Can we please take a moment to thank the veterans (and current military folks) present on Fluther?

Thank you, not only to the veterans themselves, but to their families who also make/made sacrifices. We owe a great debt to these men and women, past and present. God bless you and God bless America. Happy Memorial Day everyone.

To those who have served or currently serve, and to their families, thank you all. Happy Memorial Day.

Special thanks to those troops who are currently deployed and their families. Many Americans are just glad to have a day out of the office… meanwhile, there’s a private in Afghanistan or Iraq or Korea or some other place missing birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.

To those Americans who won’t even bother to think about memorial day (for whatever reason).. shame on you. I’d rather be with the private than be at your barbecue.

A big thanks to veterans, current military personnel, and their families.

Mahalo Nui Loa Vets and family members!

A huge THANK YOU to all of the Veterans and their families. You have honored the rest of your country so much.

Definitely. To all who have answered their country’s call. Thanks for your patriotism and bravery. TO all who lost loved ones in war, my sincere condolonces and thanks for your sacrifice.

Thanks guys, and yes, BIG thanks to all who have served. And blessings to all who have lost a beloved soldier.

Thanks military jellies! We lurve you.

“Young Men: The lowest aim in your life is to become a soldier. The good soldier never tries to distinguish right from wrong. He never thinks; never reasons; he only obeys. If he is ordered to fire on his fellow citizens, on his friends, on his neighbors, on his relatives, he obeys without hesitation. If he is ordered to fire down a crowded street when the poor are clamoring for bread, he obeys and see the grey hairs of age stained with red and the life tide gushing from the breasts of women, feeling neither remorse nor sympathy. If he is ordered off as a firing squad to execute a hero or benefactor, he fires without hesitation, though he knows the bullet will pierce the noblest heart that ever beat in human breast.

A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soulless, murderous machine. He is not a man. He is not a brute, for brutes kill only in self defense. All that is human in him, all that is divine in him, all that constitutes the man has been sworn away when he took the enlistment roll. His mind, his conscience, aye, his very soul, are in the keeping of his officer. No man can fall lower than a soldier – it is a depth beneath which we cannot go.” – Jack London

Cool- apparently JLo had no problem with military pilots or sailors. ;-)

@SmashTheState My dad fought in WWII. Do you know that Hitler planned for the rest of the world. He intended to enslave all non Germanic people and use them as slave labor while hie eugenicists bred a perfect Master Race of pure Aryans (whatever that is supposed to be). He then planned to systematically exterminate all inferior races. I served in the Navy and lucked out, finishing my hitch just before Viet Nam heated up. My son is a 1st Lt. in the Army and recently returned from deployment to Afghanistan.

Regardless of how many errors the US has made in projecting military force, the fact remains you and I wouldn’t be here to have this debate if they had not stood in the breech against tyranny. To condemn those that laid down their lives to win you the freedom to do so seems wrong headed to me..

It is ironic that, like the state that he wants to smash, @SmashTheState walks lockstep with the US State Department in falsely accusing London of writing the propaganda London himself denied writing and called, “Good Soldier Carnard.”

GQ, I really had to think about this for awhile. No, I don’t think I can. I’m sorry, guys – I know you have sacrificed everything for a cause you believe in, were very brave, and suffered unbelievable hardships. But I can’t get past my horror that other people, so many other people, have been killed, and many more lives ruined, on my behalf. I would never have asked you to do that (to kill or to be killed), and I can’t thank you for it. Yes ETpro, even for your fight to help keep my people from being exterminated by the Nazis. I just don’t think I can say that my life is worth taking away somebody else’s. I won’t condemn you for it – I don’t think I know enough about military service to make such a judgment, I think that things are rarely that black and white anyway, I realize that most people feel differently than I do, and you have your own reasons for doing the things you do – I just can’t condone it.

Meh, the military is for poor people. Serving the country is a bullshit way of saying “Burger King isn’t hiring.”

@johnpowell I suppose that’s what drew John F. Kennedy to serve. And my kid isn’t poor. At 26 hes bought his first home. He has the money in the bank to pay off the mortgage, but would rather not given today’s mortgage rates.

Thank you. My father was saved from being shot by a veteran. So I would like to thank him if he is reading this.