AIN'T IT COOL? A Tale of Two Cultures

American Digest ^ | April 13, 2004 | Gerard Van der Leun

[Travis McGee]

I'm sure HH would appreciate this...

[FreedomCalls]

That's a cool article.

[tet68]

One tied to becoming a full voting citizen. -- Call it a boot camp for the franchise. -- No service, no vote.

Read Starship Troopers by Heinlein.

Military service OR a somewhat longer term in social/community service or no franchise.

Interesting read even with out the bugs.

[wardaddy]

JUst glanced at this. Going off to Egg hunt.

Will read in depth later.

The writer is one of our's?

Looks damned good atb glance!

[PGalt]

Outstanding!

[RonDog]

I'm sure HH would appreciate this...

I am certain that he will, too - AFTER he gets back from his week-long trip to the Naval Academy. :o)

"...Less than 20 miles south of where we sat last Friday, there was another kind of youth culture.
I saw it for a day last January. You don't see it very often around here because it doesn't hang out at the malls. You can't see it from the freeways because its center is far back in the hills.

It has its own malls and towns and sporting and educational complexes.
It doesn't deal in 'the culture of cool.'

It deals in the culture of carnage.
It's the Camp Pendelton Marine Base..." - Gerard Van der Leun

.

www.HughHewitt.com
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If you listen to Hugh Hewitt,
or read his WorldNetDaily articles,
or his commentary at the Weekly Standard,
then this PING list is for YOU!
Please post your comments, and BUMP!

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[E Rocc]

-- I see a need for a voluntary 'rite of passage' type draft in America..

One tied to becoming a full voting citizen. -- Call it a boot camp for the franchise. -- No service, no vote.

Extremely bad idea, for four reasons.

1) It puts those who resent being there into the military. There's a reason pretty much every military professional in the US prefers an all-volunteer force.

2) It will get those currently apathetic kids interested in politics in a very non-constructive manner.

3) It allows politicians to skimp on military pay, military equipment, and military preparedness in order to pay for welfare or pork barrel projects.

4) It allows politicians to fight half-ast wars of attrition using an endless supply of cannon fodder rather than fighting wars to their conclusion as quickly as possible.

If you want to play social engineer, don't mess with the military. It's too important.

-Eric

[RonDog]

Here is the LINK:

http://www.americandigest.org/mt-archives/001100.html

from

www.americandigest.org

[E Rocc]

One tied to becoming a full voting citizen. -- Call it a boot camp for the franchise. -- No service, no vote.

Read Starship Troopers by Heinlein.

Military service OR a somewhat longer term in social/community service or no franchise.

Interesting read even with out the bugs.

Heinlein pointed out a few times that he wasn't quite advocating such a system, he was just saying it could be made to work. He definitely had contempt for general conscription, believing that a nation that needed it to defend itself didn't deserve to be defended.

It's important to note that all the men and women in Iraq today and at Pendleton volunteered before they had any formal military training.

-Eric

[GWB00]

Wondeful post! I am from the culture of cool. I grew up in South Orange County and I was one of those kids you described (maybe with a little more surfer ingredient).

We used to surf in San Clemente and there were always guys from the Marine Corps on the beach. My friends and I did not think they belonged there and my "cool" friends and I called them jarheads.

After the first Gulf War I began to develop more respect for the military. Before, I never did have respect for the military despite the fact that my dad served in the Navy for four years. Of course, my dad was not cool either.

When the war on terror broke out and I saw these guys going to places like Afganhistan, the Phillipines and Iraq so that I would not have to worry about nuclear bombs going off in my backyard.(I remember in the days after 9/11 that I thought a nuclear bomb was ready to go off at anytime) I flashed back to my young carefree days on the beach in San Clemente and had a huge sense of guilt come over me for how I treated these guys when I was young.

I wanted to apologize to each and every last one of them. I suppose that maturity has something to do with my change of heart, but it also has something to do with now understanding the tremendous sacrafice these guys are make for our country

I now literally want punch the likes of Ted Kennedy or John Kerry for pissing on these guys. Hell, I was 15 years old and stupid when I hated these guys, these clowns from Massachusetts are twice my age and are national leaders who have the ability to understand how dangerous this world is today! Regretably, I think it is that nuclear bomb that has to go off before it registers.

