11/11

Well, actually it is 11/12 and in a great deal of the country it is 11/13 but never mind that. 

I thought i would take a few minutes and thank the troops, if you are a veteran and you happen to stumble upon this post, I thank you for your service voluntary or not to the United States.

My father was in Vietnam, my Grandmother was a WAC (or i believe she was), still not exactly sure what that is, and my mother's father was in the Army in WWII.   I also believe my father's grandpa was in WWI. 

I am very thankful, that I have not been drafted and called to fight in a war like they had.  I am not diminishing the sacrifice of those who have been in Desert Storm, or the second time in Iraq or the Afghan one, I am sure all combat experiences are harrowing and horrible and i want no part in any of that.  Not that i think the soldiers want to be there, but well, this is getting off track but here is a side story

In the town i grew up in there is a statute that was dedicated to the 5 men killed in world war I from a defunct tiny little near by town.  According to the piece i found on the statue here.    This town lost 12 service men to the World Wars.   According to wikipedia in 1930 Hiawatha had a population of 939, and in 1940 had a population of 858. Maybe just a statistical anomaly but the wars since have not had such a requirement from such a breadth of the population.  For that I am thankful.

I would like to state that I do not think the service men of the wars since have sacrificed any less, or in anyway diminish their service, just the population as a whole has sacrificed less, which in a kind of weird backwards logic makes the individual sacrifices of the recent wars greater.  But I don't think they're greater either, war sucks, but were it not for the brave few who do voluntarily serve the world would be a more dangerous and evil place.

Which brings me to my point, usually I am a democratic voter, and usually liberal in things like this, but this little nugget angers me, but it requires back story.  So a few years ago Peter King of Sports Illustrated decided to raise money and team up with USO to help entertain deployed troops or something like that.  I was discussing this with my boss at the time, and I made a donation, under the name J "I need some Karma" DuBois. 

Less than 6 months later I was and am still getting flooded with mailing from the heritage foundation, the NRA, American Crossroads, and some outfit with a weird name like national republican convention or something like that, I don't even know if that is the official name of the other party which is why i call them some outfit, they could be legit, but they could also be a scam, who knows.  What I do know is they all send me mail addressed to J. "I need some Karma" DuBois

What angers me is not that i get mail from them, but that they assume just cause i want to support the troops that i am a conservative, gun toting, GOP member.  Is this an accurate assumption? If so that sucks.  Also I hope to break that association.  I am a liberal, i subscribe to Mother Jones, I think Obama has done a bang up job, and I support the troops.  I even donate to the wounder warriors project, a tiny little amount, but if everyone gave a little, they could get a lot!

Anyway  whether or not you're a liberal or a conservative if you fought for our country I thank you!