WAR IS NOT VOLUNTARY??????????? Come on listen to yourself for a second there. Nobody puts a gun to anyones head and says sign the fucking paper. We have an all voluntary military, this isnt Israel, or any number of other countries that require their citizens to do military service. Even before 911 we averaged a conflict with rounds coming down range about every 3 years.
As a Marine, to echo what was posted earlier, your goal is to be on the tip of the spear fighting, killing, blowing shit up. Maybe its different for Air Force/Army. Its odd I run into so many Enduring Freedom/Iraqi freedom Marine vets that echo this very same sentiment. Its a different mindset in the Marines, which is why we do what we do and join the Marines in the first place. I remember when we came back from Afghanistan summer of 2002 after being deployed for almost 9 months over there, first ones in. We were told to keep our shit packed because chances are we were going to Iraq. This is July 2002, 8 months before we stepped off for Baghdad. Stop trying to champion the troops because most of them don't want your sympathy, if thats what it is. We all knew what we were doing when we signed our names on the line. If I would have never made it back, I know without even a shadow of a doubt my mom wouldnt have pulled a Cindy Sheehan and blamed our government for the death of her son (that bitch is another story all together). I understand its different for Vietnam vets who were drafted, I appreciate their situation they were put in and don't agree with a draft. I think its hard to get the point I am trying to make across to people who have never served in the Marines. Marines are not like everyone else, thats why it is the few and the proud. Warriors go to war and pascifists sit at home and bitch about it.
