Support our Troops

Reckon we have been at war, what, seven, eight years? No, wait, that’s how long it’s been since I heard he was running for the job. Then, though, I reckon it probably feels a whole lot longer than that to the men and women over there doing the actual fighting. Finally starting to slow down a little from the relief of the mid-term elections and I got to thinking of those troops we’re supporting over there and wondering how they, individually, got there. I figure on the following percentages:

.05% Are (Air your dirty laundry first, as it needs more disinfection time in the sunlight) those ill individuals who jump at the chance to do bad things to other human beings. It used to be a whole lot less, but as the need for fresh bodies have gone up; recruitment standards and screenings have gone down.

50% Are economic draftees. Those who felt the only way they’d ever become financially able was by trading a few years of service to their country in return for training or a chance at higher education.

20% Are those whom society (parents, teachers, guidance counselors, friends, and loved ones) steered into the military because they felt they needed a structured environment in order to keep them off the streets and out of the gutter.

15% Are those who believed the recruiters and really thought they were going to see the world while defending our nation.

09% Are legacy enlistees. Most military families, whose members have been serving for generations, insist that their children serve at least one term of duty in order to make an informed decision as to weather or not to continue the family tradition.

5.95% Are dedicated, professional career soldiers whom account for, probably, 95% of confirmed enemy combatants killed or captured.

That last percentage most likely equates to the actual size of the military needed by our country if the goal of our military was, in actuality, the defense of our nation. It is the military contractors and the multinational (that used to be US) corporations that need the juggernaut for the process of ever increasing profit and expansion. In other words, the size of the forces is predicated on the fantasy of an infinitely growing economy based on infinite resources, whose cost of doing business is subsidized by the public. That we allow this to continue shows infinite stupidity.

The linked site explains how the M.I.C. keeps tensions stirred up so the media can be used to keep the propoganda going about how we need a large military.

Now, into the circle file...