Quote: "to me, half the point of voting is so we know what the government is doing with ze money.. "
You kind of quoted me out of context there. I'm saying, I would agree more with knowing what the government is up to, more so than the military.
Posting what the military is doing at all angles would give the enemy the edge they need. But I suppose that's alright with some people (those people not actually being in harm's way). It's easy to say, when you've never served...and never plan on serving.
There was an incident, early on in the War. 2 journalists were embedded with a military unit, in the push to repel one of Saddam's "armored forces". The journalists decided on their own to push ahead of the U.S. element. When they realized they were heading right into the enemy's lines; they tried to turn around and head back. That is when the U.S. opened up on the enemy lines. One of the journalists was killed. They whined and cried about it. But, what they didn't publish; was at that point, they were basically blended in with the enemy's "armored vehicles". The enemy's armor consisted of whatever they could mount a gun to at the time....which included civilian vehicles. Point here being; if you're going to insist on sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, be prepared for something to go wrong.
Another incident happened a few years into the War. A U.S. element was clearing a building that they had received fire from (another supposedly friendly area). Inside they found the dead bodies of numerous enemy; though one was still alive. One of the soldiers shot and killed him. This was filmed by an embedded reporter; who later published it. Then the arm-chair quarterbacking ensued, and sought to condemn the soldier...without know the true facts.
Those guys had just tried to kill everyone in that element. The guy who shot and killed the wounded man had just received a wound to the face moments before. His buddy came across a similar situation a few days prior...wounded enemy groaning and acting wounded. When his buddy got close to check on the wounded man, he was greeted with a live hand grenade...his buddy died there. These men (and women) have mere split seconds to make a decision, in an ALWAYS tense environment. Arm-chair quarterbacks will take hours, if not days picking something apart. I would suggest, if you could do better; sign up and hit the front lines. At the very least; talk to the soldier face to face, and see if you have the balls to criticize his actions.
So yes; there are some things that the military can inform the public about. But most of the time; it's none of your (or my) business. As far as the taxpayer argument goes; you can trade in your duty to pay taxes, with time in service. If it wasn't for the guys and gals of the service; volunteering, you'd be conscripted.
Quote: "Would be nice to know what I am voting for, wouldn't it?"
You don't vote for the military; you vote for the politician that uses the military.
I like the idea of either a test to be able to vote (too many idiots voting these days, most of them have no idea (literally) on what they're voting for), or military/civil service performed. Too many people these days like to talk about their "rights" that they have done nothing (other than to be born here) to earn. It'll never happen, but it'd be nice.
I also agree with Wolf's points, and Sep has some great points as well.
-Keith
