Monday, February 4, 2019

TWITTER THREAD

DAMNED important Twitter thread.  One that demands an answer.

7 comments:

Dale Matson said...

I was a draftee during Vietnam. One reason for protracted conflict is the all volunteer army.

unreconstructed rebel said...

Rethink that as a "professional" army. They are in it for themselves, not us. Further, the man on the street has no investment in the professional army. I fear for my nation.

Katherine said...

I very often agree with both of you, Fr. Dale and UR. On this one, I don't think I do. I have known numbers of career military people and highly respect them. I think it's the civilian leadership which gets us into and often never out of conflicts. In today's world, without a standing professional army we could very quickly be in serious trouble here at home. We might rather, in the past few decades, look at our "intelligence" services and executive branch leaders for the failure to define objectives in military operations and how to get out again.

On this Senate vote, what do they want us to do in Afghanistan, and when do they think it would be effective? They can't answer this.

Dale Matson said...

Katherine, I'm not blaming the career soldiers. The politicians don't have to face the parents of men drafted and taken away from them to die.

unreconstructed rebel said...

Yes, Mr. Politician, please tell me what is in Afghanistan that is worth the life of a single American child.

Christopher Johnson said...

That's just it. Professional or not, volunteer or not, if I'm the C-in-C and somebody asks me why their son or daughter or wife or husband or brother or sister is being sent "over there," wherever "over there" happens to be, I'd better have a damned good reason or I don't deserve to keep my job.

Since lives and families are at stake and stuff.

Katherine said...

What's the effect of the Senate vote? Are troops now required to stay in Afghanistan, or is Trump still the CinC and responsible for the decision?