How does this video make you feel?

I respect every single soldier out there that is protecting our country.

I was in the military then I became a military contractor. It’s a career choice. These folks, as much as I admire them, are simply doing their job.

For every “fallen hero” there’s another guy dropping the decorum to announce that he didn’t sign up for this but the Montgomery GI bill. We have professional non-drafted armed forces. These folks do what they’re told to do. No “feelings” on my part required.

Let’s just say I’m both against the administration that sent them there and for those who willingly went thinking the administration is correct – joining the army is a choice and defending the country is necessary but participating in waged wars on others countries is criminal, imo.

It brings me to tears and strengthens my resolve to make war obsolete.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: I’m confused by “those who willingly went”, could you be more specific? I want to understand your answer. Thanks!

@bythebay
Well there are people that were serving the Army prior to the whole post 9/11 propaganda hoopla and they ended up serving in Afganistan and Iraq whether they liked it or not, but there were people who jumped on the ‘let’s hate and kill them ‘cause they’re Muslim and are a threat to us’ bandwagon that I have no sympathies for

Thanks for the link…it was the first I had seen it. The video was beautiful, touching and very well done and I hope to see everyone of our kids safely home soon. See ya…wtf

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: Ahh, thanks for the clarification. Now I understand what you’re saying.

Well done video, and quite manipulative in its message. Not saying the subject matter isn’t meaningful, just that this video is a format to support certain emotional opinions. Face it, movies, whether they be entertainment blockbuster Hollywood fare or something personal or political, are produced to foment a determined set of emotional responses. I don’t like being manipulated by anyone.

That said, I stand behind the people who do what I cannot, fight for their country in the military. Like all soldiers, they are pawns in a battle much bigger than themselves.

When I say I support the troops, I do so openly. Upon meeting anyone who has served their country in the military, I ALWAYS shake their hand, look them in the eye and give them a sincere and clearly-spoken ‘THANK YOU’. Some are confused, some are embarrassed, but all are grateful that someone steps up to say they are appreciative of that soldier’s sacrifices. As a man that lives in a free country, this is the least I can do. I also vote for politicians that see that our troops receive everything they deserve, either in battle, or when returning home.

While this is important for todays’ soldiers, it is even more important for yesterday’s heroes. Be it WW2, the Korean Conflict, Viet Nam or any other major or minor conflict, these men and women deserve our respect and admiration.

Imagine how it would be if our Afghanistan and Iraq era men and women came back to being spit on, called baby killers, and treated like criminals because they fought in a war that they did not start. Those who served in Viet nam faced such BS from the people at home several decades ago, and I for one, find it reprehensible.

The only one who deserves to be spit on is Jane Fonda and her Hollywood liberals that gave our US soldiers a bad name. fuck Hollywood

It is impossible to talk about the video without debating the war. All I can say without debating the war is that I often feel sorry for soldiers of all nations that are sent out to fight a war they don’t believe in. Then again, if they don’t believe in it, it’s all the more reason for not fighting it. In a way I can respect people who die for their ideals, even if those ideals are something like “let’s kill everyone and make our king proud”. I don’t know how I feel, but certainly not the way the film-maker would like me to feel. Sticking to just the film, I just find it cheesy. Sorry.

Why should I feel bad for people who chose to join the military? They knew what they were getting themselves into.
I’m not going to spit on anyone eww but neither will I feel sorrow or pity.

some the responses above are indicative of why someone might have felt the need to produce a video such as this. It’s obviously not intended to evoke pity or sorrow for our troops in the field, but to put a face to those folks. War is a hard thing, and for or against any particular war, it’s even harder on those who participate in it.

It’s always interesting to read or hear how specific individuals state or justify their position on this war just as it was during the vietnam war and most certainly every war before that.

i think it’s a sad fact that war will never become obsolete. and darwin may have made the most general case for war – survival of the fittest refers not only to the fittest against the environment, but amongst any given species.

i’m very proud of people in the military. they are able to risk their lives for their country and i sure couldn’t do it.

I love them for fighting for my benefit, but I want the war ended and them back home.