So, to any of you who were in the Marine's at Camp Pendleton in the early to mid 1980's, my deepest apologies and thank you for all you have done for this country.

[RonDog]

At the same time that this Marine lay dying in Iraq, the current senior spokesman for the Democratic Party, Senator Ted Kennedy...

See also, from:

Kennedy's Support for Kerry Thrills G.O.P.
NY Times ^ | 4/10/04 | Carl Hulse
Posted on 04/10/2004 2:29:30 PM PDT by NYC Republican

As he took the microphone at a crowded Washington fund-raiser a few days ago, Senator John Kerry made no secret of his strong ties to the man who had just given him a rousing introduction: Senator Edward M. Kennedy...

-- snip --

With careers and lives that have intersected across 33 years, including 19 together in the Senate representing Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Kerry have indeed forged a special relationship. And it reached a new level this year with Mr. Kennedy's pivotal role in turning around Mr. Kerry's once-struggling primary campaign with behind-the-scenes advice and spirited public appearances.

-- snip --

Now that bond has some Democrats nervous that Mr. Kerry is making it easier for Republicans to paint him as a member in good standing of his party's most liberal wing by accentuating his connection with Mr. Kennedy, whose image is firmly fixed in the minds of those who admire him and those who do not.

Republicans, on the other hand, are happy with Mr. Kennedy's involvement.

"The more Teddy Kennedy on the campaign trail, the better," said Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority leader...

-- snip --

To: NYC Republican

2 posted on 04/10/2004 2:33:35 PM PDT by Registered

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

(Animated image from: www.registeredmedia.com)

[Future Snake Eater]

Amazing article. Very well written.

I agree with your Starship Troopers comment. I've said for years that such a policy would go a LONG way towards correcting the vast majority of social wrongs in this country.

But it's so uncool, it'll probably never happen...

[ovrtaxt]

E rocc Makes some good points in his reply, and let me add another thought.

If some choose to serve America by their contribution to the economy (our wealth is just as influential as our bullets, if handled properly), or by strengthening our moral characteristics by going into the ministry, or by staying home with the kids instead of sending them off to day care, or basically doing what is right, however that happens to play out, then that individual has a say in society.

The ones who live off the labor of others, complain and subvert the destiny of this nation are the enemy within. They unfortunately have more of a say than they ever should.

But nobody can justly project the calling of a soldier onto every individual. I'm much more valuable as a businessman than a soldier.

But don't get me wrong, I'll carry a rifle to defend my country, if it comes to that.

[CasearianDaoist]

Good article.

[Joe Hadenuf]

After reading this, I had to restrain myself from wishing for a San Onofre explosion and a wind to blow the fumes northward. But I have to remind myself that you and other conservatives are still there in OC, fighting the good fight, no matter how badly you're being beaten by the cool fools.

After reading your post, I could almost vomit.

I personally know of three young men, all pretty cool friends of mine that I went through school with, all from "affluent" Orange County, and as I did, they *joined* the army, one went into the Marines, and all went to Vietnam.

One was only in country for about two weeks, we believe a grenade of some type was thrown from a passing vehicle landing right on his back while his platoon was taking a break along side a road, his entire lower spine was exposed and his kidneys and other vital organs were hang out. He laid there in shock, asking how bad he was, and if he was going to be alright, as he started going in and out of consciousness, he was nervously told by his buddy's he would be OK. He obviously died, never made it to the field hospital.

The other cool friend of mine from Orange Country was on routine patrol, and was shot through the throat and died within three minutes. He only had 3 months of his tour left.

My third cool friend from Orange county was a on a chopper, heading to a military hospital. He that had already been hit by small arms fire and was wounded in both arms. After being airlifted out, the chopper got about a quarter mile away, and was blown out of the sky by a rocket. All on 5 on board died.

One of my best buddy's, another cool brat from Orange County was lucky.

It's believed a mortar exploded about 30 feet from him, a piece of shrapnel entered the outer edge of one of his eyes, popping his eye right out of the socket, and was hanging down around his cheek, bleeding real bad, as he was being taken to an LZ clearing to get a ride out, they had to clip his optic nerved, (cut it off) and tie it off to help save him. He survived and still wears an eye patch to this day. His glass eye never looked right, makes him look crazy.

