Commissar

What an attitude to have.

Umm... Scandinavian countries have conscription system, because of amount of people living in each country. Finland has 5 million people and to keep believable army force conscription is needed. And since every one in scandinavian countries has a choice to take civil service instead of army service when that time comes, you can say that they are as good volunteers as those who serve in US troops. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What's the point of that, exactly? Name any conflict that Scandinavia gets involved in which the US is not going to fight for the region. The majority of European defense planning is based around the idea that the evil United States will be doing all of the heavy lifting, so why bother with the pretense of a national military?

Marksman? Tsk, tsk.

So let me get this straight. You did a forced year in Norway's premiere coffee-drinking club, and now you're convinced that gives you firsthand knowledge of how the US military works, and what kind of people it has in it? You have consistently overlooked the fact that every last one of our guys is a volunteer, as opposed to a system that required conscription due to the lack of intestinal fortitude amongst the native population. Similar mentalities? Yeah, right. You know how rare it is to find a guy who's in or been in that's willing to call everyone else in the service a moron over here? The vast majority of our guys have a little thing called pride in their jobs - though I'll have to remember I'm talking to a Scandinavian here, so maybe this isn't the path to take. Hades was bitching many moons ago about how he hated the military, and I asked him if he'd seen a few too many captain's masts. That's what we figure about a guy with an attitude like yours; he couldn't hack it and got his ass punted. You don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about, so pretty please, with a cherry on top, shut your mouth and let the grown-ups talk.

It was messed up before the USA forces invaded the place, pull out and let's see. Maybe the USA will simply become a target in America instead of in Iraq. I think it's likely that the US adds more to the problem than it keeps the peace, besides there are other countries in the coalition that doesn't have the same emnity towards them, that might help keep the peace. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The cold, brutal fact is that we'd prefer to have foreign agents targeting us on foreign soil rather than targeting civilians at home. And the insurgency hasn't shown any hesitation in hitting other members of the coalition. They hate the US, that's to be sure, but their goal is power, so they'll go after anyone in the way.

I can show you some pictures of a M249 jamming, which is about all it happens to be good for over there, if you like. Actually, if someone could hook me up with a place to host it, got some pretty good video from, oddly enough, the Army's cavalry boys in Fallujah from back in the day.

It sure did during the Cold War. It just backfired some years later. In Irak the backfire process is just way faster at the moment <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My point was that we didn't go into Afghanistan for money.

Hey, I'm left-wing. Or at least, definitely left of center. I also don't support the involvement in Iraq...now. At the time of the onset of hostilities? Sure did, on the basis that I, like everyone else - the majority of European intelligence agencies and political leaders included - believed that the country possessed significant stockpiles of weapons the UN said repeatedly they weren't allowed to have. That turned out to be wrong, and I dearly wish we'd gotten better intelligence, since I don't think it's a necessary fight. You can't simply immediately pull out, however. Like it or not, the current attempts at democracy need Americans with guns. I support a withdrawal as quickly as we can manage it and still keep the place from falling apart. It is, however, absolutely ludicrous to suggest that the members of the military involved with fighting the war there should've refused to do so. As I said, they, like everyone else, believed Iraq to have banned weapons.

Yes, that cash cow known as Afghanistan is sure paying off.

It is most definitely not.

As a matter of fact we did have quite a few Marines going through with us. The ones that I got to know were mostly Force Recon who were offered airborne before attending their next school. They were definitely some of the most motivated Soldiers I have ever met, especially one Gunnery Sergeant in particular. That guy was nuts :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It's difficult to find a gunnery sergeant that's not nuts to some degree or another, but yeah, those boys take high-speed to a whole new level. Keep us updated. And no matter what, at least you ain't walking anymore. That's not a small accomplishment.

I believe with regards to RIP, indoctrination simply means he's going to have an NCO smoking him until it's time for said NCO to go home, at which point a fresh NCO takes over the smoking. Rinse, repeat for three weeks.

Why should we. The only people still caring for the US (Europe) has diplomatic agreements and are dependant of each other, therefore won't get into battle again. The rest of the world hates the US anyway and there-fore has huge armies to protect themselves from that US... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why's Europe so scared of Iran getting ahold of nukes, then? By the way, I was one of the advocates for letting the Euros try their hand at diplomacy. That seems to be going nowhere fast.

You can eliminate poverty by giving everyone a million dollars. You can end world hunger by giving everyone food. You can cure cancer by curing cancer.

Trouble is, you haven't presented a single fact so far. The "mindless drone" fallacy doesn't quite work.

Man, you're full of it. Tell you what. Walk into work tomorrow and inform your boss that you're not filing the TPS reports because you have a free mind and will, and are not a slave.

Whassat make a pogue like you, then?

No worries, man. I've made that point about six times anyway, and we still keep coming back to the whole, "Well, yeah, but if we got rid of militaries..." argument.

But if there is just this leader, without 1.000.000+ people who love guns, tanks and other "war stuff" he can't do alot to another country, can he? Now give the guy Armed slaves and wham... you can invade whoever you wan't by snapping your fingers <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Okay. You know what? I agree. Now, like I said before, just get every military member in every country to stop serving, and you've solved the problem of global conflict. But once more, you have absolutely no way to do this. Might as well try to stop the earth from spinning. Start dealing in reality.

You're dodging the question. If Iran, North Korea, and China give up their militaries, we'll scale ours down considerably. Cut it in half. How's that? Now, tell me how you get them to do it.

Well, he's in the Ranger pipeline. I honestly can't think of any other group in the US military that has quite that level of espirit de corps, not even the old-fashioned oohrah devil dog Marines. We have just under a million and a half folks on active duty, and that's not even a noticeable dent in our population. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are committed to their jobs, for the most part, and I don't think that's such a bad thing, especially when you look back a mere three and a half decades.

And those Nazi's could do all that fighting BECAUSE they had a moronic orders-following army from crazy leaders. Don't tell me gassing 1000's of Jews is "protecting your country" <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Tell you what. You come up with a way to stop threats to world peace from materializing, I'll go along with your plan to abandon militaries as relics of the past.

First of all, you ought to be in your corner still. I ain't let you out yet. Second of all, the Norwegian military isn't what one conjures up when the words "combat prowess" are spoken. I have nothing against any of our allies, but you're going to have to do better than that. Why not just take Norway's economy and use it to explain that of the United States?

You're also not high on anybody's target list. Denmark's not a world power, last time I checked. Like it or not, the US is. And it fully intends to keep that position for as long as possible. A competent military is an absolute necessity for such aspirations. Competent militaries are rarely formed out of compelled service, by the way.

I certainly support the idea of commending those who serve society in such a fashion. It's a shame that all those teachers, nurses, and farmers didn't use their magic abilities to stop the Nazis from rampaging through Europe towards the middle of the last century, though. Militaries are necessary. Unless, of course, you're relying on someone else to get you out of a jam.