thank a Veteran by asking them if they need HELP. Between Veteran homelessness and suicide rates - Vets need HELP. Let them know there is forgiveness for anything they regret doing. (~ Nate)"
Anecdotal losers are present in any significant population ! Soldiers worth their salt commit suicide in action against the enemy .... not because they can't get a job after the war !
HISTORY IS A CONSPIRACY THEORY.
The fact is that war always has been the shortcut to wealth and power (if you won) and those that profit from it do so aided and abetted by those who wage war with the quid pro quo that history remember the valiant deeds and cover the combatants in glory, even before Achilles made his choice to die young with his name remembered for all time.
This peacenik craze is an aberration of man's natural state in history's timeline and to wish it were otherwise is to be convinced that one can empty the ocean with a teacup.
Every one knows Ivar the Boneless but who remembers Roland the Restful?
Men love war and will always create a need for it. Those who do not seek immortality will never understand it's powerful allure to those who do. When viewed in a historical context, war is a rational choice for it's temporal benefits and a more ephemeral gain of writing ones name in the book of heros.
The real trick is to get those disinclined to warfare to share the hero's vision and submit their treasure and their lives to achieving that vision. I think those who are shocked to see that this method will involve subterfuges of various kinds are being naive.
War IS subterfuge.
Get used to it.
excellent recruitment ad for "How to Re-cognise A Man" - you have most of the essential ingredients baked into your argument, such as,
a "real man" is a warrior, and warriors hang with their own, tribes of rape 'n' pillage roaming the landscapes - that's the History shared, yes? the "shortcut to wealth and power" is theft and death, and ultimately the "hero's vision" of going out facing the camera, mouthing a scream, hands in the air with a long gun in each - BOOM!! - another name for the bloody Book of Heros!
it's the wimmenz that are undermining man's natural state of warriors with the damn peacenik craze - and infecting the culture with a desire to de-fund the corporate military machine that feeds warriors, globally. *nods*
War is what happens when there are no democratic remedies ! When is the last time two democracies had a war ?
thelma and louise
This route can be a bit long and tedious especially as the summit day involves 1700m of ascent, There are also many crevassesnorth face outlet berkeley on the approach to the Grands Mulets hut, and at the Grand Plateau and Petit Plateau one also runs the risk of avalanches and serac falls. This route can be a bit long and tedious especially as the summit day involves 1700m of ascent, There are also many crevasses on the approach to the Grands Muletsnorthface outlet hut, and at the Grand Plateau and Petit Plateau one also runs the risk of avalanches and serac falls.