All joking aside you honestly have no real response do you? All I sense from you is total contempt for the military. I would be more than happy to give you some respect if you'd at least told me you have done some sort of public service but you haven't.
Finally, a serious response. As the military exists today, yes, I find the whole thing somewhat contemptible... but then I also have a certain amount of contempt for what I do. I work for the same corporations that propagate the ideology that made the military a contemptible tool for some misbegotten Imperialist agenda.
You have taken the words I've posted here and twisted them around in order to make some sort of lame argument with me. I never said that serving in the military was more important than any job civilians do - those are words you posted. My question to you, since you seem to display little respect for those that serve (for whatever reason - it doesn't really matter) was simple and direct and meant specifically for you: what have you done besides pay your taxes to support this country? Charity work, PTA, anything?
First of all, I never twisted your words around. you said you preferred McCain because he'd worn the uniform, and that I wouldn't understand it. I understood you to mean that despite his many flaws, he'd been somehow sanctified by being in the Navy. As is clear, that's a crock of shit imo.
Second, what public service have I done? Nothing worth mentioning. I accompanied my dad, who is a doctor, on a couple of trips to Africa, where I basically acted as a gofer. I worked at his offices on Saturdays, when he saw people who couldn't afford him. I also taught at a top public university, but as far as experiences go, it sucked.
As far as what I did I served 12 years as a cryptologist. I'm proud of the work I did and have no regrets about it. You may not see my military service as any sort of sacrifice (and it isn't compared to heroes like HH6 and others that see the horrors of combat up close and personal) but it has it's important role. Unless you've been on long military deployments I really don't think you understand how difficult they are and how stressful they are on military families. But you're entitled to your opinion, Calmus. In the end you're going to think what you want and I'm certainly not going to change my opinion. I'll always be grateful to men like HH6 and others like him that I've had the honor to serve next to. I don't expect it to mean anything to you but it certainly means a lot to others like me.
I disagree with you ideologically, but I don't think you've done any worse than me. More importantly, I don't think you (or McCain) have done any better than me or most Americans. Being in a stressful situation might build character, but stressful situations come in all forms. Just because someone has been under fire doesn't make them any better of a person. And I (or at least a bus I was in) have been shot at by people who weren't fucking around. It didn't do anything for me. I was 22 and thought I was immortal.
