Reservists and National Guardsmen are NOT ordinary citizens

This guy i work with in the Guard can't wait to go.

 

"He wants to be the first person on his block to get a confirmed kill".

 

thats why i joined

 

Dude, relax. I haven't heard of any people in the Nat'l Guard bitching about doing their duty. Their putting their @sses on the line to keep our SUV's running on cheap gas. Cut 'em a little slack.

 

Our "professional" forces are sold to candidates as a jobs program where you can learn solid skills and a way to get money for school.

In times of "war" we can and should support our troops, be it the folks who hoped to do it part time.

Look, special interest stories are a change of pace for news outlets. It is a service to the community.

I bet you hate that classic photo of that sailor kissing that women after the USA victory in WWII. I mean, why are they so happy? He was just doing his job and she was obviously a slut, right?

Come on. We take more interest in some guys running in shorts kicking a ball and cry when the news doesn't talk about them. Then, when we have people who have to leave their families, their jobs and really their whole life taken from then...they might die in battle or related activities...we complain.

Yea, I bet when the Steelers beat the Browns last week, those bastards jumped and yelled and for what? Doing their jobs?

 

(sigh.)

 

I'm really surprised by the tone of your first post Mike.

I was a reservist for over ten years also, and aside from the bs activations for major storms and WTC, I was never activated for a war. However, I have a sense of how difficult a time this must be for reservists who must leave their families and go serve their country.

I think it's very important that people are aware of the sacrifices that people make for our country. I don't hear reservists belly-aching, they knew what they were getting into when they enlisted, however, it's still a sacrifice just the same. It makes me very appreciative of them to hear their stories. For example, in the NY Times they did a story on a woman who was activated and must leave her 4 month old daughter behind. She isn't trying to avoid her duty, but don't underestimate her sacrifice! It should be noted! This hits particularly close to home for me as I have a 3 1/2 old infant at home, and the thought of leaving him for an activation literally gives me the sensation that I'm about to vomit! If I was still in the service I'd go, but the sacrifice would be devastating.


So sorry if you're "sick" of hearing about their sacrifice, but maybe before you sit and watch 'Joe Millionare' next week in the comfort of your home, remember those reservists who are far from home worrying about their families financial stability, how a spouse will shoulder the family responisilities alone, how his/her kids are adapting, the list goes on and on...

 

Mike,

They're prepared to make the sacrifice, but it's a sacrifice all the same! If you only allowed people to join the reserve who wouldn't consider going to war a sacrifice, you'd have pretty low membership.

Why does it bother you that the media recognize them for it?

 

On paper they're not regular citizens, but in the practicality of life, they are. Come on Mike, how long were you in the reserves? During your stint with the reserves, did life really change for you? The pace of life was the same exept one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer you did training. Perhaps your full time service gave you that bias that full timers have against part-timers.

All I'm saying is that from experience, you can't live the life of a citizen-soldier, going on about making a living in our society, and have an activation be sacrifice-free.

 

No you never said it wasn't a sacrifice, what got me was your line saying you were sick of hearing about them. Like it's a sin for the media to recognize them.

 

But Mike if they didn't portray it that way it wouldn't make a good story.

 

Well maybe I'm biased, knowing what the real situation is, but I don't get that vibe from the news reports.

 

Re: Re: Reservists and National Guardsmen are NOT ordinary citizens

I was working with a guy that was in either the Guard or the Reserves and this *************** started crying when he realized that he was going to have to go. I'd have to agree with Mr. Lastort on this one. He knew what he was getting into. .

p.s...I base this on the fact that I was active duty and every time I meet one of these guys that have never done any active duty but still act all 'gung ho' at the office like they are doing something until they get the call and they start quivering like cowards. I know this is just but a few people that I've met and I should not perceive the rest of the reserves and guard that way but it's hard not to.

 

Re: Re: Re: Reservists and National Guardsmen are NOT ordinary citizens

He started crying? That ****** a man crying at the uncertainty of going to war. Regular Army soldiers wouldn't cry, hell no!

Look I know the perception of part-timers, especially from the full-timers. I remember doing summer AT in Panama, and the full-timers would be waiting like drill sergeant to dog us for anything we did wrong. Spending 99% of the time as a civilian, you tend to forget somethings, and they did remind us, in their own special way.

You provide examples of reservists acting less than 'Special Forces' gung-ho, but I have a couple of examples that show something else. My cousin, a reservist, literally would call his unit every single day during Desert Shield to be sent to S. Arabia. They found him a spot with another unit to drive trucks, he was an infantryman, but his unit wasn't activated. This nut got attached to another unit just to go!

A reserve MP own my block also volunteered, to be attached to another unit, his wasn't activated, and was sent to Cuba to help watch prisoners there. He left his family in a home partially remodeled, to go serve his country.

On Sept. 11, I called my unit to see if they needed help, we were medics across the river in NJ. I didn't wait to be called but volunteered to go help. (My unit was activated that day anyway, and we had something like 95% strength report for duty) You may think this isn't so manly, but in those first few hours after the attack there was a lot of uncertainty as to risk, no one in my unit backed down.

There are a lot of examples of reservists acting honorably.

 

Few people join the military in order to go out and kill or be killed. As Garcia insinuated early on, they join because a marketing campaign persuaded then that it would be fun, or lucrative, or a learning experience. If they sold it exclusively on the idea that "you might get the chance to be blown up in some God-forsaken land while protecting your neighbors' way of life", they might as well bring back the draft it would be so unpopular. I'd blame the armed forces' leaders who thought it would be fun to advertise on MTV and our gradual shift to a no-sacrifice-necessary society as much if not more than the specific people who were suckered into joining them.

As far as the media are concerned, screw them. They'll put anything on that causes watchers to shed a tear and buy more pharmaceuticals. There's a reason why my TiVo tapes BBC World News every evening, and that's so that I can find out what happened in the world without being bombarded with pathetic non-stories like the latest J.Lo ass movements and waterskiing dogs.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Reservists and National Guardsmen are NOT ordinary citizens

Yes, he did. I thought that was pathetic.

I called up too. Although I never went into the reserves so I had no specific unit that I'd be attached to. I figured they would probably throw me into my old squadron or a similar one. They never called to let me know if they needed me.