i don't know American politics and military in some spots, so i'm not authority on the subject, just reflections from living up north in Canada, but i'd trust that the Sergent who wrote a commentary to his president does, checkit at http://allpoetry.com/poem/7040051
it sounds a heck of a lot like the state of Canadian politics, the house of Representatives, impeachment over scandals, media, stats, military cuts, powerful leaders, ethnic cleansing, military campaigns... military runs the world most of the time...2
the house of commons is trying to run the country and the military into the ground half the time (apparently same as the senate.. elected Representatives of all parts of Canada who run the country for better or worse) pretty much based on their support from special interest groups, pressure to follow party leaders and policies, and corporations who obviously matter more then college students who write in and have nothing to gain financially so they have more objective views as long as they don't rant too harshly about the environment and tuition rates3
about the impeachment it seemed like some group hated him enough to get him tarred and feathered, i lost interest when they made it into a media field day.. month... year, he did drastically cut the military, but where did the money go instead? to education? health care?4
one question about your stats though, did that one million soldiers being cut to a third, does it take in account better technology and deployment to endanger less people? satellite feed from unmanned probes and sentries? co-operation with local militias in foreign countries? more reliance on mechanization of tanks and choppers instead of ground troops? just a thought5
meh... but got the same problem in Canada, the military is in shambles of its former glory and it's a dam shame to not have enough resources even to deal with disasters in our own country let alone represent on an international level, but peace keeping is our style anyways, takes more guts to get in the middle of an argument then to start one, but can't solve something that has eroded so badly so quickly, takes time to rebuild and hopefully as election years are happening in both countries we'll see positive change6
riding on the tailcoats, must have been a tough act to follow when Reagan did such a superb job from what i have heard, our last prime minister looked good because the one before was a moron and the one before that was in power for far too long like ten years and politics for thirty, started to reward his friends far too often, but he did do some incredibly good things for his country before he got smeared with the scandals, never forget the good stuff7
i liked the angle you put on September 11th... it's a total trade for sure and horror a plenty, there are still F18 patrols overhead every night at three am that go up to Alaska over the west coast where i live and shudder that they'd have to be there but I'm glad they are, props to them, i have to watch 8
but everyone forgets too quickly that there's too much ethnic cleansing, a pretty word for genocide, bless those who suppress it abate a little on the slow side unless valuable resources are threatened9
Hitler wasn't the only one though, but i won't get into Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan during the 70's, Chile, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Palestine, Tibet & Iran, point aside it's always there, sad stuff indeed because the resentment and wounds are still open there after it's over, in the 19th century they called it colonialism/imperialism...10
but nobody is to judge the actions of a soldier following orders from a superior officer, it's called insubordination or something and the military runs on tight discipline and objectives... most of the time11
this is far from finished as the state of politics is as well and fitting as i listen to the news report on the radio going on about missing army marines and Iranian complaints, but i gotta go to work... 12
gooday13
Author notes
i'm a poet and ranting so have mercy on this first attempt, i just realized it wasn't something i should put in my poetry collection, it's an unfinished ramble as it has no conclusion but i'll finish it after work, cheers and thanks for the critiques
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truth is ugly
hey... how yah doin??
i still haven't been able to make head nor tale what to think of that kind of info and wasted moneys and lives, it's too frightening, i hadn't forgotten i just haven't had the time to really think on it all
also... i volunteer at a college student newspaper... and though it smells like news... that's part of the reason i didn't want to think too much about it, i'm a photographer btw and that writing thing isn't really my forte, but sometimes in history releasing negative info would be treason punishable by death so arggg so many double standards and morals to deal with surrounding the smoke and mirrors of truth
but i'm confused that info isn't obviously publicly released and i really don't want to get in s__t and censored to high hell and not allowed in the states and all the rest of that bullarky so i'll probably let it fade... which is sad that nobody is allowed to speak freely about the human cost of emotions and the honour to give up so much, yet it might inspire me to some poetry
yet i respect the military's tight-lippedness as info leaks could lead to defeat if the enemy knew enough, and there are still things from my dad's past that he won't talk about (being a navy navigator during the 70's in the cold war, he won't talk about it so it musta been rough indeed, yet... jane's military information services have pretty much all that info on file so who knows...
i certainly wouldn't release nor publish anything without proper consent and written permission if you were worried
frankly... i'm a student and don't have a clue what to make of things that are way over my head polictically speaking, especially as the elections down there approach, i'm just worried about getting my homework assignments in on time, this is definately something different, so take care and tell me whatcha think on it all
gooday
phil
Edited on Sep 28, 5:03 p.m. because 'wanted to add a thought'. -
maybe i oughta write more of this kinda ranting... it's odd that we're neighbours and know so little... odd
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This is a really well-written piece, it's so informative. It not only talks about America but also is informative about Canada (which I don't know much about). This is an interesting and informed column, well done
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Brillant
This is a response by SGT. Jump on my wife's behalf:
As to the money…no one really knows where it has gone. I can tell you that we have had no real major changes in the military equipment in the past ten years. Except for a few upgrades to smaller radios and a few changes in the personal weapons (i.e. the M-16 changed to the M-4), there has been little money pushed to the military.
I was in a unit of 600 soldiers with Self-propelled Howitzers that cost about $20,000 annually to maintain (by the way, we had 18 of them) and other assorted equipment…(i.e. Humvee's, transports, ect...) annual cost to maintain this equipment was well over $500,000.
Then you have the cost of training the soldiers…this runs at an annual cost of around $300,000 for proper training to go to the National Training Center, and Joint Operations Training Center. This used to be done once, if not twice, a year and is now done once every two years for most units.
Now all this being said and understood, you still have to take into consideration the cost of doing normal business this includes office supplies and such.
So, on the average, my unit ran somewhere around 1.1 to $1.2 million a year in cost to run and our budget was......drum roll please.......$850,000 for the year and expected to be cut by $50,000 the next year. So, I am like you…where has the money gone? Because it sure isn't going to the Military…that they cut and over-deployed. There are guys in the military that have not seen their families in over two years due to deployments. I also know soldiers that spend 6 days in the field…home for one…and back out because of the lack of being able to go to NTC or JOTC (refer above) they have to train somewhere so it takes twice as long to get the same training they could get in 30 days.
So as for the government, they have all the money they used to spend but look…and I can tell you where it is. They have voted themselves pay raises almost every year for the past ten.
I hope that helps.
Thank you so much for your consideration on this topic, and I appreciate your support…
Sgt. Jump
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hehe i wish i was informed enough... i just listen to people on the bus, in the college courtyard or tourists downtown and read Canadian public radio news and reports, independent newspaper occasionally and never buy CNN tv coverage... but this was response to that letter by another guy so i started to reflect and respond as much as he was jumping from subject to subject...
i'll have to figure out a common thread throughout... not sad how uninformed people are about the world as much... most people don't care, no clue why the apathy...
i'm just curious about the world and have a grounding in politics, economics, sociology and history to try and figure out the whole bloody mess... it's hard to have an opinionated judgement when you don't all the angles... heheh... not my usually light poetry but meh... wish it were as easy to figure out... yah the grateful bit... hmmmm who knows... we're too lucky...
heheh i guess college education is worth something after all... thanks for the encouragement i was somehow waiting for an sign so i could go enroll for college... here i thought i was useless and going nowhere... ohwell, that's why i picked up a pen in the first place.. gotta be writing it all down in perspective... take care and gooday
phil -
Wow! You are much better informed than most Americans. How sad that is that a Canuck is more aware of what is happening than we Americans. I enjoyed reading your rant. You gave me something to think about and something to remember to be greatful for. Kudos, Phil.
jill
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