My neice is serving a second tour—this one in Iraq, the first in Afghanistan. I am proud of her choice to serve. She did join the Army to pay for school and she knew that it was very likely that she would be deployed. It has interrupted her schooling, interrupted her life (having a boyfriend, continutity, steady housing). She does not complain. She serves with determination. We wait for her return with faith that she will come back whole—both physically and emotionally. We do not agree with the war or the administration that started this, but we fully support our neice, her fellow soldiers and any other service person who has made the choice to defend our nation and serve in the military.

I don’t like the way the video obviously tries to manipulate.
I already support the troops. That isn’t the issue here.
I do not like being manipulated.

The video should remind everyone that the biggest issue in the U.S. today isn’t bailouts, gay marriage,or swine flu.

It’s the men and women overseas who have been, in a large way, forgotten.

Thanks to all of you who have sacrificed.

@Blondesjon
though I don’t support the military, I have not forgotten them
but they were not forced to go
and the issues you speak of affect people as well
they’re not less important

@Simone_De_Beauvoir . . .I simply answered the question in context.

I know, totally out of character. Sorry to confuse you all.

@Blondesjon I wasn’t criticizing your answer, at all – I just wanted to respond to you

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Don’t you think it’s a little too broad to state ”[you] don’t support the military”? as i implied above, we live in a mad world and war is almost an unavoidable fact of nature.

the countries that don’t have a military force are countries that basically don’t have a footprint in the world; that believe their non-militaristic position protects them from military aggression; or, that hope that some other country in the world will come to their aid in their time of need. such countries are far and few between and they can thank the fact that they are far and few between that they can take such a stance – they are both opportunistic and convenient.

I mean, if the axis powers had prevailed in wwII, do you really think they would have left switzerland blissfully on its own? what of north korea today? who is really threatening them that they had to take the actions they have recently?

i don’t like war. i don’t like thinking that someday my grandkids may face the same dire circumstances as my father’s generation faced. let us beg for now the question of justification of the current wars and hope that if in the future our freedom and well being are threatened by belligerents of any sort, that we have a military able and willing to stand them down.

@avalmez
in another statement above I did clarify that it is necessary
but I don’t support its current objectives

@Simone_De_Beauvoir consistency

When I watched that video, and this was the first time I’d seen it, I got chills down my spine, I wanted to cry, and I’m very appreciative for everything that military members do. Those individuals I was looking at are my brothers and sisters in arms and already having deployed to the Middle East twice and possibly going again in January, those images are very, very striking to me and I know what they’re feeling and what they represent.

If I saw them in an airport coming home from a deployment, I’d shake their hands, hug them, give them a shoulder to lean on, listen to them, and support them completely with no reservations whatsoever.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone that supports the military even when our objectives or goals are sometimes murky. (Iraq and Afghanistan for example)

We should be thanking you, @Bluefreedom. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

To those above who stated their discontent at being manipulated, I ask, who exactly is manipulating you? A 15 year old girl made a video to support those people serving our country far from home. Can’t her objective be just that? Why do you feel those images are manipulative, they are after all, real.

She’s not a fictional character created by a journalist for maximum effect in a story. Just a real girl, with real feelings. She chose to express them in the form of a video. I admire her efforts to put faces to the news stories we hear everyday, and summarily forget about by dinner time. As for “feeling bad” for those same people, yes, you should feel bad for them. Indeed, they signed up for the job with no illusions as to the fact they might be putting themselves in danger. Thank goodness they did. So does that mean when danger is upon them, when their lives are at risk, we should say, “I told you so”? Do you not feel sorrow for a fireman or police officer killed in the line of duty? Do you not feel the pain of their families? They too, signed up for the job and knew the dangers. Compassion is not a bad thing, it’s a human thing.

A Metro (subway) worker was killed recently when he braced himself on a track that was still live. There was not supposed to be danger in his chosen line of work. It was a tragic accident. But hey, he was getting a pay check. Does he deserve our support and yet not those risking their lives not only for a paycheck…but for our lives as well?

I am often aghast at those persons who will point fingers and say “you knew what you were getting in to”, but continue to reap the rewards of their efforts. Many do sign up for college tuitions, and other self serving reasons. But they are not the unintelligent without other choices or options. They are not all small town failed football stars with no other options. For many, it’s a source of pride to serve our country.

