Somebody give that woman a cee-gar . . .
Perhaps before one could run for office, it should be required they serve their country for two years. Not necessarily the military, but in any number of ways. Forest service, firefighting, peace corp., you get the drift! Frankly, I think military service just lends to an obey but don't think intellect, so I would think service doing some constructive, rather than destructive. Military service just leads to the murderous society we now have. Something positive, helpful to the human race!
Anon
roger
Aside from the Air Force I would say it is hard to judge how much real fighting was done. After all they were "fighting" an enemy that had been pounded by air power was demoralized and didn't want to fight. Their fighting consisted of surrender and retreat.
In addition, and this is only a question, were the combat units regular army or reservists?
Au, the combat units were "regulars"--the reservists and the Guard provided support services. The main striking forces were the Marines, a Syrian Armored Division, an Egyptian Mechanized Division, the British 7th Armored, the Légion Etrangère ("French Foreign Legion"), the 101st Airborne and the VII Corps (Armored and Mechanized Divisions) brought in from Germany. There were other, smaller coaltion units involved as well, the units listed above made up the main striking force.
Sugar -- I said earlier that I have two of an age to be drafted, a 19 year old girl and an 18 year old boy. I think everybody should serve, somehow.
I also think military service should be a requisite before someone can be elected to the Presidency and Vice Presidency... and not through the service of helping fight fires or the Peace Corps. If you're going to be elected to be the Commander in Chief, you'd better get there with some legitimacy.
Sugar
I guess I am old fashioned I would say only if the were drafted into units such as we had during WW2 the WACs, Waves, Nursing core and, etc., or as Anon has suggested into some social service function I have never been too keen on the idea of women in combat units.
My ancestors would not have demurred about sending women into combat--in fact, heaven help the man who would have tried to hold them back. Cuchulainn, the great mythic hero of the Irish, was reputed to have learned his martial skills from two women. It was a common practice for the women among the Goidelic Kelts to teach the martials arts known to them to the young men and women, when they were of child-bearing age and could no longer accompany the menfolk going off to war. When their own children were grown, they often went back to the battlefield.
Without contradicting Setanta, my impression was that a significant number of armored units were from the reserves, but I could well be mistaken after this amount of time.
I wouldn't get too hung up on the idea of "fighting" an enemy that had been pounded by air power. . . " , au. The Japanese on Tarawa in WWII had been heavily bombarded by naval artillery - to remarkably little effect. They were rather more motivated than the Iraqi troops, I have to concede.
Piffka wrote:I also think military service should be a requisite before someone can be elected to the Presidency and Vice Presidency... and not through the service of helping fight fires or the Peace Corps. If you're going to be elected to be the Commander in Chief, you'd better get there with some legitimacy.
This is a good point, Pifka. In the world created by Heinlein in Starship Troopers, some sort of military service was required of citizenship. It was a thoughtful idea, and I
swear, roger is not an alternate name of SailFree.
roger
Quote:The Japanese on Tarawa in WWII had been heavily bombarded by naval artillery - to remarkably little effect. They were rather more motivated than the Iraqi troops, I have to concede.
Saying they were rather more motivated does not come close to the difference.
The Japanese were fighting for their Eporor God where defeat and surrender were unthinkable. The Iraqi's on the other hand are fighting for ---what?
Really Roger? I think I read that about 30 years ago... should look at it again. Somebody told me it's been made into a movie.
Setanta wrote:Parsed ? ! ? ! ?
heeheeheeheeheehee . . .
Damn his eyes, that parsey-footing, lily-livered, son of a seacook ! ! !
Agreed, setanta has a way with words!
'Son of a seacook' ...I haven't heard that expression since I was a kid.
My sainted great grandmother used to say it.
i wonder what it's origin was? do you think it could have been sea-CROOK
(ie. pirate)?
Piffka:
You DO make a good point about being in the military if you're going to run for CommanderInCheif!! Kudos to you!
Anon
Ya know, when I start agreeing with Anon, I feel like backing off and reevaluating positions!
I'm big on logic Roger. I'm very analytical. That's why I've been in computers, networking, and systems analysis for 37 years. You'll find if you think about things logically, you'll be agreeing with me a lot!
Anon
I thought you were all agreeing with me. <grin>
Am inordinately pleased! Most of the time... well, most of the time my ideas seem radical to others.
(At least he knew how to parse....)
Piffka wrote:
Quote:I also think military service should be a requisite before someone can be elected to the Presidency and Vice Presidency
A litmus test of military service required inorder to run for President or Vice President. Absolutely not this is a democracy where any citizen has and should have the right to run for President.
