In '65, I joined the Marines to kill commies

[Ernesto]

now they call me "pinko commie liberal". Where have I gone wrong?

[trof]

1. Have you read "Jarhead"?

About a Marine sniper (who never got to snipe) in Desert Storm.
Just finished it. Very good.

[HEyHEY]

4. Did you see that CBC sunday morning special on Iraq?

One of the reporters told the story of sitting in a room with some US soldiers. A third soldier came in looking very upset, they assumed something terrible had happened. The reporter asked "what's the matter" the guy replied "This war is over and I didn't even get to pull my trigger."

[trof]

6. No, but, in a way, I think Desert Storm

disappointed some of the potential participants.

[Hand]

2. Nowhere!

Sounds to me like you're getting better all the time!

:toast:

[scottcsmith]

3. I hear you, brother...

I'm a Desert Storm vet. I've been called a traitor, anti-American and my patriotism is questioned because I oppose the current war in Iraq.

In the eys of right-wing chickenhawks, people like us are not "real" veterans.

[HEyHEY]

5. that pisses me off

I'm not a vet, but these pricks who never have served thinknthey can say you "aren't a real vet" because you disagree with them. Make me wanna hit one of them.

[Ernesto]

8. Wait just a moment here!

Please tell us what is going on with that polar bear!

[HEyHEY]

12. He's jumping into the water..I assume to kill something

[Zuni]

10. That pisses me off

I know people who risked their lives for their country in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. They have done more for their country than GWB ever will. They earned their right to criticze anything George the chickenhawk does, as have you.

[tom_paine]

7. No, the disgraceful truth is that the Busheviks themselves are much

closer to the Commies than to you, my friend.

Think about it:

They formed their own Party-Loyal Sub-Media
Filled with unquestioning followers who define Orwell's "Doublethink" which he wrote to describe the Commie State of Mind
Soviet-level secrecy
Soviet-style lies, now spreading like a plauge lately.

No, the Busheviks themselves are Free-Market Stalinists. Like most of Totalitarianism's Handmaidens what they actually support is diametrically opposed to what they think they support.

[Ernesto]

9. Did you say free-market?

That market is only "free" if you support their regime.

[Zuni]

11. Great points

they act like the Soviet apparatchiks who attacked anyone who criticized the party line.
They love the word 'freedom' but hate it in practice.

[dolgoruky]

15. Soviet metaphor fixation

Zuni, I have been reading some of your posts and it seems you are suffering from Soviet metaphor fixation. Take a break from the books, me old mate.

[tom_paine]

16. Me too, dolgoruky!

If we are fixated on Soviet Metaphors, then it is because the reality of the situation makes it so.

[Zuni]

36. I am with you Tom

I love your posts, because they always seem to say what I am thinking. Keep up the good work, mate.

[Redleg]

13. Anyone left of center is a "communist" to those SOBs.

If you believe in equal rights- you might just be a communist.
If you believe in economic justice- you might just be a communist.
If you believe in the democratic process- you just might be a communist.

I could go on and on.

By the way, I remember being called a "baby killer" back in the 1980s when I was in the Army. I suppose they knew I was pro-choice.

[5thGenDemocrat]

14. No snake eater here

I was a REMF Signal Corpsman, so far back that had the bad guys wanted to kill me, they'd have been required to send the missile UPS.
That said, I'm proud to have served. And I find that my service works to my advantage when dealing with chickenhawks (and, hey, there are only 31 million American veterans -- meaning for everyone who served, nine didn't or haven't or won't. The odds of using it as a trump card are in our favor).
I've been known to metaphorically pull out my M-65 field jacket (the all-green one, not the camo) and wave it at, say, Andy the Right Wing Republican.
Like this:
Andy: "We're over in Iraq to liberate those people (ALWAYS 'those people)!"
Me: "Well, Andy, if you feel so strongly about it, why don't you line up and sign up? We can always use more boots on the ground."
Andy: "BECAUSE I HAVE PINS IN MY LEG FROM THE CAR ACCIDENT!!!"
Me: "I went in at 17. You weren't in that accident until you were, like, 25. You could've made Bush War I, you know."
Andy: "BLLLAAAAAAAAAARGH <rattle rattle rattle>!!!!"
I highly recommend it. And, hey, I was a left-wing dirtbag when I was in the service. It didn't keep me for having a top-secret ENTNAC crypto clearance -- proof, I guess, that the government didn't figure I was an America-hater, even in those days of Richard Nixon.
John
USACC
Battery Parrott
Fort Monroe, VA 23651

[Ernesto]

19. Snake eater.... wha dat?

[5thGenDemocrat]

21. Oh -- Rangers, Green Berets, Marines, Recon types

The tough combat guys.
As opposed to us rear echelon, clean fingernail, starched Class "A"'s, shiny shoes types.
John
It's a compliment. I hope it's taken as such.

[Ernesto]

28. Tough smoghf

We're all the same @ this point: STOP the Repukes, Damn It!

[geniph]

17. Sounds to me as if you've gone left, not wrong!

Ernesto, my husband joined the Marines in 1968. He's a Vietnam combat veteran, and he's opposed to this BS war, too. It made him sick last year at the Veteran's Day Parade to hear the rightwinger chickenhawks and REMF types bitching about antiwar protesters, calling them unAmerican, traitors, and suchlike nonsense. This year, for the first time in 30+ years, he didn't even go to the Parade. :( These fascistic bastards are trying to co-opt the country for which you, my husband, and many others fought. We can't let that happen.

