What Did You Do For A Vet Today?

and remember that soldiers, seamen, marines and airmen didn’t get a day off in Iraq today.

aww PITY ME! ! !

[quote]ssn0 wrote:
aww PITY ME! ! ! [/quote]

The fuck is your problem.

And to answer the question, I didn’t do anything except go up and thank a few war vets.

Petition the government to better fund long term health care needs and to improve recognition of stress related and other mental health issues?

No, I can’t, as of course I’m Canadian, but…

Vets are vets forever and some of them need you to stand up on their behalf after they have finished standing up on your behalf!

[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
and remember that soldiers, seamen, marines and airmen didn’t get a day off in Iraq today. [/quote]

Today was Memorial day, a day of remembrance for those who died fighting for their country. I think you had today confused with Veteran’s day.

Not that it particularly matters, I am sure you had the best intentions anyway.

let’s not forget the strength, heroism and contribution of peaceworkers and volunteer medical staff from around the world working in war zones to help local populations.

these doctors, nurses, aid workers are NOT ARMED and are willing to give up their lives to help people regardless of politics or national borders. that my friends, is some big brass ones.

Let’s see, there’s Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Armed Forces Day, Independence Day…are there any others I’m forgetting?

I am all for three-day weekends but how much remembrance do vets need?

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Let’s see, there’s Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Armed Forces Day, Independence Day…are there any others I’m forgetting?

I am all for three-day weekends but how much remembrance do vets need?[/quote]

I wouldn’t consider the 4th of July a vets day, and it pains me to admit it but I think you’re right. That said, one of my big beefs with stuff like memorial day is that the flags are all at half-staff. I hate seeing that. I cannot think of ONE good reason to fly them that way. If I were to die in combat, it would be so that my flag can fly high and proud.

mike

[quote]Malevolence wrote:
coloradosteve wrote:
and remember that soldiers, seamen, marines and airmen didn’t get a day off in Iraq today.

Today was Memorial day, a day of remembrance for those who died fighting for their country. I think you had today confused with Veteran’s day.

Not that it particularly matters, I am sure you had the best intentions anyway.[/quote]

No, I was not confused in the least. You could have washed gravestones or placed flags at some gravestones. A dead veteran is still a veteran.

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Let’s see, there’s Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Armed Forces Day, Independence Day…are there any others I’m forgetting?

I am all for three-day weekends but how much remembrance do vets need?[/quote]

does anyone get a day off for Armed Forces Day? You don’t think Independence day is worthy of a Holiday??? Do you work for Big Oil or something, lol;)

[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
does anyone get a day off for Armed Forces Day? You don’t think Independence day is worthy of a Holiday??? Do you work for Big Oil or something, lol;)
[/quote]
No its not that, I just think people who wave flags and talk about how much they support the troops are phonies; especially, since most of them probably spent the day at the lake without a further thought to veterans of war.

One day is plenty for celebration and remembrance–more than that is overkill. Ok, we get it–bravery, honor, etc…yawn.

My question is how many people actively provide “support” to living veterans of war? You know, the guys that come back from combat limbless and with mental trauma? These are the people that need support more than the dead.

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
My question is how many people actively provide “support” to living veterans of war? You know, the guys that come back from combat limbless and with mental trauma? These are the people that need support more than the dead.[/quote]

Bingo.

The “flag waving” makes YOU feel good about yourself… but there are vets that fall through the cracks and have to fight like hell to get the care they need.

It’s the easiest thing in the world to look up your senator or congress critter and fire off a respectful email before you buy a case of beer and fire up the BBQ.

For example, if I remember correctly, was it Walter Reid hospital that was below standards? Personally, I think providing for troops and vets is a good reason for taxing us, as opposed to all the bullshit pork that often gets ripped out of our wallets.

I hope reading this makes you think about these things every year.

i think it should be more what did the government do for our soldiers veterans that it is SUPPOSED to do than what did WE do for our veterans.

for example, not providing up armored (IED proof) HUMVEEs, cutting VA funding and not giving death benefits to soldiers that wear armor.

f

what did I do for a vet today? Nothing, but last week, I had to take my dog to visit one of them.

