Monday, May 28, 2012

Veteran Appreciation Open Thread

Please share thoughts of appreciation for veterans in the comment thread.

I wanted to mention my granddad, who was a lawyer in the Army in Vietnam and served in a veteran's court after the war. I think the military can often get maligned either because the lack of wisdom and foresight of the leaders that sent them to war or because of the bad apples in their ranks. One of the things I've appreciated about my granddad is hearing about the things the military does to police itself and keep soldiers to the high standards expected of them.
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8 comments:

  1. UnknownMay 28, 2012 at 10:32 AM

    Today, we need mostly to remember Washington, Hamilton, and Grant, our three most important and greatest Veterans

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    1. Daniel KuehnMay 28, 2012 at 5:41 PM

      The second one seems a little self-serving, sir - but a nice list.

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    2. UnknownMay 30, 2012 at 10:04 AM

      Jefferson wasn't a veteran. Should tell you a lot

      Delete
  2. Sam GroveMay 28, 2012 at 2:59 PM

    I'm thankful that I was rated 4F and so did not have to participate in the killing of rice farmers in far off Vietnam.

    What we should do for veterans is stop making more of them.

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    1. David R. HendersonMay 28, 2012 at 5:21 PM

      Sam Grove,
      I agree with your last sentence. See my post here: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/05/a_memorial_day.html

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    2. Daniel KuehnMay 28, 2012 at 5:43 PM

      Sam -
      If you spent your time killing rice farmers you would have been arrested and prosecuted - and rightly so.

      I have no idea why you think you would "have" to participate in that anyway. You speak as if that was the mission. Please don't bother responding to this.

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    3. PrometheeFeuMay 31, 2012 at 12:02 PM

      @Daniel Kuehn:

      While the purposeful execution of rice farmers would most likely land one in jail, their reckless killing would not. In war, plenty of people get caught in the cross-fire, get mistakenly identified as enemy combatants or just get caught in the blast radius of a bomb. More often than not, even actual enemy combatants are nothing more than terrified young men forced into a uniform and shoved in your line of fire. To participate in war is to recklessly endanger the lives of many peaceful people. While some particular soldiers did indeed act heroically, there is nothing heroic about fighting in a war.

      Delete
  3. Daniel KuehnMay 28, 2012 at 5:44 PM

    David -
    True. Unfortunately the ball isn't in our court on that call all the time. In many cases, of course, it is.

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