Oh, and liberal is a compliment. :)

[velocity]

18. As a Vietnam Vet

I knew we were there to fight cummies, the new troops do not have a clue why they are there.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

20. Another "Communist" VietNam Marine Corps Vet here...

well, a Navy Hospital Corpsman with the Marine Corps anyway.

Yep. I am a communist. I accept that. If * will accept his real title... fascist American-killing, lying, cheating, stealing, cold-hearted scumbag terrorist.

What say, GOP? Is that a deal?

[Ernesto]

29. A Corpsman Attached to the Marines

is a Marine. (In fact Marines are in the Navy as I recall but please don't spread that around)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

33. Well, yeah. But I always qualify that, so people understand,

cause of all the things I have ever done, that one is the hardest for people in general to understand. How you join the Navy and end up in the Marine Corps.

[Kamika]

22. a question

Ok sorry im pretty young(21), but did you guys actually sign up to kill communists?

I mean did ppl actually say, I signed up so I can go kill commies etc etc?


Ok and dont take this post the wrong way, I actually support the vietnam war.

[Breezy du Nord]

23. no, it was just that type of witch-hunt fervor

You know, sorta how it is now with the Muslims. "Kill them before they kill us," or whatever. Keep, in mind that I'm younger than you, just 14, so I could be wrong, this is just a guess.

[Ernesto]

31. There is no way that you could be "just" 14

Or is there? At any rate, You are pretty good! The deal in those days was: the domino theory, we had to stop "them" before it was too late.... 14? You go girl!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. No. that was a joke of the day... like the other poster said

just like the "Kill Muslims" crap going on now.

I guess there were some people who felt that way, but they were a very small minority.

And, why on Earth would you "support the vietnam war?"

I went, and I don't, and did not. It was a horrible episode in our history, only equalled, it appears, buy the current Iraq mess.

[Kamika]

35. because

It was done to help a people to stay free from communism, unfortunately it failed but it was good intentions.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

40. Let me tell you something. It had nothing to do with keeping

people from Communism, it was all about power, influence, greed, corrpution and money... business, in other words.
Ho Chi Minh, had he been handled properly in the 40's and not just tossed out at the end of WWII like garbage would most likely have never even considered communism.
But, like so many other of our "friends" who were dumped when they were not needed, he decided the other side had more to offer. Then once he changed sides, all of a sudden, he was a demon. A demon that had to be challanged.
There were no good intentions going in, either by the French or US. The whole plan was to keep it like it was so that certain companies continued making money the same way.
And to teach Ho a lesson, that the US may dump you, but you may not dump the US.
Well, looks like CIA got the lesson. But they did not learn from it.

[Ernesto]

30. No not really

but that was the job at the time. My pop died (before I got to meet him) in the Navy in WW2 & I like many other Vietnam era guys thought that it was our destiny to be like our dads & uncles from the "great & good war".... Boy did we get an education.

[onebigbadwulf]

24. You educated yourself

and now must swim upstream against a river of ignorance

[proud patriot]

26. Me too , I even have a USAA sticker on my car

I once when confronted walking back to my car
asked the fellow , "Do you know what this sticker
means ?" He said "huh?" I said "it means you're an
idiot for talking to me that way ."

I got in my car and left .

I'm not a vet but Many people in My family are .

I want to thank every Vet here on DU and tell you
WELCOME HOME . I'm so sorry idiots abound in this country
right now who don't know patriotism from fascism anymore.

[Breezy du Nord]

27. Sorry, my stupidity is showing but...

What's the USAA? Just a point of curiousity, if it turns out I knew it all along I'll feel so stupid...

You remind me of my dad though. He's a verteran and he's basically on the same page as you.

[Ernesto]

32. Hey girl

My 15 yr old son is checkin' you out...... Don't worry, there is no way in HELL that he will participate in Dumbya's vanity war .. Any way, he's groovin' on your smarts.

[CanuckAmok]

34. And, there's a difference between stupidity and ignorance...

...ignorance can be cured by asking questions, Breezygirl! :hi:

[trof]

37. huge insurance company

United Services Automobile Association
Members/customers are limited to current and former members of U.S. military and their dependents. No outside sales people and fairly low rates.
It has become a financial center/banking/insurance behemoth.

[proud patriot]

38. USAA = Insurance for Military Officers and Family

only officers and their family members are allowed
this Insurance .

[velocity]

42. I never understood why that was so. nt

[1a2b3c]

39. Thats kind of weird

Joining the marines just so you could kill someone.

[Ernesto]

41. What is the function of the USMC

or the US Army? Let's see.........Could it be searching for extraterrestials? Yeah, thats it! That's the ticket!

[stanwyck]

43. I hate the assumption

that because someone is in the military that he/she supports this administration and considers GWB a great president. My son enlisted last January in the Marines. He is a liberal. He did not join for the purpose of killing people. He hopes he never has to kill anyone. He is currently on a carrier which will make stops in Australia, The Phillipines, Indonesia, and parts of Africa. My husband, daughter, and I are liberals, also. We are tired of people asking if we're now Republicans because our son/brother is a Marine. We're not. Our daughter has protested the war on campus and joined the protest at Ft. Benning a few weeks ago. We love our son/brother and are supportive of his decision. No American should be made to feel unpatriotic for standing up for what we believe should be the direction of our country.

[Ernesto]

44. Thank you stanwyck

Sound's like you have great young man for a son (very few Marines can qualify for sea duty). I think I know what kind of demanding conditions he is putting up with. He is a true hero because he is tolerating the tough reality of being a god damned MARINE because he wants to do his part, whether or not we have a legitimate national leader. I wish him (and you) the best..... Please forword this message to him!.... SEMPER FI... And congrats on your emanant post #1000.