It is unfathomable to me that there are those who cannot embrace the humanity of those people serving so far from home; paycheck or no paycheck.

My father was in WWII and openly talked to us about the gratitude he and his fellow servicemen felt when they were recognized for their efforts. I have uncles who were in Vietnam and did not receive a warm welcome upon their return.
War is ugly, harsh, painful and unfortunately, a reality. Politics and apathy are worse.

That has to be one of teh most moving things I have ever watched, tears are pouring down my face as I type, what brave people there are in this world we forget so easily that it isn’t just the people out there fighting for our freedom that are brave its those that get left behind and have to carry on without the one they love. Many soldiers know what life will entail when they go to war ajnd face it with courage and dignity, they will never know the heartache of those they leave behind, they are all so brave…

@sakura: You are so right. Those here face a whole different set of obstacles. Very good point.

@bythebay Whether the creator of this is 15 or not, it is manipulation. You asked me how the video made me feel.
Whether the images are real or not is not important. If I put together a video of Arab women laughing and singing after watching the 2 towers fall, it would raise anger levels dangerously to whoever watched it. It’s real, it happened. I don’t like to be manipulated, and I don’t want to maipulate others. It’s not civil.

@filmfann I understand your view point you don’t want to be made to feel guilty/emotional etc… The question asked was how does it make you feel, to me it moved me and me and made me think about the loved ones I have and those I have lost..and see previous answer – about those that are left behind. However the person who made the video has a point to make, just like you do- yours. The people who are fighting the wars, particularly those who have have fought in the past, have done so, so that people like you and the person who made the viseo have freedom of speech and ideas. So although I can’t undestand why the video doesn’t promote the same emotional response as mine, (Sadness and appreciation) I can understand why you feel pressurized into feeling something you don’t want to.

I hesitate to post here, as it is an emotional issue in a thread about a video that shows an aspect of all wars that is true. But some of the statements here don’t really jive with me, so you’ll have to excuse me, even if you think it’s none of my business.

@bythebay Comparing the war in Iraq or even Afghanistan to WWII, is not fair. These wars were fought for very different reasons. The soldiers going to these current conflicts does however need moral support, but they also need to understand why they are there.

A country need to be under attack in order to be defended. American soldiers occupying between 700–800 bases confirmed in 63 countries outside the States, or shipped to wars in other parts of the world is not defending a country, it defending interests. The word hero has been deeply misused, and today you just have to sign up to be called a hero.

My brother did two tours in Bosnia and they wanted to ship him to Afghanistan, which he turned down for moral reasons. He didn’t go to Bosnia to defend his country, but to make a difference in an awful conflict. He refused to go to Afghanistan because he didn’t believe in the presence there.

I would have supported him either way, as should every soldier be, but the abuse of the concept of “defending your country” has made it lose it’s real meaning.

I do support America’s involvement in major conflict across the globe, as the alternative is quite awful. The US hegemony keeps the world stable, as we live in a unipolar world at the moment. This is a telling picture though, in a time where americans don’t have full health care or can’t afford education, where many people see serving in the military as the option to be able to pay for it.

I agree though. These soldiers do make a difference, and they need support. Not to be slandered.

i understand exactly what @Simone_De_Beauvoir is coming from and i agree, although i don’t support the military’s causes, i do respect and remember those who have sacrificed.
i would never join or recommend anyone to. people try to get me to often, saying how it will pay for school when i get out and all this bullshit. like i have nothing better to offer. i consider it an insult. although i love my friends and family and would do anything to guarantee their safety, i don’t think joining the military is the way to do it.

@filmfann: I’m trying to understand your point, however, I think one can only be manipulated if you’re open to it. If I were to view the example you gave of the Arab women, it would be up to me to decide what actions I took and what feelings I had as a result of the viewing. You are right though, I did ask you how you felt.

@oratio: I would never compare the wars, but rather was comparing the service of the enlisted. Unfortunately, the rationale behind the battles is not up to the soldiers to determine.

@Clair: Your fractured analysis of those who might take advantage of the military tuition programs is biased and presumptive. Do you think that because someone takes advantage of that opportunity, they “have nothing better to offer?” – that’s insulting.

@bythebay 70% of the people i know that have joined the military did it because they wanted to have a paid education or they had screwed up their life to the point that it could not be repaired and they knew that when they got back, people would kiss their ass because they were a soldier.

