When I was in the Army, I was always urged to vote Republican

[CatWoman]

From the very beginning.

I was urged by my drill sergeant.

I was urged by my platoon sergeant.

I was urged by the sergeant major.

Hell, even the chaplain urged me to vote Republican.

Their rationale: because Republicans always took care of the military.

Republicans always ensured a strong benefits package and healthy pay and cost-of-living increases.

I wonder if servicemen and women are still offering this advice?

[GOPisEvil]

1. Then you retire and the Republicans screw you.

Republicans only like the military folks when they are young enough to wage war. When these folks are injured or retire, they just cost money.

Fuckers...damn, I can't stand Republicans!

[Hamlette]

2. the harder they fall

my Dad was in the service and Republican for many years. When he figured out that it was all a bunch of lies he turned on the GOP with a vengence. Never forgave 'em for lying to him. Became a very liberal Democrat (at last!)

[DarkPhenyx]

3. I was never urged to vote Republican.

Nor did/do I urge my troops to vote Democrat. I do urge them to vote every single time.

I do want to ask you if you think it was your superiors urging you to vote Republican, or a Republican urging you to vote Republican. Considering the position they were in over you either option is a breach of conduct, but one of them would annoy me more than the other.

[elfwitch]

4. saw a website..

I recently came upon a website that was besically veterans AGAINST Bush. The whole site was detailing how the Bushies have deliberately screwed the military. I wish I could find the link again to post it.

I think that the tide might be changing a bit. Nobody wants to be sent off to hell for oil and have their families starve at home.

[DarkPhenyx]

5. And I recently saw a bumper sticker...

..."Veterans For Bush". Looked pretty fresh too. *shrug* Lots of different folks on both sides. It'll be an interesting election for sure.

[Woodstock]

32. was it this site?

http://veteransforcommonsense.org/

[Woodstock]

33. here's another

http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php

[kaitykaity]

6. I was never urged openly, but in 1984 in Germany

they were spending and spending and spending and you
bet this 20-yr-old PFC wanted to keep up the spending.
"Reagan will take care of us." I was brainwashed.

[CatWoman]

8. Heh -- I was in Germany in 1984 too

and that's when the Chaplain told me to vote Republican.

His office was down the hall from mine.

He was a black colonel, and told me that black people are mistaken to vote Democratic, because all the Dems do is give us handouts.

[kaitykaity]

14. Maybe I just don't remember.

The beer and wine there are quite good.
:eyes: (I'd love to reminisce sometime.)

I do remember voting for Reagan, though.
It was just what you did.

kk

[Skittles]

28. no, it was not "just what you did"

some of us were NEVER fooled by that dipshit Reagan.

[JohnKleeb]

30. Well Skittles

You got the biggest nose I think well definely up there at DU for bullshit.

[Skittles]

39. YOU KNOW IT JK

I WAS NEVER FOOLED, DAMMIT, AND I RESENT PEOPLE IMPLYING EVERYONE WAS FOOLED. Reagan was as transparently digusting to me then as Dubya is today.

[kaitykaity]

35. Unless you were there with me, and knew what I knew

and talked to who I talked to, and lived the
life that I lived, I don't think you are
qualified to comment.

Thanks, though.

[Skittles]

40. I repeat

I WAS NEVER FOOLED and I DAMN SURE am qualified to 'COMMENT'.

[Toucano]

7. That's what was great when Clark said...

Republicans like the weapons systems, Democrats like the people.

...or something to that effect.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

9. I did like that quote by Clark

And I'm a Dean supporter, no less.

[JohnKleeb]

10. Wouldnt experience in the military make you more left or at

least more dovish? :shrug: If I were to be drafted today and sent to Iraq, I tell you I think I truely would come back more left wing or more dovish, why? because of what war is.

[CatWoman]

11. I got out right after the Gulf War

during the draw down.

I was all for the war.

I didn't realize how much I was lied to at the time, though.

[JohnKleeb]

12. Oh

What had you wake up? Neither of my parents are vets, and the only vet I really know well in my family, my grandfather no offense to the guy he really is influential in me being a democrat doesnt explain things well. BTW being a vet can you tell me if hes right when he says that our officers dont lead our troops in to battle or is it just his memory,

[atreides1]

Me Too

Left the Army after 13 years.

I volunteered for Desert Storm

And now I realize that even Poppy Bush told lies to sell his war.

Live and learn.

[CatWoman]

21. This is why I feel so blessed to have found DU

I get nothing but the truth here.

[jonnyblitz]

24. I got out of the navy a few years after the Gulf war...

I was never told to vote republican but I got a bunch of propaganda thrown at me about the anti-war protesters of the Gulf War and how they hated us. I talked to an army officer's wife a few months ago whose husband is helping rebuild the Baghdad Airport who told me she is told constantly that the anti-war folks are anti military too. I explained to her otherwise and she gave me a big hug when we parted company. She was taken aback that I was VEHEMENTLY against this war plus a vet. The right wing propaganda in the military comes from the top down it seems.