[quote]lIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
One day is plenty for celebration and remembrance–more than that is overkill. Ok, we get it–bravery, honor, etc…yawn.
[/quote]

Another telling quote that screams “former-military.”

To answer your question, I went to the cemetery.

JeffR

[quote]JeffR wrote:
Another telling quote that screams “former-military.”
[/quote]
Hey JeffR, I hope that isn’t sarcasm. I have a DD-214 with an honorable discharge from the USMC and a stamp of approval from the Commandant of the USMC. What do you have? What have you done to REALLY support this country that you claim to love other than going to visit some dead vets? Try going down to your local homeless shelter and find a living vet.

You are ALL talk.

[quote]florianopolis wrote:
i think it should be more what did the government do for our soldiers veterans that it is SUPPOSED to do than what did WE do for our veterans.

for example, not providing up armored (IED proof) HUMVEEs, cutting VA funding and not giving death benefits to soldiers that wear armor.

f [/quote]

Ultimately, this falls at the feet of citizens who get distracted by other issues and let these things fall off their list of concerns…

I now realize that gay marriage is a much more pressing issue than the safety of troops and health care for veterans, because that’s the issue that people seem to be most vocal about. Right?

[quote]florianopolis wrote:
for example, not providing up armored (IED proof) HUMVEEs, cutting VA funding and not giving death benefits to soldiers that wear armor.
[/quote]

I am sick of people crying about armor. You guys are getting our guys killed! There are plenty of things to complain about regards to our government failing the military, so let go of the armor argument. The strength of a convoy is in its speed. The up armor kits slow us down a LOT. I personally got stuck on convoys like a sitting duck for hours thanks to axles breaking on Humvees breaking due to too much weight brought on by the extra armor kits. Then you have NO armor because Marines are jumping out taking up security and moving equipment out of trucks into other ones.

Then there is the issue of body armor. Have you ever worn a SAPI plate? Then shut up about it! They are terrible and weigh a ton. by the time my little brother got over there they had him in full body kevlar suits plus SAPI plates because of the libs’ whining. His AMTRAK ran over some concertina wire and he was out there for over an hour cutting it off the axle in this stiff, heavy, and hot suit. He said he could have been done with it in 20 minutes if he just had regular body armor on.

Drop the armor cry! Look, I think we’ve screwed up a lot. I think we’re fighting more of the war than we should right now (though we should still be in the war). I also think we should spend a few billion less on the air force and put it into R&D on some good, flexible, light, and breathable armor as well as solid ground communications gear. Then we should be putting real rifles in our guys’ hands.

All I am saying is that you know to stop trying to score political points by looking for problems and instead listen to ways to productively solve problems. If you are against the war, be intellectually honest and be against the war for good reasons. There are plenty of them, but hitting it from all fronts dishonestly, HURTS us.

mike

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
coloradosteve wrote:
does anyone get a day off for Armed Forces Day? You don’t think Independence day is worthy of a Holiday??? Do you work for Big Oil or something, lol;)

No its not that, I just think people who wave flags and talk about how much they support the troops are phonies; especially, since most of them probably spent the day at the lake without a further thought to veterans of war.

One day is plenty for celebration and remembrance–more than that is overkill. Ok, we get it–bravery, honor, etc…yawn.

My question is how many people actively provide “support” to living veterans of war? You know, the guys that come back from combat limbless and with mental trauma? These are the people that need support more than the dead.[/quote]

Don’t forget the cool war movies! Oh the VA. They didn’t get my certification for this semester, so guess what, no Fucking rent money for me! They’re just like, “oh, sorry about that, sucks to be you.” Anyway, I pawned some stuff and hope to cover rent this month but jesus. The VA is so slooooooooooooooooooooow!

Not to mention people equate GI Bill recipients to crack whore moms on welfare.

[quote]lixy wrote:
what did I do for a vet today? Nothing, but last week, I had to take my dog to visit one of them.[/quote]

well that is cool, vets, the medical kind and war kind both like dogs.