HONOR & SCORN

Not sure what my Grandfather would think about America right now.He had a lot of contempt for politicians especially during the Vietnam war but he had nothing but love and respect for the veterans that fought . I remember on many Memorial days he would stay on the phone for hours talking to has old friends from the War .I think they were the only friends he ever had.He trusted them .I had the opportunity to meet most of his old friends. You could tell they truly cared about each other.They are all gone now but when I think of my Grandfather I always think of his old friends. I know I’m a much better man for having known them.They all fought together , they all came home together. They all stayed in touch with each other through out the remaining years of their lives.

War,The money making racket of the Ubber wealthy. All the Rah Rah stuff on TV makes me ill.
I don’t fear anyone from the middle east. Our own government is the only enemy of the American people that I see making life hell.

Some put the US death toll for Iraq and Afghanistan much higher. I read somewhere that the military changed the way they count battlefield deaths differently–if a soldier made it off the battlefield but subsequently died later, it was not counted as a war death. There’s a Veterans Affairs document out there to that affect.

http://tomhayden.com/home/50000-american-casualties-in-afghanistan-iraq.html

Also there are the US contractors killed:

“While the mortally wounded US soldier is the “gold standard” of war deaths for many Americans, the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced fatalities among large and unrecognized numbers of private contract workers. In April 2014, the over 61,000 contractors in Afghanistan outnumbered the uniformed US troops there. [1] While contractors have been killed in large numbers, a full and accurate accounting has not yet been done by the Pentagon. An estimated 6,800 contractors working for the US have been killed in the two war zones; the true number is likely much larger. This is the consequence of the fact that the majority of US contractors are the citizens of other countries, many of whom appear not to have had their deaths or injuries reported. (Page updated as of May 2014).”

http://costsofwar.org/article/us-killed-0

Totally agree with Stucky here. I feel absolutely NO sympathy at all for the brainless slobs who actually VOLUNTEERED to go get their brains and legs blown off so that corporate Amerika could post another 3% profit margin on its quarterly statements.

If anything, I wish MORE imbeciles would eliminate themselves in such a manner. It leaves more oxygen available for the rest of those who weren’t so miserably stupid.

Agree with Stucky, again. There is no honor in volunteering for a pointless and illegal war.

Draft with no exclusions. When TPTB stooped basement babies get drafted this shit will stop.

Wanna honor a veteran? Find one of the guys that stormed the beaches of Normandy and give him a big hug. THAT was the last real and justifiable Amerika ever fought .

you couldn’t be more wrong..

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/NoOverlord/index.html

Air War College
Air University
OVERLORD: The Unnecessary Invasion

By

William F. Moore
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

A research report submitted to the faculty
in
fulfillment of the research
requirement

Research Advisor: Dr. Joseph L. Strange

Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
March 1986

The massive allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944 was not necessary for the military defeat of Germany. The German Army had already been destroyed on the eastern front, and the German war industry was being devastated by the combined bombing offensive. According to Trumbull Higgins,

When the British were finally compelled by their Allies to invade France in 1944, it was an invasion essentially undertaken in the self-interest of the West, the terrible risk of the collapse of the Soviet Union having long since passed. At this date the Red Army no longer needed more than Western supplies with which to occupy eastern Europe. (4:283)

The Normandy invasion was simply too late to be of meaningful assistance to the Russians. In fact, Stalin had conceded that is was no longer necessary.

Furthermore, many capable allied strategists knew that OVERLORD was no longer required and recommended against it. Why were these recommendations not heeded, especially since they would have resulted in greatly reduced British and American casualties? Two considerations cannot be ignored. First was the sheer momentum behind the OVERLORD planning. American planners had placed all their European “eggs” in this basket, they had been advocating OVERLORD against the British for over two years, and they were unwilling to concede to the British position in late 1943. Secondly, American leaders, including Roosevelt, felt that unless American forces took a significant (albeit late) share in defeating the German Army, the Russians would be entirely uncooperative in the post-war world and probably would

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not assist in defeating the Japanese. The British were much less concerned about Russian sensitivities, feeling instead that their post-war interests would be better served by strengthening and conserving their armed forces rather than squandering them on the beaches of Normandy.

OVERLORD was not a military necessity; it was an unnecessary military gamble that could easily have failed. In retrospect, it is impossible to understand why American strategists were so committed to it. This commitment itself is evidence of serious strategic inflexibility. American planners either could not or would not adjust to the realities of the European theater in late 1943 and early 1944. Having already made the investment in a strategic bombing force that, in combination with the Russian Army, could have defeated Germany in a matter of months, why did the US not unleash the bombers and turn its attention to the Pacific theater? Why did US strategists not accept British recommendations for a less risky Mediterranean/Balkan strategy that would have left the western forces in a much more favorable post-war position relative to the Russians? The answers to these questions have political as well as military dimensions. President Roosevelt believed he could buy Stalin’s post-war cooperation. When Stalin expressed his final preference for OVERLORD at Tehran, he essentially allowed American political and military strategy to coalesce. OVERLORD was what the Russians still wanted and it was what Gen Marshall had always wanted. Roosevelt could not have been more pleased.

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In the final analysis, parochialism cannot be discounted. During World War I American leaders and forces had chafed under the constraints of a strategy developed by Britain. With World War II, America had another opportunity to assert its world leadership role and develop the strategy for victory. Gen Marshall was entirely consistent with the attitudes of the American people and their political leaders when he insisted that OVERLORD, the American plan, would be used to defeat Germany. Furthermore, and perhaps even more important to Gen Marshall, he knew that victory in the Pacific theater would be achieved primarily by Naval and Air forces. Geography alone dictated this. OVERLORD was the last opportunity for the US Army to play a major a rather than a peripheral role in the victory. General Marshall simply would not let such an opportunity pass.

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