I love a parade, but...

Parades (4.00 / 1)

Right on, Jeff! Also, instead of having a parade for big men who hit each other in an arena and "earn" megabucks, how about a parade for teachers, cops, and firefighters who face difficult challenges every day, are having their pay and benefits cut, and are constantly denigrated by "our" governor?

Blog: http://www.deciminyan.org

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by: deciminyan @ Wed Feb 08, 2012 at 12:44:21 PM UTC

Those greedy public workers (0.00 / 0)

would probably demand overtime pay tomarch in the parade.

Blog: Pick's Place

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by: jeffpickens @ Wed Feb 08, 2012 at 15:34:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Have you never been to a... (0.00 / 0)

...Labor Day parade?

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Sat Feb 11, 2012 at 03:04:13 AM UTC

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Well said! (0.00 / 0)

Our national priorities are screwed up, to put it bluntly.

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by: Alex @ Thu Feb 09, 2012 at 00:41:01 AM UTC

Here's where I disagree ... (0.00 / 0)

I don't think there's any disconnect between assuring job prospects and taking care of health care (and mental health & PTSD) needs and celebrating their return.

During the time the Bush White House (shout out to all the Christie buddies!) was ramping the war for oil and private profit in that part of the world, the patriotism was enforced at the pain of public humiliation. Yellow ribbon decals! (made in China).  Automobile flags! (made in China). Freedom isn't free! (whatever that means). And in the massive PR campaign that was the early Bush White House, people were so encouraged to believe so hard in the "guy you'd want to have a beer with" that we would look less hard at what he was actually doing - the massive profits Halliburton (called something new now) was making at the expense of our soldiers' health, families, and well-being. To "Support the Troops!" without thinking too hard that if we really did that we'd rethink the war and bring them back to their kids and moms and dads. And we had massive parades after the first Iraq War.

This time, we live in a smarter country. And if waves of our people are coming home after weary years of stoploss and complete abuse of the National Guard system, I say open up your companies to jobs for them, pull out the stops and the checkbooks to ensure their physical health, provide medical and psychological support for their mental health as they transition from Hell to home.

And yes - welcome them back with a parade. Mix the peace signs in with the flags. We don't have any less stake in their homecoming than the unquestioning flag-wavers do. We have more.  

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Thu Feb 09, 2012 at 18:18:07 PM UTC

and here's where I disagree (0.00 / 0)

If Iraq was the only war, I would say, bring it on, let's have a parade. But we are still in Afghanistan, still carrying out drone attacks in various parts of the Middle East, still holding prisoners in Gitmo, war without end.

And sorry, I don't think we are much smarter now. Three of the four Republican presidential candidates are threatening war with Iran, and President Obama has not ruled it out either.

So, do we have an endless cycle of war, parade, war, parade, etc?

I just don't think that, as long as we are in a state of perpetual war, any celebration is appropriate.

Blog: Pick's Place

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by: jeffpickens @ Thu Feb 09, 2012 at 19:11:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

What about Vietnam? (0.00 / 0)

I don't recall any parades for returning Vietnam War veterans, how do you suppose they would feel if we rubbed some more salt into their already considerable wounds? And I don't believe there were parades for Korean War vets either, although there was a parade for "Dugout Doug" MacArthur AFTER he was fired by Truman. There were no parades for returning soldiers from Lebanon in 1983 despite hundreds killed in suicide attacks and combat. No parade for soldiers who invaded Grenada and rescued those medical students about to be massacred by the native hordes (Ok, the New Jersey State Police could have taken Grenada, but that's another debate). No parade for Somalia vets who survived the "Blackhawk Down" incident. The only parades I recall were the dog and pony shows put together by the Bush Administration after the Persian Gulf War in the midst of jingoistic flag-waving and breast-pounding over a lop-sided victory that turned Norman Schwartzkopf and Colin Powell into political rock stars.

Also, at least where I live, my legislators and Congressman (Jon Runyan) are always sponsoring bills and promoting service to returning veterans. I'm sure part of that is I live near McGuire/Fort Dix where there are alot of servicemen and veterans. The fact is returning vets have access to more services and benefits than a single parent with dependent kids and little or no income. And, to be quite honest about it, I'm really getting sick and tired of all those ads and promos by big corporations offering discounts, special deals, and even favortism in hiring to vets. Believe me, if you're a vet living in Ocean County all you have to do is call Jon Runyan's field office, or State Senator Chris Conners, and they'll kiss your hand and any other part of the anatomy you desire. But if you're a single parent with two kids, out of work and losing your home, they'll just hang up the phone.

And let's not forget something else. Most Vietnam War vets were draftees, forcibly taken from their families and jobs to go fight in a war most of them did not support. Many of them were poor and minorities who didn't have the college and other deferments that went to Chickenhawks like Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Dick Cheney, or connections to get into the National Guard like George Bush and Dan Quayle. Most soldiers who went to Iraq did so because they wanted to. They came from middle class and even wealthy families, either because of a military tradition, a sense of adventure and excitement, who knows? This is a generation raised on Rambo, Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal. To be frank, it just isn't in me to cheer for folks who whatever their motive chose to fight a war that, at least in my opinion, was immoral, unjust, and even criminal.

http://christiegonewild.blogsp...

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by: ken bank @ Fri Feb 10, 2012 at 00:08:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Because they "wanted to"? (0.00 / 0)

I thoroughly respect anybody's revulsion at a formal recognition of returning soldiers while we still have people at risk. Though, I disagree.

But to compare this monumental movement of troops to smaller battles, skirmishes and ... Grenada ... even though individuals were surely at risk, and lost there is to compare things that are not really alike.

And you're only partially right about parades at the end of the Vietnam War; there were parades and town picnics and the like in some places and in others, nothing at all. Ditto, Korea.

Agree 100% on the Vietnam draft, and its impact. But to your point that 'most soldiers went to Iraq because they wanted to' we all watched as that propaganda was shoved down young people's throats. The War on 'Terror', 'freedom isn't free', not to mention all the 'I'm gonna kill me a towelhead' garbage after 9/11 (the official Hunterdon County 9/11 memorial program featured a song with that refrain and title). Young men and women signed up because that's what we engineered them to do - a lot of them, anyway. And once  we had them, we had so much going on we ran out of soldiers. So we kept stoplossing them. If they ever wanted to get in, we never let them out, and we used up a lot of people, and wore out their families, too.

Local recognition of their return isn't about how moronic our government has been - stipulated. It's about them. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of them. We waited such a long time to get them back, having them back shouldn't be an afterthought.

In a flash, we can have rallies and ticker-tape parades for guys who throw a football especially well. The karma gods are laughing at us.

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Sat Feb 11, 2012 at 04:20:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The economic draft (0.00 / 0)

True, many of the soldiers who went to Iraq and Afghanistan early on signed up having been sold a bill of goods in the post-9/11 war frenzy and thirst for revenge.

Also, there are those who enlisted because they had no job prospects and could not afford college, signed up anticipating job training and money for college, and ended up as cannon fodder, not because they wanted to.


Blog: Pick's Place

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by: jeffpickens @ Sat Feb 11, 2012 at 13:52:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]