I don't know much about the military etc so feel free to completely disregard what I'm saying, but I doubt soldiers actually kill INNOCENT people, isn't their job to protect them? And even if I'm not american I still think it's disrespectful to put that on a flag that he is supposed to be serving under.
As far as I know, soldiers don't target civvies, but shit happens and often times, the bad guys don't care who's around when the IED goes off, so long as it's when the striker rolls by. And yes, regardless of flag, it must be respected, regardless of whether you like it.
"Burn my flag, I'll piss on your ashes"- Me
There are those sociopaths that join the military with the express intent to kill people. When I worked MEPS, I had dozens of kids who told me they were going to kill Haji and his friends because they hate America. But, the purpose of the military is not to kill people, but to complete objectives, and sometimes people do die, innocent people included.
Except that when joining the military you need to take a psych eval if you have a history of any past problems(which a true sociopath would.) So though you might have sociopaths that want to get into the military, the military itself won't allow them in, and those that DO sneak in most likely won't be able to complete basic training.
Military service member fucking wrote on the flag!!!??? The flag is to be respected, not desecrated! That guy just shit all over my service as well thousands of others including his own.
▼
deleted
· 10 years ago
He's sending a message, and if you can't respect that. maybe you don't deserve to represent your country in such a way.
Actually what he's doing is punishable under the UCMJ (uniform code of military justice) according to DOD Directive 1344.10 and AR 670-1 because he's doing it in uniform. So doesn't matter if you respect it or not, its wrong. If he wanted to do this in civilians it would have been technically fine.
Thanks for posting that skurjandan. Mcdonaldo, have you served? Honest question. There are far better ways to send a message than using the flag in that way. It doesn't matter what his political views are or what his views on world policy are. When you are in uniform, you serve the flag no matter what order or disorder it may be in. The simple fact that I understand that means that I DO deserve to represent my country in such a way.
I'm not American and I've never served, so I'm definitely not an expert, but I feel that even though you commit to the flag when you sign up, if you truly believe there's something wrong with the military, I can respect someone going back on that oath. While following your promises is important, blind faith and following isn't good for anyone.
I agree with the part of "not fallowing something blindly". I don't agree with a lot of things my government does or the military. And I'll be honest, reading this while in Afghanistan it feels like a slap in the face. I'm one of the guys that actually goes out into the villages and spends time with the people. Even so far as to live among them for months on end. People that blindly call us "baby killers" or "ruthless murderers of the innocent" don't know what it's like here. It's a different way of life that you can't just read about and fully comprehend it. You have to immerse yourself in it to know how much we are actually making a difference. Not saying we're guiltless either. I'm not going into details but I've been across some blood curling shit that will stay with me till I die. That's the nature of war. I doubt he's ever been deployed, and if he has he sure hasn't left the fob. If he did he wouldn't have put this on the internet. In that regard I kind of feel bad for him.
skurjandan, I am in no way trying to diminish what you and others like you do. I have the utmost respect and admiration for people who serve in the army because as you said, you see a lot. You make a difference and you save lives. I know I have no idea what it is like over there and I don't know if I want to really know that. And just so you know, I agree with your argument, I hope he has a really good reason for his message and isn't just doing it for attention. Thank you for everything you do. :)
Agreed. By all means question orders that you believe to be unlawful. Make a stand and get media attention or whatever for it if you believe its bad and needs changed. That DOESNT mean desecrating something that many (and should be you included if you are in the military) find sacred. You don't see Catholics writing messages on Bibles or Muslims writing on Korans just because of something in their religion they strongly disagree with. Because it detracts from the point of the message. Look at these comments as a perfect example. Notice how many people comment about his message (there were a few that mentioned it) and how much is about the flag (90%+ of the comments)
You may say that getting all this discussion about it, even if its about the flag and not his message is good. Since the more people arguing and thinking about it, the more people that see it. But imo it hurts his argument. I don't like the guy now and anything he says, I'm automatically inclined to disagree with it.
I understand what your saying, and I'm sure thats what he was going for. But for me personally, and judging by how many others are receiving it, I take personal affront to it. Its as if he punched me in the face and then spit on me. Do I think HE meant it that way? Not at all, but thats my whole point. He did it on purpose to get a reaction from people with a visual aid, but the problem is it detracts from his actual message that he wants peoples reaction for. Instead they are looking at the flag and already have a bad impression of the guy, which makes it much harder for him to get his point across
@zmatrixng maybe with a regular piece of poster paper? Idk I'm just thinking out loud.
I definitely agree with the above that the way he's doing it suggests that he cared more about having emotional impact than he did about making a real point. But hey, that's how propaganda works anyway.
"Burn my flag, I'll piss on your ashes"- Me
You may say that getting all this discussion about it, even if its about the flag and not his message is good. Since the more people arguing and thinking about it, the more people that see it. But imo it hurts his argument. I don't like the guy now and anything he says, I'm automatically inclined to disagree with it.
I definitely agree with the above that the way he's doing it suggests that he cared more about having emotional impact than he did about making a real point. But hey, that's how propaganda works anyway.