Honoring Memorial Day: a plea to the Community

Honoring Memorial Day: A plea to the community.

Memorial Day is a U.S. Federal holiday instituted originally to remember the fallen soldiers of the Union and Confederacy. By the 20th century, the Memorial Day was expanded to remember all fallen soldiers.

I know that the United States has a negative image with some here and thats been extended to the military. I know sometimes terrible things happen and sometimes terrible things are done.

I served in an armor battalion in Iraq and sometimes soldiers are not always the most pleasant people. Our job was convoy security. We drove around and saw a lot. One of the more despicable tricks soldiers I was around would do is fill bottles with urine and throw it at Iraqi police when they made the universal hand signal for water. Not exactly winning hearts and minds there. When ever I was the truck commander I wouldn't allow that behavior. Sometimes I was and sometimes I wasn't.

But I also saw good things. I saw soldiers handing out candy and water to the locals. I saw soldiers conversing with them as best they could. A couple soldiers I knew even took it on themselves to become more proficient in the local Arabic dialect than the ARMY had deemed necessary just to have better communication with the people they were around.

I saw good and bad, but mostly, 99% of what I saw was just people who had enlisted for various reasons in a country they were sent to who weren't given a choice about it making the best of it. As they say in the ARMY..."you volunteered when you signed up."

My point for all this is: You may not like the U.S. government or the U.S. Military, but these fallen soldiers are just people with loved ones back home who want them to come back home and that doesn't always happen. Allow us to honor our fallen loved ones without disparagement. I know sometimes people say stupid things. I don't blame posters like Lycan for being offended when someone says things like how I believe the U.S. Military has bore the brunt of military conflict since way back and still does. For all I know he had family that served in WWII and was there when Britain absorbed and held at bay the German war machine. If you object to things like this than I understand.

But THIS thread is simply a remembrance for the fallen. I am not touting the merits of democracy or the superiority of the American way of life, U.S. work ethic and on and on. Please allow this thread to be a memorial for our troops for today and don't put the mods into a situation where they have to lock it.

Thank you kawmunity.

 

What was to long ago to be relevant. The day was expanded for all fallen soldiers.