@Clair: Really? May I ask where you got that amazing statistic from? 70% of the people “you know”, hmmm. And people are suggesting often that you go into the military. That’s interesting.

yes, made their acquaintance, as a matter of fact, you might say that i know them very well. and i would say about 7 out of every 10 fit these statistics. i’m not making charts and recording all the facts, mind you. i’m just a person, giving their opinion and sharing their knowledge like everyone else on fluther. and yes, the bastard uncle of my SO suggests that we go into the military together so our school and everything will be paid. he suggests this because we are having financial problems and need to get into school.
the sarcasm isn’t really appreciated. i would never personally attack someone just because i had an opposing view.

@oratio

American soldiers occupying between 700–800 bases confirmed in 63 countries outside the States, or shipped to wars in other parts of the world is not defending a country, it defending interests.

Couldn’t have said it better…

But, just to clarify, yes I feel that every soldier, sailor, marine, airman or coast guardsman involved in any conflict deserves respect and support, just for other reasons. Having been in the military, and for a short time even in this current conflict, these are my brothers in arms. They go through the same hardships I have gone through, and they may well die in the course of rendering the obedience to their chain of command that is demanded of them. But I also feel, that if the hardships of deployment/war is something they can’t handle, then they shouldn’t be in the armed forces at all. It’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle.

Now some state, they don’t agree with the “military” objectives. In this case let me remind you, the military is only the “force” arm of the government you yourself have either elected, or if you haven’t elected it you have failed to prevent it by not being more pro-active, grassroot or whatever you want to call it.

Doesn’t matter if you like this conflict and it’s objectives or not, you have, actively or inactively had a hand in these folks being over there.

Too many people have an attitude of “The Government” being this detached, untouchable thing, when in fact Government is from the people for the people. May I remind everyone that Bush’s approval ratings where sky-high when the Patriot Act. was signed in?

So even if you’ve been against this war from the start, even if you have been anti-Republican since you were allowed to vote for the first time, show a man/woman in uniform some respect and some support, because your failure to install a Government that would not run haywire to pamper the military-industrial complex is the reason he/she has to do what’s being done right now.

@Clair: Sarcasm…okay. I’m not attacking you, and my view isn’t opposing. Go back and read your post about how insulted you are that someone would suggest you go in to the military, because you have “more to offer”. Do you know how many people there are on Fluther that have been or are in the military (FYI:I’m not one of them)?

@avalmez what about it

Thanks, @Harp. Me too.

I kind of feel bad but at the same time not really. Like they knew EXACTLY what they were getting themselves into when they signed up. I also would never have the capacity to kill another so that puts me at more of a divide. The video really made me more sad thinking about the fact that people could participate in this senseless violence. Killing and being killed for what really? I mean what are we really accomplishing?

off topic but clair kind of touched on it.I loathe people trying to recruit me into the army. If i wanted to join in on the killing, id sign up myself, if not, fuck off, leave me alone.

@uberbatman Not all of the people who are serving in the military are in positions where they are expected to face the “enemy”. Many people work behind the lines doing mundane jobs. Killing is not a requirement for everyone who’s in the milirary. Yes, they are taught how to use weapons and defend themselves, but you typically are only in the position of killing when you’re in a rate that puts you in the field.
Any theoretically, yes, anyone who enlists in the military is supposed to know what they are getting into. However, did you know what to expect of things or how to adequately assess situations when you were 18 or 19 or 20? And, the military does a good job of enticing young people with signing bonuses, etc. $5 grand sounds like a lot to a kid with not a lot and few prospects.
And, since many people who are currently deployed are in the National Guard, not the regular military, their use for overseas deployment is not what the National Guard was (is) supposed to do.
I don’t condone war and I certainly don’t condone this one. But, there are so many variables that contribute to why people join the military.
Fine and dandy if you don’t want to be recruited. But don’t stereotype all people in the military (or anyone for that matter).

@Dorkgirl i am 20 and felt this way long before this age. I also believe joining the military even in one of those positions that doesnt directly kill is still supporting the killing of others thus i am apposed to it. Sure your not pulling the trigger yourself, but your oiling the machine that does.