gender dysphoria

[Plane]

This was a discussion about  the military favoring Republicans over Democrats or vice versa. The people our military slays are not voters and not part of the discussion at hand.

Are you telling me why it is that the military vote is so favorable to Republicans?

I missed it when you made that point.

[kimba1]

well...
I do find it distasteful how some of my free thinking people talk about the military. but it does prove I`m quite abit more conservative in thinking than most people think

[Plane]

I seem to have a bias towards the military , I feel as though bigger is better.

But I can be argued into admitting that there may be a level of readiness that can be called enough, and a further level that could be called wasteful.

I don't get the idea that less military is always better, less is better when the need is less, so it depends on reciprocity from foes and potential foes.


I think the pertinent points always are about the size and nature of the need.

Of those who have no respect for the service of the military, I really don't understand them well at all. 

[Xavier_Onassis]

I suppose that going to war is something that people in the military see with mixed emotions.

The minus side is that you might get killed or maimed, perhaps for life.

The plus side is that when there is a war, the military gets larger and you could get a promotion. They give you nifty little ribbons to wear. Recently, I have noticed that some of the officers I see on TV have nifty little ribbons to the degree that they bear a resemblance to the plethora of chest ornaments typical of Soviet Field marshals.

I see the military as a necessity, just as police and firemen are a necessity.

[Plane]

  People who join the military think it is an honorable and useful use of their time and talents.

    They least of all want a wasteful war.

[Xavier_Onassis]

What they want most are the bennies, face it. College tuition, room , board and a uniform, and no worries about being unemployed. A career, pehaps, and retirement, with a pension, as early as age 40.

I am reminded of the joke about two men in a park. One is sitting on a bench, snapping his fingers every ten seconds with a determined look on his face.
The other man asks, "What are you doing? Every day I walk by and there you are, always snapping your fingers!"

The finger snapper replies, * SNAP!* "I am keeping the elephants away!" *SNAP!*

The other man says, "Are you crazy! This is Central Park in Manhattan! There are no elephants here!

The finger snapper then says, *Snap!* "That's right!" *SNAP!*  "And you won't see any, either! *SNAP!* "Not while I am on the job!"

You have prevented us from being invaded by Grenadines, Panamanians, Salvadoreans, and Nicaraguans.

Thank you for your service.

[Plane]

You have prevented us from being invaded by Grenadines, Panamanians, Salvadoreans, and Nicaraguans.

Yep , and my Father shot a lot of Germans.

It is funny to me that you think this ridiculous, that we live in a world with as few potential despoilers as there are wild Elephants in Central park.

May you never learn the truth of Human nature , God bless the military that is so good that invasion is absolutely unthinkable.

[Xavier_Onassis]

We need an army in the same way we need police and firemen.
But we have not made being a cop or a fireman some sort of rite of passage to manhood.

It is a job. More productive in peacetime than repairing one arm bandits or delivering cigarettes, perhaps.

[Plane]

  It is a lot like police and firemen.

   But you can't have so many firemen that fire is just too intimidated to try.

    So its more like Police.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Pretty much every action that a fireman takes in doing his job is heroic. Firemen are never given the duty to kill anyone.
This is less true for cops and the military.

[Plane]

  I guess this makes it good luck to firemen that their greatest enemy is soulless.

[Xavier_Onassis]

No one hates firemen.

Cops are easy to hate if they give traffic tickets for minor violations all the time.

Officer Friendly gives warning tickets to drivers who are doing potentially dangerous things, and only give fines to drunks and repeat offenders. The purpose of a traffic cop is to get people to drive safely--not to raise revenue for City Hall.