A decade of war has been the heavy burden of the American military and their families. Oddly though, it has not been the burden of the American people. I need not mention every single war the U.S. has been involved in to prove my point but I'll throw in a few to show you what I'm talking about. The Revolutionary war was fought by the American people themselves; minutemen; citizen-soldiers - ready at a moments notice to fight for freedom.
Certainly wars that were fought on American soil or at U.S. borders were felt by the public, but even wars abroad had a great effect upon American citizens. Here are some artifacts to prove the truth of what I'm writing:
American men were called to war. American women were called into the factories to take up the jobs of the men. Everyone was called to do with less, everyone was called into action in one way or another... everyone was effected by war. Even in a war as controversial as the Vietnam War, the affect it had on the American people was enormous. People call the Korean war the forgotten war, I call this current war the invisible war.
In my last post I showed you an artifact of British war propaganda, here it is again with a slight twist for the American citizen during the Global War on Terrorism:
So what's the big deal right? Here's a short article revealing the problem at hand: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49838.html
I think this article is right in many regards, people don't seem to know or care and the military and vets are divorced from the people they protect... I sit estranged from the rest of my COM class - removed by 10 years, a war and a lifetime's worth of experiences they'll never fully understand. The article did forget that ASU's own Pat Tillman joined the Army... the difference is that Mays and Williams returned to sports... Tillman returned in a box... not exactly a culture motivator... more of a great loss. The article said that the government is seeking to close the gap by letting homosexuals be openly gay in the military and to recruit rich kids from ivy league colleges... okay those are minorities... what about the majority? The way I interpreted the article, it seemed like what they were advocating for was greater pop-culture connections for the public. I opt for a different plan... one of action instead of facebook "likes".
I think this country needs mandatory 2 years service after high school - military or civil service (like peace corps), take your pick between the two but every 18 year old should serve this country for two years minimum. That would fix it.
Freedom isn't free. Why should I have to pay the price and not you?
Certainly wars that were fought on American soil or at U.S. borders were felt by the public, but even wars abroad had a great effect upon American citizens. Here are some artifacts to prove the truth of what I'm writing:
American men were called to war. American women were called into the factories to take up the jobs of the men. Everyone was called to do with less, everyone was called into action in one way or another... everyone was effected by war. Even in a war as controversial as the Vietnam War, the affect it had on the American people was enormous. People call the Korean war the forgotten war, I call this current war the invisible war.
In my last post I showed you an artifact of British war propaganda, here it is again with a slight twist for the American citizen during the Global War on Terrorism:
So what's the big deal right? Here's a short article revealing the problem at hand: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49838.html
I think this article is right in many regards, people don't seem to know or care and the military and vets are divorced from the people they protect... I sit estranged from the rest of my COM class - removed by 10 years, a war and a lifetime's worth of experiences they'll never fully understand. The article did forget that ASU's own Pat Tillman joined the Army... the difference is that Mays and Williams returned to sports... Tillman returned in a box... not exactly a culture motivator... more of a great loss. The article said that the government is seeking to close the gap by letting homosexuals be openly gay in the military and to recruit rich kids from ivy league colleges... okay those are minorities... what about the majority? The way I interpreted the article, it seemed like what they were advocating for was greater pop-culture connections for the public. I opt for a different plan... one of action instead of facebook "likes".
I think this country needs mandatory 2 years service after high school - military or civil service (like peace corps), take your pick between the two but every 18 year old should serve this country for two years minimum. That would fix it.
Freedom isn't free. Why should I have to pay the price and not you?
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