Route: Army?
Sounds like it, caught a whiff of cynicalness towards the air-conditioned/cable tv watching Airmen in Kuwait... don't think too harshly of us, not our fault we don't have to march under the heat of the Iraqi sun!
But like football: there may be a defense team, an offense team, and a special team but at the end of the day we're all striving for that Superbowl ring.
Regarding Baron's level of military knowledge/experience, well - it ranks at about the same level of his English mastery. I didn't know that the fine institutions of South Park offered a minor in Advanced Military Tactical Intelligence with the more well-known major of Professional English Explicative Communications...
Who better to understand the war in Iraq than those who actually fight it, either marching thru the streets of Fallujah or the intel analyst supporting them? Look at the volumes of erroneous history books written not by the actual soldier/commander, but by self-proclaimed 'certified experts' whose only exposure to war was a raise in oil prices and in nightly updates from a short-sided left-wing/right-wing media.
I can say that there have been some great posts in this particular forum from all sides of public opinion. Isn't this country great or what? Yes, there are a growing number of 'Asshats' but there are still a great many people who are genuine and care more about the needs of others than the needs of themselves. Look at this emulator: how many countless hours have people spent making this a better product at no reward to themselves (other then knowing that there are people enjoying their talents)?
Being in the military, I am directly exposed to many self-less individuals. Here's a quote for Cisyouc: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." I consider you all (even Baron who makes me laugh) my friends. I don't mean just the 'Jesus-lovers', but there are many people of all races/sexes/wealth(or lack of)/education(or lack of) that still care about the common good of all people.
I care about the people of America. I care for the people of Iraq. I may not like some of the things people do, but I care about my fellow man. Who cares what the reasons are/were for war in Iraq/Afghanistan? Is the end result better off for the people of the world? I believe so.
An interesting fact I just learned about the nukes we dropped in Japan: in an instant 130K people, men/women/children, were dead - most civilian. However, at that time Japan had run out of proper resources to carry on war against the 'Allied' nations. Like someone posting earlier about the Emperor and the desperate Japanese, civilians would rather rush into the battlefield with pitchforks (due to the lack of bullets) and die then let the Coalition forces occupy their homeland. Should the war have been allowed to continue millions, both Allied and Axis, would have perished. The cost of Nagasaki’s and Hiroshima's lives saved millions others - including the more than 150K POW's the Japanese held captive and treated rather inhumanely. I think that's a great example of a wartime 'end justified the means' (speaking about using nukes).
This war, the people who fought in it, the President/Senate/Advisors/Commanders who led it - all benefited humanity in the end. War is never pretty, that's what makes it war. It should never be flaunted, overused, or abused - and I don't think OEF or OIF is. America isn't perfect, its President never was nor will be - but in the end we have helped to make the world a better place, just like many other countries too.
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