It isn't, in any real sense, their war. War isn't being asked of us or the affluent kids of Orange County, nor does it seem likely to be. Besides, war isn't what they're into.

I cringe when I hear statements like this.

[RonDog]

Interesting read [Starship Troopers by Heinlein] even with out the bugs.

See also:

Touch 'Em All: The 'EWWWW!' Factor
[GIANT "camel spiders" menace our troops in Iraq]
TheWBALChannel.com ^ | April 9, 2004 | Larry Frum, Jr., Managing Editor
Posted on 04/10/2004 2:38:36 AM PDT by RonDog

The "EWWW!" Factor

My brother is a member of the United States armed forces. I can't tell you what he does, because I don't think I completely understand it myself -- which is probably best for me.

However, with all that is going on over in Iraq, he does have a pretty good sense of what some of the personnel are going through over there. His latest e-mail makes me wonder if we here at home really understand.

Take a look at this picture:

This is a camel spider (or rather two of them) -- one of the indigenous creatures in Iraq. The following is from an e-mail my brother sent me with the picture:

The camel spider isn't really a spider, because it is also called a wind scorpion, but it is not a scorpion either. It is related to both the spiders and the scorpions, and it belongs to its own group of animals.

It can be as long as 6 inches across and camel spiders like to live in barren parts of the desert. They don't like oases either, and they feel most at home in the open, uninhabited places of the desert.

Most of the time camel spiders hide in their burrows, coming out only when they're hungry. So when they do come out at night to feed, they are very ferocious and dangerous. A hunting camel spider runs across the desert floor almost at lightning speed, and it is so fast that it is impossible for the human eye to follow...

-- snip --

...One guy said he killed about a dozen of these things because they kept coming into their tent.

While they knew they weren't poisonous, they still freaked out the soldiers -- especially the new ones...

Ya think?

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

[Euro-American Scum]

Rich kids no longer have this calling. Instead they wander on in their extended childhood though college. Then they drift into the arena where all they will have will be a six-figure income and a few "great moments at work." They will learn, if they do not already know, how to play golf and how to drive themselves deep into "middle management." In time, they will form one or two or more families in one or two or more cities or suburbs. Their roots will be shallow, but they will take lots of interesting two-week vacations to comfortable enclaves in Europe or pacified third-world countries. Towards the end, they'll spend a lot on cruise ships where they will be treated 'like royalty.' They'll acquire real estate and hope for "a nice appreciation ride."

I think they'll find that the gravy train of Big Daddy's coattails will run dry a lot sooner than they think.

[Euro-American Scum]

The topic of military service comes up constantly in todays social situations. Those who served, drafted or not, are proud of their service. Those who didn't tend to avoid the subject.

It's even gone further than that. Last week the neighbor's grunge, rocker, deadbeat son -- who never comes out during the day because his pupils are so dilated from the drugs, it would cook his eyeballs -- was asking me about Vietnam. He even spoke in marginally coherent, quasi-respectful sentences.

Everything old is new again, I guess.

[river rat]

Spot On!

Should be required reading in every High School in the country....

Semper Fi

[RonDog]

See also, from:

Caption This Iraq Picture (moving picture)
National Review ^ | 4-8-04
Posted on 04/10/2004 6:40:48 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache

I felt this needed to be posted today...
take a good close look at what they are praying around.

-- snip --

To: My Favorite Headache

Bold enough to kill the wicked, merciful enough to not delight in it, humble enough to openly kneel in prayer.
Thank you God for sending us men such as these.

17 posted on 04/10/2004 11:16:11 AM PDT by SENTINEL (USMC GWI (MY GOD IS GOD, ROCKCHUCKER !!))

-- snip --

To: My Favorite Headache

I'll caption it. I would send it to all the liberal scumbags with the caption

"What did YOU do for freedom today?"

19 posted on 04/10/2004 11:27:29 AM PDT by Anubus

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

Bold enough to kill the wicked, merciful enough to not delight in it, humble enough to openly kneel in prayer.
Thank you God for sending us men such as these.

[Anubus]

I'll caption it. I would send it to all the liberal scumbags with the caption

"What did YOU do for freedom today?"