Would You Die For Your Country?

Would you?

Around the time when things were heating up in Vietnam, my dad had a family. He had a wife and a son. When things started to get heated, he got drafted into the army and was sent over to Vietnam with little military training, but being the son of a WWII veteran, he was taught all the tricks of the trade by his dad. He was a little too cocky back then, he was ready. He went in with a few hundred others from Jefferson City to the capital, Washington DC. My mom didn't want him to go, nor did my brother, but they neither had a choice. So he was sent off a year later after working as entrance security at the military base in the capital. When he got there he was stuck in a small company of 20 men off of a beach on the border i have given up trying to pronounce or spell. For two years he traveled with those men in an armed military vehicle. It was circular and unlike any other vehicle i have ever seen. It can actually float over mines as well go on wheels since it was switchable. For two years, he and the 20 other brave men traveled around the many misty forests and inlands there in North Vietnam. They were following a small band of Vietnamese Gorillas for about 3 months, and after they secured them, they were following some ground troops into battle.

By the time the two years were up, there were only twelve men left alive from the twenty. At the end, they came back to the same beach and by the end of that, my dad had become a Captain and he had saved the troops from going strait to their deaths on several occasions. When he and other men got back to the United States, they got medals for bravery, and my dad got a medal for heroisim. By the end, he would gladly die in battle for his country but was no longer cocky about war. He had known all twenty men personally before they went to Vietnam, and some of the dead were friends of his he grew up with.

In any war since then, he would have gladly went back to the battlefield. He would give his life for his country, and so would i. Not for glory, but for the stability of freedom.

Would you die for your country?

 

I would gladly give my life for my country. My great grandpa, who fought in WWII, said if he was able, he would go and fight again.

 

If by my life or death I can protect you, then you have my [gun].

I would give my life for my country, in times of war or peace.

 

I find the dewey-eyed, hand-n-heart patriotism that thrteads like these bring about extremely stomach churning. As far as I'm concerned, looking back at my grandfathers' contributoins in WW2, and their forefathers throughout history, military service is not about glory or heroism or bravery or cowardice or patriotism or democracy or even principles - it's about duty. You do your duty, then you come home again.

I loathe the romanticism of war.

 

Absolutely.

 

Do we have a choice?

Will we in 5 years?

Though the official line on the part of the military is that they have no intention of reinstating the draft, why are there people being selected for draft boards at present?

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If this thread is simply here to weigh, by means of nationalism, the value of a single human life, I'll go with human life taking precedence over country. My grandfather was a pilot in WW2, and though if he had lived, my father's course in life would have been drastically diferent (I would imagine), and I might not have even been born, I still never knew him, nor did my father. Not worth it.

I would give my life so that my grandfather would not have had to give his, so that my father might have had a dad...but I am getting away from the question at hand.

I would probably die for my country if my country were based on priciples of nonviolence and compassion, but, alas, they ain't.

Our women and men in uniform who have died in Iraq gave their lives, not for the US, but for the people of Iraq (at best) an =d for the enrichment of those who stand to profit off the "infinite justice". I can name a few. I would not die for Bechtel or Halliburton...would you?

 

Myself, i would give my life to save another's. I am just that loyal. If that means i am crazy, than i am just that.

Over the years, there has been many battle inside and outside the borders of the United States. If one of those wars were lost, we would not be where we are now. If you were being interrogated by the enemy, would you face death of become a traitor to your people?

I would die any day for my country's stability as would many the world over.

 

I would go, and I would fight. Maybe I'd die, maybe I wouldn't. That's in God's hands. But I tell you what, I would do my duty. America is a wonderful place, and I can't imagine living anywhere else dispite its flaws. No country is perfect, and if it means fighting murderous terrorists or the thugs of warlords, I have ZERO problem with that. Those guys are better off dead anyway.

 

Amen to that.

 

I'd just as soon live for my country...

 

Amen to that.

 

...and if it means fighting murderous terrorists or the thugs of warlords, I have ZERO problem with that.

Even if you must become a murderous thug to fight them?

 

If drafted I would fight for my country. Otherwise if I dodged the draft that means some other poor guy has to take my place, be ripped from his family and I'll have to live with the shame of not doing my duty.

