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Don't ask me which ones tho, cuz I'm an old
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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I joined the US military literally a month before 9/11 happened. The day I felt really old was the day we started getting new enlistees who weren't even born during 9/11. One of them told me they didn't understand why "ancient US history" was so important in our modern military climate.
This January, Biden officially declared an end to the "War on Terror" that Bush Jr. started, which was a response to 9/11. The way our military operates today is mostly thanks to America's response to 9/11; we evolved so much in the past 2 decades to keep up with a dangerous new decentralized threat to our nation. It's kind of a big deal.
While that response is probably very relevant to current US military doctrine, I feel compelled to mention that the "threat" was very centralized in Saudi Arabia, and that while its sad that many innocents died in 9/11, at no point during the last 22 years was an actual credible threat to america. W's lies and subsequent invasion of Iraq no doubt shaped the US military into the fedex-on-steroids that is is today's as well as destabilized the entire middle east (and maimed and killed countless people on both sides), but ultimately they were just that - lies. None of the countries the US has fought in since 2001 have ever been an actual threat to the nation.
Remember that sound bite people were being fed, and repeating all the time: I'd rather fight them over there than over here. Preposterous
It also assumes the same "them" - because of course the type of moron to share/believe this message thinks all brown people are a singular terroristic honogenate.
I think it specifically referred to al queda or Iraq or whoever but yeah. Besides random terror attacks the idea of pretty anyone being able to truly project power in any meaningful sense to require us to "fight them over here" presumably in the streets or whatever is just, well like I said, preposterous. Whoever or whatever "they" might be.
This also precludes that "fighting them over there" will not itself create an deep-seated hatred of the united states in countries with now-unstable governments, radicalizing more people to a point they would be capable of committing terrorism on US soil, not less.
What I mean to say is that if I'm an Iraqi who grew up with my country being ravaged by a war it had nothing to do with in the first place, I'm going to blame the united states.
While propaganda at home tells us how bad the Iraqis, Saudis, afghanis, Russians, etc. are and how AMAZE-BALLS the USA is. We tend to forget that other countries are spreading their own propaganda on how amazing they are and how bad the USA is.
Not everyone loves us, no matter how much the media portrays us as the "good guys." Situations are not black and white, there is no ultimate right or wrong. There are infinite shades of gray, infinite opinions, and infinite means of achieving things. You can look at our politics are and how much discourse and compromises there are.
Though most people think they are the good guys and most people aren't running with malicious intentions. Even doing what we do, thinking we are the good guys. Means we'll run up against people that disagree and we are always going to make enemies.
Propaganda can be a hell of a drug. Just look at the Russians and kyiv during the literal opening shots of the war. They were told and hyped up that the Ukrainians would be welcoming them with open arms and they even brought along their parade uniforms expecting a quick victory...well reality sunk in when in a way Ukraine did welcome them with arms, just not the kind Russia expected.
This is very funny since the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia and not Iraq.
Yup :/
Yeah people talked about how "there's a billion Muslims!" all the time, as if all of them were personally dedicated to serving as soldiers to invade the US. That's not hyperbole btw, that's literally what people believed.
Yes if a billion people want us dead, we’d be dead.
Last time I looked into it, it was around 1.5 billion worldwide.
I just checked again; estimates in 2020 were around 1.9 billion.
And yeah, it's silly to believe that that many people would be a monolith.
I feel you with my August 27, 2001 enlistment date. Thought I was getting easy college money instead I got a lifetime of mental problems from a war we shouldn’t have been in.
And the people who supported those wars now don't and nobody wants to pay for the human costs of that clown show.
Treatment of veterans in the US is tell tell signthis country is ran.
When you got the money but you won't provide social support that was EARNED, you know what sort of people are in charge and who supports them
As someone who served for 20 years, I'll tell you that almost no one in my last unit was voting red. Republican politicians use "support our troops" to win votes, but they don't give a shit about us. Behind the scenes, they've been pushing policies to take away our programs and benefits. Democrats are the sole reason we still have any benefits left.
I mentioned in another thread, when the govt shutdown happens, service members don't get paid until the shutdown ends. But they're still required to go to work and act like nothing's happening. And who keeps forcing govt shutdowns as leverage to get their way? Republicans.
As a currently 100% disabled veteran who relies on my VA benefits to survive, I'll never vote red again.
EDIT: My uncle retired from the US Air Force in the early '90s and they gave him free medical and dental for life as one of his retiree benefits. He applied for VA disability and barely qualified for 10%, which he doesn't even use.
I retired last summer (July 2022) and I needed to qualify for 100% disability to get the same deal (which is very hard to acquire). Otherwise, they'd only cover whatever long-term ailments I could prove happened during my service and I'd need to pay medical insurance to cover any other medical issues. This was one of the main benefits that encouraged me to join, and Republicans have screwed most people out of it over the past few decades.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Those Jerb Creaturs need those tax cuts to make jerbs. And we're not talking about the real victims here: the shareholders. We got a Feedouchery Reesposibiluhtee to maximize them profits.
I feels you. Didn't get in until 2003, but that was in time to take part in Op Phantom Fury, and then do a 2nd tour when Anbar was getting ugly.
Awful lot of misery for a bunch of bullshit. Alls I have to show for it is knee and back problems, and occasional panic attacks if/when stuff looks like tracers; a nephew damn near gave me a heart attack playing with some broken fairy lights one time. Still not comfortable with fireworks or FPS shooters.