Photo of a US Marine in Afghanistan

[Guppy35]

http://www.marines.mil/unit/29palms/Pages/3rdCEBmournslostbrothers.aspx   

My sons unit had a memorial service today for the 4 who didn't come home last month. 

The 3rd Battalion 5th Marines has lost 23 Marines in 3 months.   including the son of a 3 star general...But  I never see this anywhere in the news

 It does  seem they have pushed the issue out of the mainstream and to the back page as of late.
 

You can bet if all of our kids were subject to service, there'd be a lot more attention paid.  It's someone elses kid though.  It amazes me the number of tours some of these guys are doing too.  I just don't think it's right to expect that much.  I hope your son gets home safely.

[Penguin]

You can bet if all of our kids were subject to service, there'd be a lot more attention paid.  It's someone elses kid though.  It amazes me the number of tours some of these guys are doing too.  I just don't think it's right to expect that much.  I hope your son gets home safely.

Why?  It seems like mandatory service would only take away the final years of brain development during which higher learning can be accomplished.  Would you honestly send Albert Einstein or Sigmund Freud out to the front lines?

-Penguin

[bj229r]

There are all sorts of learning....maybe seeing a far different side of life (other than the university world) would have kept Freud from being such a sex-obsessed loon

[Jayhawk]

There are all sorts of learning....maybe seeing a far different side of life (other than the university world) would have kept Freud from being such a sex-obsessed loon

 

[Motherland]

Why?  It seems like mandatory service would only take away the final years of brain development during which higher learning can be accomplished.  Would you honestly send Albert Einstein or Sigmund Freud out to the front lines?

-Penguin

Germany and Austria had, and still have, mandatory service. Many/most European countries do. It doesn't really seem to hurt anything.

[Pigslilspaz]

I think its more of a safety issue than anything.  Journalists that report on frontline combat are exposed to the same dangers faced by the people they're covering.  There's a reason why the media egos are always in Kabul, or Baghdad, or [insert safest place that's still "credibly" in the combat zone here].  I've seen it with my own eyes.  There are some journalists that want to get out there where the action is, but not many.  And the ones that do get wounded or killed just like the combatants.  There's a reason Ernie Pyle is buried on Ie Shima--that's the price those guys have to be willing to pay to cover the stuff we really need to see.  Unfortunately, not many have the stones to do it.  Can't say that I blame them really--voluntarily going and getting shot at is something tough to justify to your wife, kids, and even your editor.  I have a ton of respect for those that do though.

I remember Forest Sawyer coming aboard my ship during the Kosovo campaign, and he looked like he was on safari, with his pressed and clean khaki bush jacket, cargo pants, and immaculate Danner boots.  He'd "been" in Albania for a week prior to coming aboard in supposedly knee deep mud...right.  The free-lance guys were the only ones that were going to go ashore with us...

Out here in the Bay Area, we had an overseas reporter get hit by an IED, he luckily managed to live (Basically the same injury suffered by Gabrielle Giffords). As far as I can remember, he's made as close to a complete recovery one can make while having a huge dent in your head.

There are all sorts of learning....maybe seeing a far different side of life (other than the university world) would have kept Freud from being such a sex-obsessed loon

I'm pretty sure Einstein was also a little sex crazed himself, cheated on his wife (also cousin) with 12 different women.

[zack1234]

Germany and Austria had, and still have, mandatory service. Many/most European countries do. It doesn't really seem to hurt anything.

Do these countries take a active role with the USA?

[Stoney]

You can bet if all of our kids were subject to service, there'd be a lot more attention paid. 

Without a doubt, but I was glad I never had any draftees in any of my units either.  An all-volunteer force is the way to go, regardless of the perceived disinterest back home.  Personally, if there was a news channel where I knew I'd get to see 15 mins of Afghanistan coverage daily, I'd tune in every night.

[Motherland]

Do these countries take a active role with the USA?

When Einstein and Freud were alive? Uh... yeah.

[zack1234]

today do they take a active role with the USA?

Freud and Einstein could not give a rats arse about these self serving academics

[Motherland]

today do they take a active role with the USA?

Freud and Einstein could not give a rats arse about these self serving academics

Well that was the entire point, he said that with compulsory service such men wouldn't have arose, yet both of them came from major military powers which required military service.

But yes, the German military is involved in Afghanistan... several other countries with compulsory service are too.

[Guppy35]

Why?  It seems like mandatory service would only take away the final years of brain development during which higher learning can be accomplished.  Would you honestly send Albert Einstein or Sigmund Freud out to the front lines?

-Penguin

Your suggesting that people of that caliber don't serve now?  Just lesser mortals who we can afford to have killed?  Sacrifice the many to protect the few?  Who gets to decide?  We all share the benefits of this country.  Why should only a certain few bear the brunt of protecting it?

My nephew with the 101st in Afghanistan is a bright kid.  So were the buddies he's lost.

[grizz441]

What a total load of crap.  My sister's boy has been in combat in Afghanistan for the last six months.  His best friend and another guy in his squad were killed by an IED.  Six other guys in the unit were blown to pieces by a car bomb. He was 30 yards away and was picking up the pieces afterwards.  Most recently his platoon leader had his legs blown off five yards from my nephew.  Don't even get me started on how much combat they see. 

It's not covered cause we don't want to see it.  If it's such media hatred, where are the pictures of those dead US soldiers? Where is any coverage at all?  We don't want to know and it's an absolute disgrace.  If we don't see it we can ignore it and keep pretending those kids don't matter cause they are someone elses.   My sister hardly sleeps anymore for worry.  If the media were the bad guys here, they'd have coverage of it all over the place.  Instead it's swept to the side because we're too worried about the latest celeb gossip or who we can blame from the left or the right.

QFT.

[grizz441]

Why?  It seems like mandatory service would only take away the final years of brain development during which higher learning can be accomplished.  Would you honestly send Albert Einstein or Sigmund Freud out to the front lines?

-Penguin

Albert Einstein was only a high school drop out at that time.  Are you suggesting an IQ test decides who goes to war and who stays?  

[Penguin]

Your suggesting that people of that caliber don't serve now?  Just lesser mortals who we can afford to have killed?  Sacrifice the many to protect the few?  Who gets to decide?  We all share the benefits of this country.  Why should only a certain few bear the brunt of protecting it?

My nephew with the 101st in Afghanistan is a bright kid.  So were the buddies he's lost.

So what you're saying is, that since there aren't enough volunteers, we should use conscripts?  Not a bad idea in  a conventional war, but in a fight that's half PR, having Privates Beavis and Butthead blasting poor Haddib and his family doesn't make a good impression on our primary source of intelligence.

-Penguin

Albert Einstein was only a high school drop out at that time.  Are you suggesting an IQ test decides who goes to war and who stays?  

No, not at all.  I was advocating an all-volunteer army.