There were a lot of people that got caught up in that patriotic shit, that believed they were going to make a difference, do something good. I worked with a guy that was blown up in an armored HMMWV somewhere in either Iraq or Afghanistan; he survived, some of his friends didn’t. He had a TBI that–last I knew–he still wasn’t recovered from. He had pretty brutal PTSD from his entire time overseas.
And yet, he still loved the people he served with, said it was a great experience, and also thought (in hindsight) that we were there for bullshit reasons.
I was abused by my first spouse. Doesn’t mean that I didn’t also love them for almost all of our marriage.
It was pretty obvious in 2003 that it was an awful war. Normal people don’t get ‘caught up’ in this, they have buyer’s remorse because they didn’t end up being seen as the badass war hero who isn’t afraid to kill.
I don’t know how old you are, but my partner was protesting the wars in Madison, WI–which is notoriously left for Wisconsin–and drivers would yell at them and throw thing at the protestors. By 2005 or so, opinion had definitely soured, and the military was having problems meeting recruitment goals; they started dropping requirements for enlistment. I remember this clearly because I’d tried to enlist in the Navy in '99 and been rejected due to being on Prozac. In '05/'06 I got a call from a recruiter while I was recovering from a major spine surgery trying to get me to join, because they were now giving out waivers like candy on Halloween.
Again, I don’t know how old you are, but this is shit that I actually remember, because I was a whole-ass adult. I remember W dragging the entire rest of the world into Iraq and Afghanistan over this shit, because you were either with us, or with the terrorists. And a lot of people bought that. If I’d been fresh outta highschool in '02 or '03, I absolutely would have gotten suckered by the propaganda.
ITT: Stop purity testing American “progressives”!!!
source: Graham Platner’s Reddit account, just before declaring himself a communist, lol
There were a lot of people that got caught up in that patriotic shit, that believed they were going to make a difference, do something good. I worked with a guy that was blown up in an armored HMMWV somewhere in either Iraq or Afghanistan; he survived, some of his friends didn’t. He had a TBI that–last I knew–he still wasn’t recovered from. He had pretty brutal PTSD from his entire time overseas.
And yet, he still loved the people he served with, said it was a great experience, and also thought (in hindsight) that we were there for bullshit reasons.
I was abused by my first spouse. Doesn’t mean that I didn’t also love them for almost all of our marriage.
Shit’s complicated, man.
It was pretty obvious in 2003 that it was an awful war. Normal people don’t get ‘caught up’ in this, they have buyer’s remorse because they didn’t end up being seen as the badass war hero who isn’t afraid to kill.
Really? Was it though?
I don’t know how old you are, but my partner was protesting the wars in Madison, WI–which is notoriously left for Wisconsin–and drivers would yell at them and throw thing at the protestors. By 2005 or so, opinion had definitely soured, and the military was having problems meeting recruitment goals; they started dropping requirements for enlistment. I remember this clearly because I’d tried to enlist in the Navy in '99 and been rejected due to being on Prozac. In '05/'06 I got a call from a recruiter while I was recovering from a major spine surgery trying to get me to join, because they were now giving out waivers like candy on Halloween.
Again, I don’t know how old you are, but this is shit that I actually remember, because I was a whole-ass adult. I remember W dragging the entire rest of the world into Iraq and Afghanistan over this shit, because you were either with us, or with the terrorists. And a lot of people bought that. If I’d been fresh outta highschool in '02 or '03, I absolutely would have gotten suckered by the propaganda.