240 Years Ago Today...

[Woody's Workshop]

George Washington created the Purple Heart Medal.
Thank You to all that has served, and especially for those that were awarded the Purple Heart for their Service and Sacrifice.

 

[cwbullet]

The medal most would rather not receive. I, for one, will be glad to get off active duty intact. Thank you to all those that are not so lucky.

 

[Hobie1dog]

America's most highly decorated marine general from World War I was Smedley Butler, Who upon returning wrote a book called, "War is a Racket". He described the corporations that made millions and millions of dollars even the back then, off of contracts, just as there were three complete destroyers that never left the port. the main point of the book was two items:

#1- We should never ever go beyond 500 miles outside of our continental borders for any type of war as all of the wars that we participate in are on the other side of the planet, where we have absolutely no business being, as that is their problems and they have been fighting a long time, many centuries in some cases, and mostly religious in nature, so our involvement is not going to change anything. Vietnam and the Middle East are prime examples.

#2- before making this decision to go fight a war ,every Senator, Congressman, and members of the House of Representatives should have to sign a document saying that their immediate family members are going to be the first people that are going to go to the front line.

These two items if implemented, would have saved 99% of all of the lives lost for nothing.

 

[Antares JS]

America's most highly decorated marine general from World War I was Smedley Butler, Who upon returning wrote a book called, "War is a Racket". He described the corporations that made millions and millions of dollars even the back then, off of contracts, just as there were three complete destroyers that never left the port. the main point of the book was two items:

#1- We should never ever go beyond 500 miles outside of our continental borders for any type of war as all of the wars that we participate in are on the other side of the planet, where we have absolutely no business being, as that is their problems and they have been fighting a long time, many centuries in some cases, and mostly religious in nature, so our involvement is not going to change anything. Vietnam and the Middle East are prime examples.

#2- before making this decision to go fight a war ,every Senator, Congressman, and members of the House of Representatives should have to sign a document saying that their immediate family members are going to be the first people that are going to go to the front line.

These two items if implemented, would have saved 99% of all of the lives lost for nothing.

I am hesitant to agree unconditionally with #1 because of WWII. That war WAS our business despite being far away. The Korean war, despite not technically being our business, also accomplished something good. Had the US not intervened in Korea, South Korea would not exist and the entire peninsula would be a dungeon state under the Kims.

As for #2, I would argue that instead the officials themselves should be the ones on the front lines, rather than their families. This is what happened in the Roman Republic, before the empire days. During the Punic Wars, the consuls themselves had to lead the army. Several of them actually died fighting Hannibal. Do you think GWB would have invaded Iraq if he knew he was going to have to lead the troops personally?