A Thank You, on the Occasion of Veteran's -- Armistice Day

[HoreTore]

Your distinction is solely made to make you feel better about yourself.

If that makes you feel better about yourself, sure.

I consider conscription just as worthless as any other kind of service, btw. Still, the peasant conscript hordes of the Tsar did not have much of a say in their situation...

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

If that makes you feel better about yourself, sure.

I consider conscription just as worthless as any other kind of service, btw. Still, the peasant conscript hordes of the Tsar did not have much of a say in their situation...

The point is not that they signed up or were conscripted, the point is that they died.

By your own accounts you were a piss-poor soldier, so maybe you didn't get the memo but soldiers don't die for flags or causes, they dies for each other and that is what Armistice Day is about. It is for the survivors to honour the fallen, those who survived are generally around because of those who didn't.

You're being a jerk, you made a nasty (yes nasty) throw away comment about all those young boys (not men) who thought they were doing the right thing a hundred years ago and died as a result. This was not a topic for debate, this was those of us who feel sympathy to express that.

You've managed to soil it and make quite a few people angry - I hope you're happy with that because I'm bleeding well not.

[rory_20_uk]

The concept of Armistice day was created by the survivors against the bombastic "celebrations" politicians liked to have who were generally a long way from the sharp end of the war - at worst.

Most soldiers join to protect their country and often are too young to realise that defensive, just wars are in the minority. But theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die.

From the comfort of my office, where the worst thing that tends to happen is a corrupt powerpoint file the least I can do is remember the sacrifice they made - not the political objective that served.

[Montmorency]

In that case, one should also mind to remember the enemy's sacrifice.

That's an idea. At least nominally, it promotes international solidarity.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

In that case, one should also mind to remember the enemy's sacrifice.

That's an idea. At least nominally, it promotes international solidarity.

My original post, if you will recall, did just that as well as what rory suggested.

[Husar]

My original post, if you will recall, did just that as well as what rory suggested.

Please don't get me wrong, I do not want to fight over this, but that is not exactly the impression I usually get from sentences like this:

Today is the day set aside by many countries, at least in the West, to honor their military veterans.

It sounds a lot like (and I think that is actually the case as well) most countries just honour their own veterans.
I rarely if ever see Americans post about how the brave Japanese signed up to sacrifice themselves for their country and how they deserve everyone's respect for that.

As someone who grew up learning how horrible his country was and who watched enough hollywood movies, I do actually have a sense of gratefulness towards Americans and that they liberated Europe from Hitler and his cronies.
As someone who learned even more, I also appreciate the efforts of Russian soldiers.
And as a German I also feel like quite a few of our soldiers died thinking they were doing the right thing.

But apart from Wehraboos, nazi-fans and Sturmfront readers one gets the impression that most Americans only care about the sacrifices of their own soldiers and maybe those of their anglo-allies. 50 years of cold war and current events seem to have eroded any support for other allies they may have had and apart from Hitler-mentions or making fun of Merkel NSA affairs, Germany seems hardly noteworthy for most, the aforementioned fringe groups excluded.

I'm aware that my perspective may be skewed as I have never been to the USA sadly, but this is the impression I get over these data tubes. It has a certain logic of course, why would people of the greatest, most just country in the world care about anyone else after all?
And I can't claim that France or even all Germans are very different.

I just find it hard to buy that most people actually care about soldiers and their sacrifice if they're not soldiers from close to home. In quite a few cases they might rather worship their own war criminals than care about a guy from farther away who only had good intentions when he signed up. I won't mind if you prove me wrong as I don't think I painted a nice picture here.

[rory_20_uk]

I think you're right. We all care about those that defend us and ours, not really that bothered about those, who at the end of the day were actively trying to kill our ancestors.

And the victors were always the good guys as they write the histories - why the Nazis are treated so much worse than the Soviets whose acts of genocide were pretty close and Bomber Harris got lauded for his acts and not damned for removing the armour plating from the bombers and of course carpet bombing non-military targets.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Please don't get me wrong, I do not want to fight over this, but that is not exactly the impression I usually get from sentences like this:

It sounds a lot like (and I think that is actually the case as well) most countries just honour their own veterans.
I rarely if ever see Americans post about how the brave Japanese signed up to sacrifice themselves for their country and how they deserve everyone's respect for that.

As someone who grew up learning how horrible his country was and who watched enough hollywood movies, I do actually have a sense of gratefulness towards Americans and that they liberated Europe from Hitler and his cronies.
As someone who learned even more, I also appreciate the efforts of Russian soldiers.
And as a German I also feel like quite a few of our soldiers died thinking they were doing the right thing....

I tried to include one of the German poems of that era (and would have posted a link in German had one been forwarded to me) so as to NOT make it an exclusively US or even "allied" attitude. However vehemently I may have disagreed with their cause, their leadership, or even some of the values of their respective cultures (and knowing this sentiment may even be mirrored by the "other" side), ALL of those veterans served at the behest of their communities doing what they thought fit in the defense of their community and its interests. THAT I honor. That includes those Germans who tried so desperately to pull off in win in the Spring of 1918 before American numbers could be felt as well as those French who fought so steadfastly at Verdun. It includes those Germans who fought the Allies as they invaded Germany because they were defending Germany -- even when they themselves hated Nazism. It includes the brave defenders of Iwo Jima every bit as much as the Marines who took that first bit of Japanese soil away from the empire. I even hold a grudging respect for those who have taken up arms in our "War on Terror" to defend hearth and home from a foreign occupier -- even as I decry those who slaughter non-combatants in a calculated act of terror.

In this, I separate the politics and events that engendered these conflicts -- while calling on respect for the one commonality of most of those who fought -- their service.