I fear this thread will get into a draft debate.

I am in favor of the draft for both sexes. Equal rights means equal responsibility.


Mistryl's Paramour

 

As General Patton said, "Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country"

 

I am in favor of the draft for both sexes. Equal rights means equal responsibility.

Except the ERA failed. We don't have equal rights, and that's partially because a lot of people cringed at the idea of drafting women.

Not for glory, but for the stability of freedom.

Do you know that any war you'll be asked to fight in will be for the greater good? What about wars that have unexpected outcomes? Wars that were partially motivated by greed or other political reasons?

Even if you believe that all wars in the past have been for entirely just reasons, you can't discount the possibility that future wars might not be.

 

I served my time in the military, I fortunatley wasnt sent to fight in any wars, I did have orders to Kosovo, but the fighting stopped and they were cancelled. I left the Air Force 5 months before the September 11 attacks, and after that dreadful day I found myself enquiring on getting back in the service, alas they wasn't accepting prior service at that time.

If the need comes for me to have to die for my country I will. I believe America is very well meaning, although it seems to screw up alot, and its wars for the most part are just.

For those who say better Red than dead, I say better to have a grave shallow than be yellow.

 

For me it all comes down to a simple case of honor. I'm not the type that can just sit back and do nothing while others are out being shred to pieces and losing their lives. I would feel guilty if I was not doing my part, and so I would want to be on the front lines. If I were to be killed in action, I would have no problem with that. I would know that I, I had died with honor and dignity. Furthermore, my family would know that I had died with honor.

My country may be corrupt and fighting an unjust war, and yet I would still fight. Would I be dying for my country then? Technically, yes. But, I would be fighting for the man next to me. I'd volunteer to fight, I would not wait around to get drafted. I'd enlist in the Airborne.

Call me a romantic, a idealist, one who has their head stuck in the sand, but I believe in honor and I believe there is no greater honor than dying for a cause one believes in.

Edit: Obvious typo. I only fixed one, so any others I could care less about.

 

No. I never would.

I would only die for my loved one, wife, family or those I can truly call a friend.

I would never die for my country. A piece of land. A few borders. Never.

And I don't count going off to fight in some other country as giving my life for my loved ones.

 

I am not sure if this is as good a subject as "Would you give your life for another?" would be. SOldiers, Sailors, Marines and AirMen are not the only ones who put their lives on the line for tohers. Police, Fire Fighters, Paramedics, and average joe's have all put their lives down to save another and should be seen as just as noble as any one else.

 

Depends on the cause. I would die defending my country, but I wouldn't call any of the wars Australia has been in since WW2 as a war in defence of the country.

 

no, i would not. i value my own life over a collective group of people i don't particularly care about.

 

If your homeland were threatened, I'm quite sure most of you (unless you're yellow - a coward that is) would defend it if it were necessary.

Much of this is simply talk, and not substantive. However, we live in spoiled cultures, so I don't doubt that many, who have no honor whatsoever, would cower in the face of real threats.

I did 4 years in the military, and am proud to have served in the defense of my country and protected the free speech contained within (and the right of the individuals here - from the US - to voice their opinions).

 

Being in the Army for almost 20 years, 3 major conflicts and being out here in Iraq there is no doubt in my mind, that I would give my life for my Country, but we need to make sure the enemy gives his life first!!!

 

Would I give my life to defend "my country"?

Absolutely not. I am much more valuable than the doofus in government.

Would I give my life to protect my children and family? Without a millisecond of doubt.

Now, if the only way to protect my family would be to protect my country.... then....

/Z

 

Stolen from Jedi_Xen in the Europoll thread

"For two months, a rebel group of Israeli Black Hawk helicopter and F-16 fighter pilots has been denounced as traitors for saying they will no longer bomb Palestinian cities.
Until now they have maintained a resolute silence on their motives, preferring to limit their criticism of Ariel Sharon's war to a letter signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots refusing to carry out what they described as illegal orders, and denouncing the occupation as eating at the moral fabric of Israel."

Now this is much more intersting than "would you die for your country?", which implies a moral fight. What about this?

Would you kill for your country if the moral justification was questionable? Does refusing to fight show moral strength and integrity, or is it weakness?