My feelings on the military-as-heroes rhetoric:
I believe that, at the end of the day, every person overseas is there so that I don't have to be. I'm not saying that I'd ever go if I were, hypothetically in an alternate universe, drafted. I might flee the country. But I don't have to, because the government has never asked me to, because others do it for me.
So in that way, they are heroes. They are taking a job that no one else wants to do. And as far as I'm concerned, in that way they are more heroic than many doctors, because doctors are universally praised (with some exceptions) for the work that they do, while the military is often shunned by people who don't agree (and don't understand) with what the military actually does.
For me, the true heroes are the people who sacrifice their bodies, or their money, or their time, to do a job that is frequently understaffed, under-funded, or overlooked. So that includes officers, teachers, social workers; doctors who work in inner-city ERs dealing with same gangbangers/drug overdosers day after day after day; community organizers who advocate on behalf of those who either can't, or won't help themselves.
My issue with most people (including our president) is that there is really this weird desire to romanticize what war is, what it does to men and to their families. We don't see the loss of limbs, the post traumatic stress disorder, or the kids growing up without their mothers or fathers. Instead, we just want to sweep it all under the rug under the illusion of the young, idealistic officer who goes to war, fights for freedom, and comes home (limbs intact) to the loving arms of his family, completely unscathed. We just don't want to address the crap that they have to do out there, the mess that constant threat of violence will do to your head, the sorrow in those who have to stay at home without their partners and raise children, alone.
So my view, regarding supporting the troops?
Support our troops. Bring them home.
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“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them” - Albert Einstein
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