tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post5466515596596221856..comments2024-03-27T23:53:59.771-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: The Paths of Glory... Leigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-17547432504218340702017-05-29T08:22:56.348-04:002017-05-29T08:22:56.348-04:00R.T., I agree 100%.
Melissa, I would prefer that...R.T., I agree 100%. <br />Melissa, I would prefer that we don't need guns and military at all - I work with the Alternatives to Violence Project - but, if we're going to be a military empire, then I feel that we need to ensure that everyone sees and experiences what that entails.Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-58911335138223066742017-05-28T23:34:46.639-04:002017-05-28T23:34:46.639-04:00I can't say I've ever agreed with mandator...I can't say I've ever agreed with mandatory service, although you make good arguments. I prefer that we don't need guns and military at all. Sigh.Melissa Yihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01714047923814805076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-55201894377115840552017-05-26T11:37:12.527-04:002017-05-26T11:37:12.527-04:00Eve, two years minimum mandatory service would hel...Eve, two years minimum mandatory service would help a lot of people to grow up and might help eliminate some of today's current feelings of entitlement thinking by those who have done nothing except live in this country. And yes, wars are sometimes inevitable, however, if a politician is going to involve our country in a war, then he or she should have done their mandatory service and know that their sons and/or daughters will be serving in that war. Our voluntary army is rapidly becoming overworked and face the prospect of becoming disillusioned. Yet, unless a groundswell movement comes from the general population, our politicians will not change the status quo which favors them.R.T. Lawtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15523486296396710227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-50889100995160398412017-05-25T20:07:53.299-04:002017-05-25T20:07:53.299-04:00Jerry, you and I have discussed this before, and a...Jerry, you and I have discussed this before, and are in agreement.<br />O'Neil, Sherman was right on the money. <br />Reid, good idea.<br />B.K. and Barb, glad you enjoyed the piece.Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-37700880525652577652017-05-25T19:05:51.229-04:002017-05-25T19:05:51.229-04:00This was a good piece, Eve. Thought-provoking. Tha...This was a good piece, Eve. Thought-provoking. Thanks for it.Barb Goffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16013123434790272424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-14255840690834446292017-05-25T10:32:49.397-04:002017-05-25T10:32:49.397-04:00Maybe there ought to be a category for people to s...Maybe there ought to be a category for people to serve as Conflict Resolvers before wars start.Reid Jenkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-72338028983806413832017-05-25T10:17:41.538-04:002017-05-25T10:17:41.538-04:00Thank you for a powerful, moving post, Eve. I thin...Thank you for a powerful, moving post, Eve. I think I agree with you about two years of mandatory service (military or otherwise)for young people. I spent almost three decades teaching college freshmen, and I can see how such a program might broaden their minds and strengthen their characters. I think, for most, any short-term hardships would be outweighed by life-long benefits. And I hope they could do a lot of good in the country and around the world.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17673578800047888317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-5972457664999216482017-05-25T09:09:21.899-04:002017-05-25T09:09:21.899-04:00Well written and well thought out.
I was just wat...Well written and well thought out.<br /><br />I was just watching Ken Burns's documentary about the Roosevelts and in it an historian said the Spanish-American War sent the 20th Century mindset that the US can win wars quickly with few casualties. Hell, one casualty is too many. I have a piece tomorrow about the legacy of the Civil War that will anger many of my neo-confederate family and friends here in New Orleans. So be it.<br /><br />General William Tecumseh Sherman declared on April 11, 1880, "There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell." (from transcript published in the Ohio State Journal, August 12, 1880, reproduced in Sherman: Fighting Prophet (1932) by Lloyd Lewis Lewis, p. 637.)O'Neil De Nouxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03142721824657611738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-84171711574746174762017-05-25T09:05:45.948-04:002017-05-25T09:05:45.948-04:00I find it significant that Starship Troopers (Hein...I find it significant that Starship Troopers (Heinlein) was written as a 'young adult ' novel. Unfortunately, the message (we're all in this together, so all must needs contribute) currently fails to resonate. No, the author was not a fascist, that's a charge leveled by entitled 'chickenhawks' who want to have their cake and simultaneously consume same. The movie used the action sequences, and left out the arguments that if the right to vote necessitates shared service it's meaningful. <br /> <br />On a personal note, I gave a interview to the SDSU Collegian when conscription was ended, wherein I predicted the emergence of elective wars once Congress was dominated by those who never 'served'. Interestingly enough, the student editor, an avowed pacifist, agreed with my position.Jerry K. Sweeneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10767327483158729005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-31671578020605370742017-05-25T08:34:23.803-04:002017-05-25T08:34:23.803-04:00David, that's exactly what I want a universal ...David, that's exactly what I want a universal service of some kind. <br />Janice, I think that, since we managed without any direct hits in either WWI or WW2 (except, of course, Pearl Harbor), and everyone went overseas to fight and came back to an intact country, Americans got the feeling that the US is somehow charmed. We go, we fight, we come back and everything's fine. Except it's not. Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-85759612058641232392017-05-25T08:06:40.616-04:002017-05-25T08:06:40.616-04:00Amen!
It is curious that the devastation of our Ci...Amen!<br />It is curious that the devastation of our Civil War did not inoculate us against militarism. Perhaps the Indian Wars that followed and smaller conflicts overseas are what let us forget. janice lawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-2149410109223678162017-05-25T07:33:43.067-04:002017-05-25T07:33:43.067-04:00Eve -
I've long favored some kind of National ...Eve -<br />I've long favored some kind of National Service, whether it be the military, or VISTA, or the Peace Corps, but something. I think it's about having ownership of our obligations as citizens, and it would have other beneficial side effects. One, a sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves (an understanding of 'duty'), and secondly, getting exposed to a wider group of people, beyond your immediate class and experience. David Edgerley Gateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05302818835018859164noreply@blogger.com