Armistice day

gordonmull · 11-11-10, 05:58 PM

Is it only me that's thinking what mockery armistice day has become? I always thought that "Lest we forget" meant that we would always remember the wars in Europe and never let this happen again. Yet half the news articles on the subject have Iraq and Afganistan every two sentences.

Sorry but I really do not think that our forces fighting highly questionable wars in Afganistan and Iraq are "fighting for their country, to preserve our freedom" (Radio Sheffield, this morning, for example). I do not see what this has to do with ARMISTICE day. This is a day about peace and remembering the hell, sorrow, loss and pain that war brings and making new vow to always, always remember never to let it happen again.

The difference is we now have a professional army of people who know what they are letting themselves in for. If this is what you choose then fine but don't expect me to have a big lump in my throat for you. You fight in an illegal war for money. There are other names for this kind of work.

During WWII and WWI most of the combatants were ordinary people, drafted into the services who had the choice between jail, social rejection and doing nothing to protect their families from an actual, real, non-media invented enemy or facing the realities of war. These people are and, sorrowfully, were real heros.

So we seem to have a situation whereby we (or the media, at least), spend more time remembering our "heros" in Afganistan and thinking about the modern KIA than we do thinking about how we shouldn't get into these situations in the first place.

This armistice day, I'm disgusted. The message has been lost.

We've forgotten.

I don't mean to insult military employees, but neither am I particularly ingraciated to them for fighting pointless wars. I do a dangerous job myself working with all sorts of hazardous waste. Not glamourous, no uniform and in an industry with a huge background of injuries, deaths and permanent mutilations/disease. I chose to earn my bread this way, if the drum I open tomorrow gasses off something toxic in my face or gives me a lungful of asbestos because someone decided that it would be cheaper just to chuck it in there and not declare it, then it does. Believe me, it happens. I know the risks of my job, they know the risks of theirs.

11-11-10, 05:58 PM	#1
gordonmull Lieutenant Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Scotland Posts: 269 Downloads: 20 Uploads: 0	Armistice day Is it only me that's thinking what mockery armistice day has become? I always thought that "Lest we forget" meant that we would always remember the wars in Europe and never let this happen again. Yet half the news articles on the subject have Iraq and Afganistan every two sentences. Sorry but I really do not think that our forces fighting highly questionable wars in Afganistan and Iraq are "fighting for their country, to preserve our freedom" (Radio Sheffield, this morning, for example). I do not see what this has to do with ARMISTICE day. This is a day about peace and remembering the hell, sorrow, loss and pain that war brings and making new vow to always, always remember never to let it happen again. The difference is we now have a professional army of people who know what they are letting themselves in for. If this is what you choose then fine but don't expect me to have a big lump in my throat for you. You fight in an illegal war for money. There are other names for this kind of work. During WWII and WWI most of the combatants were ordinary people, drafted into the services who had the choice between jail, social rejection and doing nothing to protect their families from an actual, real, non-media invented enemy or facing the realities of war. These people are and, sorrowfully, were real heros. So we seem to have a situation whereby we (or the media, at least), spend more time remembering our "heros" in Afganistan and thinking about the modern KIA than we do thinking about how we shouldn't get into these situations in the first place. This armistice day, I'm disgusted. The message has been lost. We've forgotten. I don't mean to insult military employees, but neither am I particularly ingraciated to them for fighting pointless wars. I do a dangerous job myself working with all sorts of hazardous waste. Not glamourous, no uniform and in an industry with a huge background of injuries, deaths and permanent mutilations/disease. I chose to earn my bread this way, if the drum I open tomorrow gasses off something toxic in my face or gives me a lungful of asbestos because someone decided that it would be cheaper just to chuck it in there and not declare it, then it does. Believe me, it happens. I know the risks of my job, they know the risks of theirs.