From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Wed Sep 04 2002 - 08:07:03 MDT
>From: Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com>
>I don't see where the above said it was "just a job". But there
>are career military for whom defense of this country is indeed
>their job. That does not mean that it is not a very honorable
>job. But there are many jobs/careers/dedications of one's life
>that are also honorable. Military is not more honorable. There
>are also many jobs/careers where one's life is at risk.
There is no other job in this or any other country that even begins
to approach, or compare, with the life of a soldier.
It is infinitely more honorable. I do not expect you to see or
understand this. The difference is what makes a soldier.
>If you are drafted for a war that you do not believe in and
>would not see any value in volunteering to fight, then that is
>indeed as bad as time in a penitenitiary. Except the war is
>likely to be less survivable. Both deprived you of free
>self-determination of your own life.
I was always opposed to the draft, in fact got in quite a bit of
trouble for stating that view publically while I served.
If you choose not to serve that is your choice, but the fact is
someone else is paying, or paid, the price of citizenship for you.
> If this sort of thing is true my time spent in the military was
> nothing more than an extremely destructive waste of four valuable
> years of my life.
>
>Your time in the military was whatever it was for you. If it is
>where you wanted to be and you believed strongly in what you
>were doing then it was a time of self-actualization, growth and
>increasing earned pride. It would have been different if you
>had no choice whatsoever and/or did not believe in what you were
>doing. How can someone else's reality contradict your own so
>easily? I don't see it. I also don't see why you need to
>emotionalize this as if there is only one "right way" to see the
>entire matter.
No, not just me, I was joining a long line of patriots whose
service I appreciated. It was my turn.
My ideals haven't changed, nor my reality been contradicted. I was
merely pointing out that if certain things were true (they're NOT)
then the reality would be different.
And yes, I am claiming there is truth here.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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