Post by The Theban Legion on Jun 20, 2010 23:51:53 GMT -5
I would like to invoke Jefferson in his Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms " Our cause is just...We fight not for Glory or for Conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without imputation or even suspicion of offenses." As long as that remains true for any country with a military and a proper set of values then that service should be held in high regard.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. -Voltaire I was not chosen to serve one party, but to serve one nation.-George W. Bush
In Britain soldiers are considerd very important whenever a regiment comes home theres big parties on the streets and if a soldier dies people line the streets to pay tribute to them
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Post by Lakenburgh on Jul 15, 2010 21:21:51 GMT -5
Hmm here in Germany, as can easily be imagined, soldiers aren't in very high esteem. Although Germany certainly has a long and not to unsuccessful military history, being on the loosing end of WW2 practically meant, due to the need to convince everyone that we are really not interested in any more military operations, abandoning all of that. No nationwide parades, no victory memorial days no nothing just the constant reminder about the atrocities that happened and having to feel guilty about it, has a bit of a dampening effect on the whole "proud of the military" thing.
Personally I think soldiering is at it's best a very skilled, very dedicated, very helpful, very responsible profession in a world sadly to stupid to see what we could do with our resources, our energy, our talents, if you could just find a way to stop the urge to kill each other for mostly rather absurd things. At its worst it can bring out dangerous sides in people uncontrolled violence, arrogance, recklessnes, misuse of power, paranoia, fear, mistrust the whole line of things no one should be proud of.
In the end not the profession itself earns my respect, but people that choose it and try every day to do their best to be the their best and not become the thing they started out fighting.
Last Edit: Jul 15, 2010 21:24:09 GMT -5 by Lakenburgh
Post by Pompadoodle on Jul 16, 2010 6:11:19 GMT -5
I think that its important to realise that soldiers are held in high esteem in the US and UK for good reasons. In both countries:
- The military is under complete civilian control. Its apolitical, and the government is securely democratic.
- The military is wholly professional.
- The military actually gets used. Britain and the US are countries which fight wars, resulting in casualties. Soldiering is therefore a high-risk profession.
- In the US and mainland Britain, theres no history of the military being used by the government against the population. The position of catholics in Northern Ireland is rather different, and so are the views of the NI catholics towards the British Army.
- There is a record of military success. The US has, afaik, only lost one war in its history- Viet Nam. Britain has not been on the losing side in a war since...hmmm...possibly the US War of Independence.
Considering all of this, its hardly surprising that we British and Americans like our troops!
By way of contrast, consider Spain. Its had an attempted coup as recently as 1981- in February 1981 there were tanks in the streets of Valencia supporting the overthrow of the elected government. And over the last century, Spanish troops have been used against the Spanish people as least as frequently as they've been used against foreign armies.
Or worse still: somewhere like Zimbabwe or Myanmar (Burma). In both of those countries, the army basically runs the show, and troops are mainly there to shoot civilians, not to protect them.
Quite. But (speaking as a Brit living in the US) even between the US and the UK there's a great deal more public praise and vocalised blanket support for the troops in the US than there is in the UK. I've never seen the omnipresent "Support our troops" bumper stickers that you get here in the USA back in my original homeland, for example. They always make me wonder who they think they're talking to, since everyone seems to have one.
I respect the military; they're (on the whole) dedicated professionals doing a dangerous job in which people are trying to kill them. I just don't see why we have to make such a huge public fuss about respecting and supporting them, with everyone seemingly trying to outdo one another in how "patriotic" they are, measured in how vocally (and blindly?) you "support our troops".
I guess this could be a factor of where in the US I live. I don't have much experience beyond Texas. I just don't remember all of this fuss and hoo-hah in Britain.
Brits might not be as vocal but we do care for our troops
This is exactly right. We're more understated and stoic than people in Texas. But public support for our troops is universal.
We may not agree with the wars that they fight, but we still respect and support them. Its the politicians that send our lads off to war that people object to.
Even the extreme left supports the troops. The only people who don't support them are the loony islamicists, and those guys are hated for it.
We may not agree with the wars that they fight, but we still respect and support them. Its the politicians that send our lads off to war that people object to.
I agree with this 100%. The soldiers are doing the job that they agreed to do when they enlisted. I get angry when the people blame the soldiers for policy that they do not like. It is not the soldier's doing.
Last Edit: Jul 17, 2010 12:28:31 GMT -5 by Kranusilika
Politicians are only as good as the people that put them in power.
I think that it is very brave for those who give their lives for us civilians. Of course those who try to avoid the draft could be looked at as cowardly but maybe they're doing it for their country for everyone knows a country without workers is a jack in the box without the jack.