Wednesday, November 1, 2006
The all-volunteer military
President George W. Bush said something that I found interesting. He had this to say at a rally for one of his Republican stooges:
“The men and women who serve in our all-volunteer armed forces are plenty smart and are serving because they are patriots — and Senator Kerry owes them an apology.”
First he implied that our service members are in Iraq because they volunteered to go to Iraq. That’s simply not true. Just because they took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies doesn’t mean they volunteered to go off and make Iraq a democracy.
Bush also said that members in the military are serving because they are “patriots”. That is simply not true. Most join the military for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with patriotism. Whatever that word even means these days. Sometimes I think it has been turned into something to do with magnetic yellow ribbons and boycotting the Dixie Chicks. To listening to Sean Hannity and getting as many tax breaks as you possibly can.
A majority of the people that enlist in the military do so because of need. Some join for the job training. Some join for help paying for college. Some join for the medical benefits. Others join because they simply want a steady paycheck. Some join for all of these reasons.
If a kid has the means to go to college or to obtain a well paying job, he or she will be far less inclined to enlist in the military.
If anyone owes the troops an apology, it’s George W. Bush. He sent them to invade a country under false pretenses. Thousands of young men and women have been killed or permanently disfigured because of weapons of mass destruction that never existed. Whoops. The fact is that Bush sent our military to invade and occupy a country for false reasons. His huge whopping mistake he himself refuses to admit.
He has no business demanding Kerry apologize for anything. It’s embarrassing. I don’t know if he knows this, but John Kerry is not even running for re-election.
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They voluntarily joined the military period. They had a choice and made it. No one put a 45 to their head and said “sign” a legally binding contract.!