[plug] [OT+link] Feeling secure? Want to stay that way? Then don't read this.

[Russell]

On Fri, Dec 27, 2002 at 02:17:55AM -0000, sscott at iinet.net.au wrote:
> Do you reckon my grandfather, or several people I have known over the 
> years, went to WW2/vietnam/korea to be nice guys? War is war. They went, 
> killed a lot of people, suffered enormously, and those that are still 
> breathing are still suffering (like my mate who wakes up screaming nearly 
> every night post-vietnam). And theyd do it again. They did it so people 
> like ourselves can sit chatting aimlessly on a mail list about things we 
> cant comprehend. They paid the price for our freedom. 

My grandfather fought in WW1 for an adventure.  By all accounts he got
plenty, saw a lot of quite terrible things, but didn't change a great
deal.

Everyone I've met who went to Vietnam (a couple of dozen men) went for
the same reason, or because he was drafted and wasn't a conscientious
objector, or because he was a career soldier and it was part of the
job.  They all went because the government of the day wanted to show
solidarity with the USA and fend off the totally bogus domino effect.

None of these people went to "pay the price for our freedom."  I doubt
that soldiers think much about that at all.