New Town, CT - opinion

Started by Hargrave, December 14, 2012, 02:56:36 PM

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TwoWalks Baldridge

Quote from: Camille Eonich on December 16, 2012, 05:35:33 PM
I'm beginning to think that we should require everyone at at certain age to join the military as Israel does.  That way every one walking the street will know how to act in order to defend them self or someone else when needed and this fear of guns will ease.

PJ Hardtack linked this in another thread but it needs to be here too.

http://www.policeone.com/active-shooter/articles/2058168-Lt-Col-Dave-Grossman-to-cops-The-enemy-is-denial/

I have supported this belief for over 40 years ... but alas, it is easier to pass ineffectual gun laws than to find solutions.
When guns are banned, fear the man with a hammer

Sir Charles deMouton-Black

Quote from: TwoWalks Baldridge on December 17, 2012, 08:51:56 AM
.....but alas, it is easier to pass ineffectual gun laws than to find solutions.

Too true!  None of the moaning and gnashing of teeth on the media have come up with any suggestions of worth. :(
NCOWS #1154, SCORRS, STORM, BROW, 1860 Henry, Dirty Rat 502, CHINOOK COUNTRY
THE SUBLYME & HOLY ORDER OF THE SOOT (SHOTS)
Those who are no longer ignorant of History may relive it,
without the Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
With apologies to George Santayana & W. S. Churchill

"As Mark Twain once put it, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

Green River Powell aka RonC

Pro Marvel's thoughts are intriguing. With all due respect, and I mean that sincerely, I disagree. After being drafted in 1967, I saw directly the effects of non-voluntary military service. Fragging was epidemic. On a bivouac, an officer or higher level non-com would put his bedding against some wood so that a "friendly" sourced grenade might hit the wood and bounce away rather than land on top of him. Blacks hung out together separate from the whites. Almost every draftee either was over-drinking alcohol or was high on grass. I was never exposed to illicit drugs until in the military. Morale was so bad that prior to the Tet Offensive of late January 1968, the Air Force personnel at Tan Son Nhut air base had their weapons taken away from them and stored in locked cabinets. An entire company (not mine) was busted by 200 MPs for refusing a direct order to go on a search and destroy mission. The draftees had just bought their dope from the elders of that very village.
In Saigon, draftees would pass by officers in uniform and not salute. Or, might salute with just one finger. Want to send them to the brig? Great. Then, we don't have to go on a recon mission.
These draftees went through all the training that Prof Marvel suggested would make them better soldiers and citizens. Basic training tore you down until you were the lowest piece of whale crap in the ocean. Then, you were reconstructed in training to be the soldier they wanted you to be. The result: in many cases the training and military experience generated alienated, angry and even dangerous individuals. People with mental disorders that were on the borderline of acting out their problems were given tools to act out when they came home. Gang members who were drafted went back home and taught their homeboys military skills. The gang zip guns and knives of the past gave way to more military style arms.
I was told that the military would make a man out of me. It made me an angry, bitter young man who watched sons of wealthy families avoid the draft and avoid misery and risk associated with war (that includes chicken hawks like Cheney who managed to get deferred some 6 times at the behest of his wealthy and powerful father). Fortunately, I had a family support system to help me integrate back into civil society. Not everyone was as fortunate.
No, we don't need compulsory service to generate good citizens. That is just shifting the responsibility of bringing up good kids to the government. My son wanted to go military after college. I talked him out of it. He learned teamwork by playing ice hockey through college. He shared his knowledge of physical training by being a strength coach for high school football teams. He did public service as a reserve fire fighter. He is a North American Grappling Association Submission Grappling champion in his weight class. He starts police academy in January. We have gone to the shooting range together for many years and he is a fine marksman. No, he didn't need the military.

Ron
Ron

PJ Hardtack

RonC

I was serving in Germany with our NATO Brigade while the things you describe were going on. We read about it and were shocked. We found out more from US troops who thanked God every day for being in Germany instead of Viet Nam.

As for the draft or conscription, the Brits had National Service and the Regular Army types hated it. They were unwilling soldiers and their level of performance was sub-standard. We were attached to the 2nd Division of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and the professional soldiers we knew were glad when it was rescinded.

I married a German girl (don't ask ....) and my father-in-law was astounded that I was a 'Freiwilliger', a volunteer in a professional army. Further astounded that we were prepared to go to war if called upon. The Bundeswehr had two year conscripts and that too was unpopular with the professional soldiers. They spent every free moment getting drunk and being disorderly, on base and in public.

The only time a draft is beneficial is during times of national peril or in small states like Switzerland or Israel, with a history of such service, motivated by national self-preservation.

Yours is the most honest evaluation and assessment I've ever heard about the "Living Room War" where the US Army lost it's honour and it's soul.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

GunClick Rick

I believe there is a few congressmen/women that should be over here reading this.
Bunch a ole scudders!

Green River Powell aka RonC

I hope I didn't come across too harshly, but obviously the negative aspects are still present in my mind like it was yesterday.

Truth be told, the Tet Offensive did have a positive impact. Suddenly, our survival was at stake. The only way to survive was to become a soldier who looked out for his brother soldier. Military teamwork was imperative if you wanted to last another day. So, Tet galvanized morale like never before.

Enough negative thoughts. I have grown into being the inveterate optimist. I much prefer being that way. ;D

Ronbo
;D ;D ;D
Ron

GunClick Rick

That's what your supposed to do Ron..Right or wrong thanks for your service and enlightenment on the subject~

My cousin walked into walls after he came back he started reading books of all kinds while walking the streets never look up,run into somethin and just keep goin.But my other cousin came back and worked for Beacon oil company and he had a chopper timing chain around his wrist forever and is now retired.

I tried to enlist,but they wouldn't take me,i overheard them saying,"the kids got a pet rattlesnake!" NEXT!
Bunch a ole scudders!

PJ Hardtack

GCR

The way we got our long gun registry scrapped was by bombarding our elected representatives (Members of Parliament) with all kinds of facts, valid statistics, personal letters, editorial letters, etc. Just preaching to the already converted accomplishes nothing.
Eventually, the great unwashed mass of tax payers came around to the realization that it was just a smoke & mirrors, feel good, knee jerk reaction to appear to be doing something.

The MPs also realized that if they wanted financial support for their party and a shot at getting re-elected, they had better sit up and take notice. In politics it is said - "When you've got them by the short and curlies, they listen." Sitting back and letting the NRA and the JPFO carry the ball is passing the buck.
Every gun owner needs to be an ambassador for the shooting sports and a political activist. Your 2nd amendment rights are at stake.
Don't forget - Obama is a lame duck President and he may decide that his lasting legacy may be to rewrite or ignore the Constitution.

And I'm puzzled .... owning a pet rattlesnake precludes military service in a jungle environment crawling with venomous snakes? You'd think that would be a qualification.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to others and I require the same from them."  John Wayne

GunClick Rick

Like Timothy Mcvee didn't use a gun? >:(
Bunch a ole scudders!

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