Posts tagged military
married to trouble
How did your brain even learn human speech? I'm just so curious.
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The goddesses of old discuss American politics over a leisurely poker game.
(via apple-beveragesaur)
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Military Chaplains Deny Soldier the Right to Identify As a Humanist
This entire website involves the plight of atheists in the military. These men and women have rights, and those rights should be respected. There is no reason why atheists willing to be in the military should be subjected to crap like this.
A very good friend of mine who is also a nonbeliever served for eight years, some of the stories he’s told me are fucked up.
(via theperplexedobserver)
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U.S. Army soldiers lined up to board a plane to begin their journey home from Baghdad Tuesday. All U.S. combat forces will be out of Iraq by the end of December.
Army Ranger Dies on 14th War Deployment in a Decade
As right-wing pundits decry the end of one US war and the conduct of another, they’d do well to consider the incredible story of Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer Bryan Domeij.
(Source: Mother Jones)
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Just a note:
When you say “Fuck the troops”, I take that shit personally. My husband is a soldier, my friends are soldiers, my family members are soldiers. As much as I hate that son of a bitch my father was a soldier. So, when you say “Fuck the troops” you’re talking about my husband, my friends and my family. You are talking about thousands of people’s spouses, family, and friends. You’re talking about people’s parents. How would you feel if someone walked up to you and screamed “FUCK YOUR MOTHER/FATHER/SISTER/BROTHER/SPOUSE/FAMILY” or any other variation of that? You’d be pissed, wouldn’t you?
I’ll be the first one to say that the wars are fucked up and some soldiers have done some fucked up things. I know a hell of a lot of soldiers who will say the same. The actions of our government and some soldiers DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TALK SHIT ABOUT EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM. IT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO APPLY EVERY FUCKED UP THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ALL SOLDIERS. When you do that, you’re the one who ends up looking like the “holier than thou”, “I’m better than everyone”, “look at me I’m so edgy” asswipe. If you want to do that stupid shit, take it somewhere else. I don’t have the time or patience for it.
(Source: brashblacknonbeliever)
So there’s this.
(via abaldwin360)
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The Anger Builds
I have become used to hearing gay people and our lives either ignored or stigmatized or demonized in Republican debates. It is a function of a political party becoming a religion. And so my skin is pretty thick at this point, and my outrage button eroded by two decades of learning to ignore this stuff and focus on the positive arguments we have to make. It’s not that I didn’t react at the time…
But as I went to bed last night, the scattered boos for an American soldier in the field at any debate began to sink in. And Santorum’s despicable lie in response - that repealing DADT somehow means license of gay sexual misconduct in the armed services - was intended to reduce that soldier, his life and work, to Santorum’s obsession: the intrinsic evil of gay sex. Again, this is usual. Gays are used to being reduced to sexual acts rather than being seen as full human beings, like straight people, with sexuality sure, but a whole lot of other things as well.
But somehow the fact that these indignities were heaped on a man risking his life to serve this country, a man ballsy enough to make that video, a man in the uniform of the United States … well, it tells me a couple of things. It tells me that these Republicans don’t actually deep down care for the troops, if that means gay troops. Their constant posturing military patriotism has its limits.
The shocking silence on the stage - the fact that no one challenged this outrage - also tells me that this kind of slur is not regarded as a big deal. When it came to it, even Santorum couldn’t sanction firing all those servicemembers who are now proudly out. But that’s because he was forced to focus not on his own Thomist abstractions, but on an actual person. Throughout Republican debates, gays are discussed as if we are never in the audience, never actually part of the society, never fully part of families, never worthy of even a scintilla of respect. When you boo a servicemember solely because he’s gay, you are saying he is beneath contempt, that nothing he does or has done can counterweigh the vileness of his sexual orientation.
And then I think of all those gay servicemembers who have died for this country, or been wounded in battle, or been on tours year after year…
and the fury builds.
(Source: letterstomycountry)
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Rereading the transcript of last night’s debate, I am struck that Rick Santorum did not thank Stephen Hill, a gay soldier in the U.S. Army currently in Iraq, for his service. Nor did anyone else on that stage. Whatever you think of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ or homosexuality, Hill is risking his life on behalf of his country. It is troubling, and revealing, that Santorum’s answer entirely defined Hill as a gay man first and as a soldier second, if at all,
Any type of sexual activity has no place in the military.
Rick Santorum
If Santorum is so concerned about “sexual activity in the military,” he should re-focus his attention to the alarming rates of sexual assault against female soldiers and stop policing people’s sexual orientation & gender identity.
(via mylifeasafeminista)
If it’s such a huge concern of his why doesn’t he propose enacting a celibacy agreement for potential recruits?
Oh, that’s right, it’s only homosexual sexual activity he has a problem with. Because apparently, your sexual preference somehow negatively influences your ability to be a soldier.
Oh, okay. Makes total sense.
(via debrumas)
All good points. Also, it should be noted that homosexuality isn’t actually a sexual activity, it’s a sexual identity. See, a gay man who’s never even been on a date, let alone had sex, could potentially be thrown out of the military under DADT. That’s what’s unfair, Santorum.
(via goodreasonnews)
Rick’s problem is he sees gay sex everywhere. Dirty dirty gay sex, everywhere he goes, whenever he closes his eyes. Gay sex haunts his dreams at night. He sees a gay man and the first thing he thinks about is having gay sex with him. He doesn’t think about that man’s dreams, aspirations, skills or talent. He just sees him as a sexual object that he wants to have the dirty dirty gay sex with.
Come out of the closet, Rick. Self-loathing hurts everyone.
(via goodreasonnews)
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21-year old marine Corporal Dakota Meyer has a beer with the President. Meyer is set to receive the Medal of Honor, and when called by a White House staffer in preparation for the ceremony, Meyers asked if he could have a beer with the President. POTUS invited him to swing by in the afternoon.
photo from TDW
An account of the events which resulted in Meyer’s commendation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September 2009. Corporal Meyer maintained security at a patrol rally point while other members of his team moved on foot with two platoons of Afghan National Army and Border Police into the village of Ganjgal for a pre-dawn meeting with village elders. Moving into the village, the patrol was ambushed by more than 50 enemy fighters firing rocket propelled grenades, mortars, and machine guns from houses and fortified positions on the slopes above. Hearing over the radio that four U.S. team members were cut off, Corporal Meyer seized the initiative. With a fellow Marine driving, Corporal Meyer took the exposed gunner’s position in a gun-truck as they drove down the steeply terraced terrain in a daring attempt to disrupt the enemy attack and locate the trapped U.S. team. Disregarding intense enemy fire now concentrated on their lone vehicle, Corporal Meyer killed a number of enemy fighters with the mounted machine guns and his rifle, some at near point blank range, as he and his driver made three solo trips into the ambush area. During the first two trips, he and his driver evacuated two dozen Afghan soldiers, many of whom were wounded. When one machine gun became inoperable, he directed a return to the rally point to switch to another gun-truck for a third trip into the ambush area where his accurate fire directly supported the remaining U.S. personnel and Afghan soldiers fighting their way out of the ambush. Despite a shrapnel wound to his arm, Corporal Meyer made two more trips into the ambush area in a third gun-truck accompanied by four other Afghan vehicles to recover more wounded Afghan soldiers and search for the missing U.S. team members. Still under heavy enemy fire, he dismounted the vehicle on the fifth trip and moved on foot to locate and recover the bodies of his team members. Corporal Meyer’s daring initiative and bold fighting spirit throughout the 6-hour battle significantly disrupted the enemy’s attack and inspired the members of the combined force to fight on. His unwavering courage and steadfast devotion to his U.S. and Afghan comrades in the face of almost certain death reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
