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I'm pretty much a laissez-faire sort of person. My opinions tend to be several deviations out from the norm (sort of makes me feel at home here, though). Mostly I don't care what other people's opinions are. Mine is right.
But I have always held Remembrance Day (in Canada, Veteran's Day in the US) to be extremely important. Anyone under 65 can't really begin to comprehend emotionally the threat we faced in the first half of the 20th century. And millions of young men all around the world answered that threat. Not so we could live in the society we have today. Many, if not most, would be appalled at some of the things we allow today. They did it because they could see a clear-cut difference between US and THEM.
Today's military faces a much different challenge. They tend to be more professional, as opposed to join up, beat the bad guys, and get on with life. It doesn't mean they aren't worthy of our respect. Then and now these are the guys who did, and will if need be, put their lives in harm's way for us, and our families. They absolutely deserve our respect for that choice, regardless of their motivation.
I'm not saying that the various administrations haven't made wrong choices with their use of the military. God, have they made wrong choices. And there are individual and groups of military personnel who have screwed up big time, done things against they shouldn't have, and even committed atrocities.
But for those who went out there, or will go out there, and lay down their lives so I have the freedom to shit on them for their stupidity, or praise them for self-sacrifice, or just ignore them, I still have tremendous respect.
And if we forget them, we forget an important lesson, learned at an horrific cost.
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The secret to great marksmanship is deciding what the target was AFTER you've shot.
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