Tag: military

Pay the Way

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Warriors fight and die for a nation.

Never questioning the validity of their cause.

They act selflessly asking and receiving very little in return.

They die in the deserts, thousands of miles away from their homes.

Enduring unimaginable physical and mental wounds.

Limbs missing and soul shattered.

Yet never questioning the validity of their cause.

The nation and its leaders will never understand.

Their pay cut and for what, to balance scales.

No no its politics, the goal is to simply appear to solve problems.

The soldiers are cut, their sacrifices are diminished.

All they have given to a nation is forgotten.

Equality in the Military

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This week something wonderful has happened!!! Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has announced that (sometime in the near future) women in the United States military will be able to serve in combat roles. The United States has taken another step to become the pinnacle of equality it preaches to be.

Although women in the United States military have seen combat before, they were not officially allowed in combat only roles. The lifting of the ban of women in combat does not come without a catch. The Pentagon had said that certain combat roles will still be open to men only.

Setting Out Goals For Yourself, and keeping them.

r3t5nom1 Comment

Tonight I watched a video report on a soldier named Daniel Rodriguez who is a decorated hero from the United States Military. The reason this video was so attention grabbing was not because he was in the military, but because of the ability for him to make a promise to himself and do what so many people can’t do, keep it.

He and a friend of his made promises to themselves as well as to each other that once they were out of the military they would chase after their dreams and do anything that had to be done to achieve them.

A sad turn of events occurred and Daniel’s friend was killed while being ambushed by enemy forces on active duty. A lot of the time a loss like this can affect people and their ability to push through, but Daniel refused to let his dreams and talent as a football player go to waste.

When Daniel got out of the military he immediately went into training to become a football player.

This is a very mature and beautiful thing to see in life, especially because it isn’t something you see too often. I wish to be as dedicated and as committed to achieving my dreams. Daniel is now an inspiration to me that will hopefully drive me towards what I seek in my life.

Fantastic.

Our Army

therightliberalLeave a comment

With the “Kill Team” in the news, I thought it would be a good idea to write about the US Armed Forces.

In case you have not heard of the “Kill Team“, specifically Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, then here you go. It is a group of US Army soldiers who killed Afghanistan citizens for fun, not just the baddies, innocent people too.

The Armed Forces takes a lot of heat for their actions. They are constantly looked at as being the evil doers in our wars. But is it their fault?

I think not.

Most of the people who join the US Military are joining to serve their country, to protect the people, and to get a pay check. They do not go to foreign countries to kill innocent people or to fight wars that are not meant to be fought.

I was recently having this same argument and the main point that I heard was that the people who are fighting must believe in what they are doing. But I for one am not convinced.

We sitting home in the US see the war as an overall thing, a (fairly) complete picture. But individual people fighting overseas are just doing what they are told to do. Should they be blamed for following orders?

It is our governments fault for putting the soldiers in these positions. The “Kill Team” should face very strict punishment; they should be put in prison for the rest of their lives. They were not following orders, they were killing for fun.

But the soldiers who face criticism for following orders, that is just not fair. The are trying to protect the lives of all the people at home. They put their lives on the line daily for American interests.

It IS wrong that they are in that position, they should not be fighting overseas for pointless reasons. The US government should be held responsible for all the killings that they ordered. They are putting these young people overseas with big guns and small amounts of supervision, they should have to face the consequences.

One Man v. A Row of Tanks

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As I was working on my second Decades Paper for my history class, the dusty shelves in the memory department of my brain were revisited. My eyes fell upon a small paragraph, containing information that I would have probably just skimmed over had it not sparked something in the murky abyss of my memories. Two words reminded me of the struggles of countless students and even more so of one brave civilian who decided he had enough.

Tiananmen Square, 1989.

Students, mothers, fathers. Civilians alike banded together in the name of political reform. They had just lost a leader and strong liberalization advocate, Hu Yaobang, and felt it was in their hands to fight for the changes they wanted to see. And fight they did.

Through mainly non-violent protests, more and more people joined the cause for a more liberal government. However, the communist government fought back, mercilessly.

Buildings were on fire. Rubble and debris littered the floor. Many civilian lives were lost. However, throughout this fear for the government and citizen lives, one man refused to back down. One ordinary man who did an extraordinary act.

This is a video of the man who courageously stopped a row of tanks.

It’s quite breathtaking. To have the strength to go alone in front of tanks that can crush the human body in a matter of seconds.

Silently, I scolded myself for having let the dust collect over such a power event in those shelves of mine. So I decided to blog about this single event. This event happened 21 years ago, way before I was even born. I had almost forgotten this important moment as I am sure many other who will read this blog have as well. I am writing this blog to remind people that such bravery exists in today’s society and to inspire those who have never heard of this man-whose name I don’t even know-that stood against the row of tanks.

To learn more about this event watch the following video: