Aspies For Freedom

"If reformation is to come to our government, it will come through the armed forces."

I would prefer change through a democratic system.   That way people do not have to die for change.  

"little event called the american war of independence."  depends on who wrote the history book.   Many countries gained independence from British rule without any violence.  India got a very terrible struggle.  

My country actually does not have true freedom of speech.  I don't miss it.  

Study more.  It is an interesting topic.

How do you feel that other parts of the government are disrespected?

Oh.  did you know that I am a member of a marching band?  I do enjoy it.  Were you intending on insulting me?

stop bullying please

Who was Einstein talking about?  Hitler?

My paternal grandfather fought at Gallipoli in WW1.  My maternal grandfather fought in New Guinea in WW2.  My various uncles (six of them) fought in Cambodia, Korea, and Vietnam.  My husband's uncles fought with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.  

EVERY SINGLE soldier I have known has come back saying that war is NOT glorious, war is pain and horror and festering sores and screams and non-stop diarrhoea and insanity.  None of them said they were proud of killing people and all of them said that if they had their time again they would never have enlisted (or in the case of my uncles who went to Vietnam, they had no choice in the matter, it was enlist or go to jail.)  Several of them (particularly the ones who fought with LTTE) said they would sooner commit suicide than be in that situation again.

So somebody tell me again, how is killing for ANY political reason a good thing?  Because I've never understood it, and I've lost a lot of family members to one war or another over the years, none of which have ever come to our shores here in Australia.

Alison

"Their credibility has reached essentially zero. As it should. It spends vast sums of money, with little or no result. It has been shown to be inneficient, wasteful, and unconcerned with the public welfare and that applies to both major parties. The only branch of government that works by an effecient and reliable method. If you ask the man on the street who he respects more, his politicians or the american fighting man, it will always be the same responce."

So how can YOU joining the army reserves change any of that?

The military does waste money.  Having been there, I know.  They are not 100% efficient either.  

The man on the street says he respects the soldier because he is being patriotic and respects the ideals of the constitution (talking about Americans here only).  The soldier swears allegance to the flag, not the president.  Also the man on the street does not really know the soldier but he might know the politician by name and deeds.  

Read history books,  especially about WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf war.   Look at the names on the war memorials in your town.  Talk to veterans about their experiences.  

The military can be a rewarding and good career for some people.  War is best avoided but that is not possible.   I do have a problem with conscription but I feel that if someone wants to join the military for a career or part-time job, knowing the risks, that they should not be prevented because they have AS.

yeah, but your home and family could be bombed in a war too.  That would be a very motivator to enlist for most people.

I do find fault in that one news/media post where the autistic man joined up and he lead to beleive he would be a scout.  They should not have made any promises to him.  People join regiments of branches (air force, army, navy) and their testing scores and performance in training will determine what jobs they will end up doing in that regiment.  Some people who score low will end up cleaning toilets and they should be told that before the sign up.  

Joining the army just because someone thinks it will earn them respect is not really such a good reason.  There are many good reasons to choose the military, police or emergency services as a career even though these are all dangerous jobs.  

Discrimination is all the same, whether the army does it or other employers.

Yes but the point is that Aussies have always choofled off to somebody else's war and ended up either dead or maimed defending somebody else's territory.  Did you know that during WW2 there were not enough soldier's left in our country to defend it if the Japanese HAD decided to invade?  No, because our soldiers were all off fighting in Europe!  So the only reason we weren't invaded then was because the Japanese didn't think it was worthwhile, NOT because we were gallantly defending our shores!  Our soldiers weren't even *** there!  Even now we run around like little lap dogs to every theatre of war the US happens to be invested in.  NTs and their wars - it's enough to make me sick.
Alison

Many many Canadians died in WWI and WWII.  

The battle of Dieppe was a huge mistake and almost every Canadian sent died.  

Yet, the Nazi regime was evil and needed to stopped.  Of course why wars are started is ridiculous to us but Nt's seem to need them.   No one was going to sit down and talk past a certain point of aggression.

The present Iraq war had some important events leading up to it.  I am not at all sure that many of you are aware of them.

"As evil as Hitler and the Nazis were, Stalin and the Soviet Union were 10 times more evil. More people died in the gulags of Siberia than in the Nazi deathcamps. This is forgotten today because the Soviets were our allies."

I haven't forgotten.

"I can respect people who disagree with me."

Thank you saying that.  It would be better if I did that more often than told people they were ****************.

Maybe war exists because there are not aspies who can see through the propaganda lies.

I've pondered on joining up with the Armed Forces from time to time (until I got too old) and concluded that the main question to consider if yer thinking about doing that, is "Just exactly what situation would I rather die than put up with?"

That said, I kinda like the way it was originally arranged here in the States. Everybody showed up for militia drill, with weapons, boots, etc. or he didn't get to vote. It was *volunteers only* for foreign wars.

(Of course, once the danger of Englishmen and Indians had passed, militia meetings tended to turn into occasions of elbow-and-liver-exercises (drinking) probably protested only by the earnest aspie militiamen.)

To this day, I think, a Swiss citizen has to qualify with his rifle every so often to maintain his right to vote.

.jaime., I was also shocked to learn in modern history that
(a) Hitler said he would not kill a group of jews (in Hungary I think) if the Western countries would give them asylum. Nobody seemed to want to take them in, so they were exterminated. .
(b) After WW2, all these White Russians were forcibly repatriated to Russia despite repeatedly trying to convince the allies that they were sending them back to their deaths at the hands of Stalin and his henchment. Many in fact were either murdered or imprisoned in labour camps once they returned to Russia. .
So, bad as Hitler and Stalin's actions were, I think the Western countries could have done much more to help some of their victims when give the opportunity to do so.

Oh bum! I meant to say "henchmen" instead of "henchment". Where is an edit button when you need one?