[leftbend]

15. Good point JohnKleeb

at least that was my experience. I can never understand how someone that has experienced war can wish the experience on another human being. When I was in Vietnam we didn't like any political party or politicans although I do remember it being a general belief "that republicans are good for the military".
PEACE

[JohnKleeb]

16. Yeah

:hi: there though I know you are a fellow Kucinich supporter, I know of two other vets min in our camp and I hear that VFP likes him. Now on war, what really taught me a lot was Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. War should not make one a hawk but more so a dove imo.

[number six]

22. Here's one

Remember, when the British Soldiers returned from WW2, they voted Labour en masse and Britain got it's one decent left wing govt.

[CatWoman]

23. My uncle is a retired warrant officer

who flew during WW2.

He is completely disgusted.

We talked one night on the phone shortly after the war started. He said if you ever lived through war, you would never, ever want to see it again. Or wish that on anyone else.

He absolutely hates Bush.

[jonnyblitz]

25. JohnKleeb, I was in the navy for 10 years...

and you know my views by now. I was a-political until Desert Storm, now look at me. :hi:

[JohnKleeb]

29. Yep

[rasputin1952]

36. Once someone has been in...

the hell of combat, they will usually vote for the person that will try to keep them out of a war by all other means possible.

War should ALWAYS be the last option. Until you've seen the lives of your friends be taken, until you have sat wondering why you survived when you know the odds were against you, until you have to treat the wounded and rehabilitate after your own wounds have begun to heal; one cannot really understand what war is all about.

One of the reasons Eisenhower was elected, is because he was AGAINST war. He had sent hundreds of thousands into the gaping jaws of war, and was not particularly fond of doing that again. The vast majority of those that have seen combat, would not wish that upon others. Those that have not seen the horror of war, are still looking at oil paintings of classic wars that failed to show the carnage.

The current administration has an idea that war is some kind of glorious enterprise. They have never had to drag themselves through mud, pull leeches off of their bodies, or fill their nostrils with the stench of burning fuel, foliage and bodies. Their concept of war is born from movies like 'Patton' & 'The Sands of Iwo Jima', not from the reality of experience.

I hate these bastards, and want them OUT OF OFFICE! :grr:

:kick:

[Speck Tater]

13. In the Air Force in the early 60's

we were encouraged to vote, but never given any "advice" on which way to vote.

[Redleg]

17. Voting for Republicans was normative for Army officers.

I got so sick and tired of hearing fellow officers talk about how much Ronnie Raygun and Bush Part I cared about the military and how we needed to vote for them because liberals don't like the military. Fuck 'em. The troops don't benefit from fatcat Republicans and their defense contracter cronies. We don't need a friggin' missile shield- we need better body armor and better individual weapons for our soldiers.

[jiacinto]

18. Yes

I have friends who were ROTC cadets in college with me and they all vote strongly Republican.

[DocSavage]

19. As a LPO

in the Navy, I always encoureged people to vote, but not once did I ever tell anyone how to vote. in 22 years of Naval Service, I NEVER saw anyone tell anyone how to vote, unless it was for the best legs contest that was raising money.

[el_gato]

20. a freind of mine who was in the marines

came back from boot camp and said they were asked who they were going to vote for and when he said the democratic candidate they gave him a big ass lecture

[ShimokitaJer]

26. Just like Enron employees were urged to invest in Enron

Who could have imagined that Bush would screw the soldiers over as royally as Ken Lay screwed his employees?

The Republican way: those who serve under you are your property. Use them up and then throw them away.

[CatWoman]

27. good point

:thumbsup:

[Isome]

31. Just like being employed by Boeing...

They always called "all hands" meetings in the large conference room so that whichever Republican political candidate could come into the oh' so security-conscious facility (relatives & spouses were required to remain in the front lobby anytime they visited) and speak to the employees.

[rasputin1952]

34. I spent a lot of time in the Army...

and I would be damned if I would vote republican, (although I was damned once for voting for Reagan the first time). I did have some mealy mouthed idiots, (usually butter bars), that actually believed that tripe, but I only got fooled once in 12 years total active.

For those that stuck it out for 20+, I bet they are crapping their pants right about now. Now that those that never had to serve are stripping away virtually everything that was guaranteed to those that did, I'm surprised they could get anyone to re-up! :grr:

Perhaps those that are still in there will wise up, like the rest of the nation is, and realize that these ridiculous fools are playing them for suckers.

:kick:

:hi: CW!

[CatWoman]

37. Ras!!!

:hi:

:*

[Tinoire]

38. Oh yeah we were urged

to vote (wink, wink). Cement head here loudly voted Dem every single time though.