Memorial Day 2015

[John Marston]

This is the first Memorial Day in 14 years that has been observed without U.S. forces engaged in a major ground war. Just think about it. The first in 14 years. New reasons to honor in Memorial Day those who have sacrificed their lives, each year for 14 years

[John Marston]

[spacemonkey]

People fear the wrong things.

[Saz]

Lawdy lawdy it's gonna be a hot summer

[micfranklin]

Yeah, the police in Baltimore are reluctant to do anything now.

[Indy]

Well everybody just needs to arm themselves. That's the solution here.

[eynon81]

[Dylan]

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/arc ... ry/383516/

this should be required reading.

[John Galt]

the problem with the military is the lack of a draft. the military is now essentially mercenaries

which is good in many respects. they are professional. losses do not contribute to high amounts of war exhaustion: they volunteered, after all. they are always ready. their discipline is unmatched. their strength unrivaled. they are the most potent weapon this world has ever seen.

but it is bad in respects that it makes them a separate class of people. like stuff that happens over there happens to those people. in my entire extended family i have 6 people who are living that have served or do serve. two of them are my parents, one of them, my brother in law. but the rest of my family is very much not really touched by these things. the other 3 of them are all on my mother's side, and they are all poor. we've got my uncle, who i think is homeless. he was in the army a long time ago but not a veteran of any war, and his homelessness has to do with his drug and psychiatric problems. and we've got two cousins of mine, both enlisted, both served in iraq. one is still in, the other got out as soon as he could.

this is out of a family where both my parents have 5 sibling each, all of which have children

now im not saying military is for everybody. it's not. i didn't want to join, not at all. but it does make us so unaware of all that it impacts

the last three presidents didn't serve on active duty. for me, it's a requirement that the future commander in chief of the armed forces served in the military to get a vote from me. hell, even england sends its princes to the front line. our aristocracy be damned, they should be sent to the front along with the rest. otherwise we have these wars with mercenaries that don't really matter it just costs us money and go on forever

[Dylan]