Politicians By Other Means

It’s always been that way since Agamemnon sent a thousand ships and bajillion Greeks to deal with his runaway bride problem.

In my yout’ I spent some time around veterans. I watched them during the remembrance day parades. The blank sad looks when they thought about friends long dead. The ones that missed limbs. I learned 2nd hand what it was like to face an MG42 machine gun. I heard the tales of war from my own father–the moment that stands out for me was how .50 caliber bullets (fired from a US American jet) missed my father as he ran for his life and killed a man 3 feet from him. How my grandfather and father ended up in such a mess is another story. I’ve wanted to be a soldier most of my yout’ too. It was a family sideline… of sorts. Not to say we were any good at it. Anyway, that didn’t happen (especially to my mom’s relief.)

It pissed me off to no end during the Walter Reed debacle when I read about men and women that were sent off to war were treated like utter shit by the very assholes who paraded them around for photo ops.

I’m no big wave the flag type, but I do believe the very least a society can do for its military is to be wise where/when they send them off to war and to take care of them when they get home (healthcare, psychiatric and pensions.)

I’ve seen the fucking magnetic ribbons here in Canada City and I’m pretty sure they vote Tory (our GOPers.) Yet, those same Tories want tax cuts (mostly for the 1%) which doesn’t jibe with me and have actually tried to chop the pensions of veterans (yet, love to pose with them at every fucking chance.)

Those fucking tools don’t seem to get that the financial cost of dealing with the human cost of war is more expensive than the financial cost of the material of war. The healthcare and pensions of veterans cost more than DOUBLE in today’s dollars than the actual weapons they used.

If Mittens were a character of fiction he would be the rather minor character of Harroldson the banker from the novel “Once An Eagle.” A tone deaf fool who uses word like valor and heroism yet does not understand what they actually mean and the price that comes with it.

Yes.

/Off to do cognitive behavioral homework to try to kill the PTSD.

In Israel, everybody serves in the military except the hypocritical, freeloading haredim (ultra-orthodox). So say what you will about their military policies, but they are, literally, sending their own sons and daughters off to fight.

A thought: Would not Jared Harris make a terrific Bob Hope? I’ve never seen him play American, but he’s got that wonderfully mischievous grin.

My college friend who served in the IDF told me to stay the hell out of the Army when I wasn’t doing anything much besides manual labor and working at a ski area as a college drop out. “It’s the stupidest organization in the world,” he said. “You’ll hate it.”

We had Gun Inspection back at the Ancestral Homeland yesterday. About 150 men and teen boys from the Pueblo in blankets, moccasins, and leggings (can’t even wear glasses for things like that) standing in the shadow of the adobe church shelled by the US Army in 1847 stood for two hours as the War Chief and his staff (we still have that office, he’s called the War Captain elsewhere) made sure our rifles were in good working order and that we had adequate supplies of ammunition for hunting and defense.

The Gun Inspection takes place on the ground where people were shot by the Army as they fled the destroyed church. We didn’t know that the Mexicans in the adjoining village had given up their rebellion that they encouraged us to join as allies against the US, so we were left holding the bag on that one.

As for the USO tour, lots of second and third tier metal bands make the trip. (They’re not terrible, they’re just not Metallica, Tool or other act of that stature.) It’s almost like a job requirement and builds some cred.