Had to go on a gas leak this AM for work. So I show up and I immediately see a "NO WAR" sign in the front yard. I'm thinking, this'll be good as I am wearing my Molon Labe Tee shirt with a pic of an AR on it. Knock and finally an old coot with 3 teeth, gunky clothes, and BO comes to the door. He apologises for the wait and I go in and find a Gas leak in the dryer flex line. I know he has seen the shirt and sure enough he pipes up with "He's against the war Bla Bla Bla, and how horrible it is that the poor people down south don't have the Govt taking care of them because of all the GIs over in Iraq. Then this is what he hands me..........


I was a drafted soldier, March, 1951 and trained for Korea by the Keystone Division from Pennsylvania. Most of our Non-Commissioned officers were young men who we claimed had attempted to avoid the draft by joining the National Guard. To train themselves they had trained two groups and sent them to the conflict in Korea. With us they got serious. We, tanks and all, would be deployed as the 28th Division. I allowed them to train me to kill. I would not allow them to train me to hate. I asked a Colonel, "Sir, what am I to do with this hate when I return home? I am a trained soldier. I do not need to hate to kill,"

We cleaned our trucks with toothbrushes, and applied rust preventative. Awoken one night, we travelled by rail to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. We were hidden in the swamps for six weeks. No letters in-no letters out.

Again, at night we were railed to New Jersey, then to small ships for our trip to Germany. God was good to us.

German Government was glad to see us. We brought millions of U.S. dollars. German men were pleased to find extra work. And the women, over 26, thought we were chocolate.

Contrast that to the experiences our military face in Iraq.

There has never been a good war. There has never been a just war. All wars are a failure of diplomacy. All wars begin out of fear, to enhance a leaders standing, protect or gain a market, or to control resources. War requires a lack of honor, love and charity toward our fellow humans and ourselves.

War is vulgar.

Signed ................................Jackson MI

First, why do protesters SMELL? There is a thing called indoor plumbing for Gods sake. USE IT!!!!! I asked him if he thought WW2 and the US was unjust, he blamed the war with the Japanese on US as we had cut off supplies and the Japanese had no choice but to attack at Pearl. WTF? So I asked him about the Japanese aggression in Indochina and the 100s of thousands of rapes and murders the Japanese soldiers had committed. Whoops, no answer........I asked him about WW2 with the Germans, would it have been better if we had let the Germans conquer Europe and wipe out the Jews? To later try to conquer the US and the rest of the world? What would have been his suggestion? Whoops, nothing again. Ah, and now Korea, while a forgotton war, slowed the communist push and basically stalemated the US and Communist Interests for 60 years. Was THAT worth it?

I then told him I can appreciate his point of view but as an ex-soldier, and having a Dad as an ex soldier, and a FIL who fought in Korea as a tanker, I disagree. He started spouting about the soldiers in Iraq and those who AWOLed. I reminded him they ALL volintarily signed up, and were NOT drafted. As far as College money and joining, well, if you are a firefighter, you will probably fight fires sometime in your career.

In the end, I was quite surprised he shook my hand, and wished me a good day, I did the same to him. I washed my hands after I left............. I have to say, I though his little Pamphlet was a little truth and a lotta BS.

As far as down South and NO when I reminded him about how Federal help works, Local, to State to Fed to Fema and funds and the slow response of the local and state governments to ask for help even after the Fed gov and G Bush had declared a Evac much earlier then the State or City he had nothing to say. Uninformed and uneducated as to how things work is no way to live your life.

In alotta ways, war does suck. I think the qoute goes something like, "soldiers above all else, pray for peace the most" (might be missing some of it). There isn't any other solution in alot of cases though, so it takes men willing to stand up and fight. This is what needs to be understood by anti-war people.

Diplomacy fails eiser then it works -- unless you wan't to roll over, resign your dignity, and appease (no thanks).

IMHO, most modern wars are a result of fundamental differences so vast that they can never be bridged with diplomacy. Take the US and the rest of the free world vs. the Soviet Union. They have a moral imperative to spread Communism, and we have a moral imperative to support Democracy and Freedom. That's a gap that you can't bridge by any amount of talking. The hostilities will continue until one of the forces ceases to exist, as the Soviet Union did.

In addition, there are many people in the world who are just plain evil, and some of them run countries. No amount of talking will ever make them change their ways, though seeing the quick and violent end of others like them may make them settle down for a while.