Don't Offer This Veteran Thanks, Or a Meal At A Crappy Restaurant

[votesparks]

For this veterans day, this veteran would like all of you to shut up with all the thanks for veterans, the free dinners at crappy restaurants, and instead, call your Congressman tomorrow and demand better services and benefits for all veterans, and an end to endless war and militarization as a psychic fetish.

Thank you,

David
Veteran, 372nd Combat Engineer Battalion, Ohio Army National Guard

[Richardo]

1. There's a *true* Veterans' Day tribute.

[votesparks]

4. Until every wounded veteran, physically and psychologically

is taken care of in a dignified manner, Applebee's can stuff its free dinner where the sun don't shine.

[pangaia]

76. Applebee's doesn't serve food anyway.

[Scuba]

2. This vet agrees.

[liberalmike27]

29. I've always thought

Corporations should thank you for your service, since as one of your banners says, corporations and government are intertwined, and as much as it sounds bad, that's what the government tasked you to do.

What we did in Iraqi and Afghanistan was to open the countries up to hopefully eventual Capitalist endeavors, and put fronts on both sides of Iran. Eventually we'll probably be entering there forcibly. I hope not, but I think it'll come somewhere down the line, and I think if Iran is trying to get nukes, it's out of fear of U.S. invasion.

It's the unfortunate truth, brought about by big money, and corporate money entering into elections. A dollar,a vote, millions of dollars, gets millions of votes.

[Divernan]

32. "defending democracy/keeping America free" comments make me want to puke.

Our young men and women are psyched into believing that BS. They are sacrificing for and defending profiteering MIC and other Big Corporate Interests.

[NealK]

37. Well said.

[Plucketeer]

39. Whether they're "psyched", or

enlist because there's no jobs in the private sector - or even cause "it's a family tradition" - it's bullshit. And this from a proud Vet. I went to war to protect us from the NVA. Now I'm free to buy clothes made there! So how was it that I protected my country? How DID I serve our own clothing industry?

TWELVE YEARS after 9/11 - and we're STILL fighting in the aftermath! All I can conclude is we've got some really shitty military leaders/strategists! Of course - the REAL responsibility for us still being "at war" rests in the hands of those who've never BEEN in the military.

[calimary]

43. This non-vet agrees.

[daleanime]

3. Amen....

[peace13]

5. Mark this to have the correct words when I call!

I don't want to forget a thing! Thanks for this post...good one!

[edhopper]

6. How about stop creating veterans

by sending young men and woman into useless immoral wars.

[Ranchemp.]

28. A veteran is someone who served in the military, whether or not they served in combat.

[Wounded Bear]

38. The sentiment still holds...

What they are doing to vets is part and parcel of the corporate game. It's very much like how they treat employees, by slashing payrolls and payscales and raiding pensions.

I am one of those vets who fits the meme: "They also serve who only stand and wait." Never saw combat, but knew many who did.

[Ranchemp.]

40. I agree with you,

I just wanted to point out that, whether or not someone served in combat, they were still a veteran of the armed forces.

[calimary]

42. Totally.

That would be the first of MANY things we could do concretely if we really did want to honor our veterans. Stop creating so many more of them in useless, pointless wars to protect and further corporate greed. And I'd go directly to those corporations that profit directly - and take those benefits directly out of their hide.

[edhopper]

46. I know that

but I hope you get my point, as inelegant as I might have said it.

And since i think we need less of a military, it follows we need less people serving.

The "Few, the Proud" slogan of the Marines should hold for all the services.

[Ranchemp.]

48. I totally get your point.

And totally agree with you.

[Ace Acme]

57. We need a return to the draft. A REAL draft, that serves the real needs of a modern military.

The needs for dentists, lawyers, CEOs, engineers, accountants. Institute that and we'll shrink the military drastically muy pronto.

[pintobean]

7. Thank you for your service.

This vet doesn't like to be told to shut up. Most vets appreciate the acknowledgement. As to the free stuff, many vets could use a free meal or haircut, whether they would consider it crappy, or not.

We can do these things today and still make the call tomorrow.

[votesparks]

10. And I know lots of Vets

who don't appreciate it. Maybe if America actually took care of its veterans, they would. Every time I see a free meal offer from Applebee's or Golden Corral, I can't help but wonder if they supported the latest cut in food stamps which impacted the families of 170,000 veterans.

Then there is the issue of veteran suicides, veteran homelessness, unemployment...If America truly was thankful for these folks, these problems would not exist on such a large scale.

And yes, you can do these things today, and make the call tomorrow, but how many actually will?

Take care.

[pintobean]

12. It seems the homeless and unemployed

could use a few freebies.

Today, I'll go see my 97 year old buddy. He hit Omaha Beach on D-Day and fought through the rest of the war in Europe. I won't mention your thoughts because it would just upset him. I'm sure he'd rather have Applebee's or Golden Corral than the nursing home cafeteria food.

[Decaffeinated]

20. Good lord... The man has been through enough!

Don't subject him to Golden Corral!

[pintobean]

26. He'll get a home cooked meal

from my wife.
It's funny though - the most enjoyable times for him in recent years has been the time he's spent hanging out at the local McDonald's, spending time with fellow vets.

[Decaffeinated]

27. If there's one thing vets are good at...

It is shooting the shit...

[Hestia]

52. Because they still have that hometown diner feel since Mickey D's ran the other's out

of town. A place where locals can go chaw the fat in the mornings before they have to get busy for the day.

I was thinking that too - making sure homeless veterans get to the restaurants, several if need be, to make sure they get to take advantage of some food and remind people of why they are there. Scratch that - it's just stuff like free cokes and fries and stuff at most of them. Dang it, I thought it was dinner, not a meager side!

[whathehell]

33. I believe they could, and I also believe that Votesparks has a lot of anger and is displacing it

on the wrong people.

Like you, I help veterans, both by volunteering and by donating to many vets' organizations.

As for Applebee's being such a "cheap restaurant, that's funny because as I told the OP, my husband and

I are comfortably middle class and eat there quite often -- Seems votesparks has expensive tastes.

[whathehell]

31. Maybe you should post this on Free Republic, or something, because I think most folks here are

quite AGAINST cuts on food stamps and have a GENUINELY caring attitude toward veterans -- Funny you should mention

Applebee's as a "cheap restaurant" since my husband and I have solid middle-to upper middle class earnings

and we eat there frequently.

In addition we also DONATE regularly to several veterans agencies.

Whatever part of "America" doesn't t "actually care" about its veterans, I doubt you'll see many of them on this site.

[Cryptoad]

14. I dont like it being told "Thanks for Your Service"

Any energy to Honor Vets should be concentrated on those that didnt come home......

[zeemike]

35. I don't ether.

I consider my service a duty and you don't need to thank people for doing their duty.,,in fact I consider it an insult.
But that whole thing was created by Papa Bush to justify and expand the wars in the middle east...

[7962]

75. Amen, Pinto. I'm a vet, too, and I appreciate what I learned.

I was raised a military brat too. Both my parents were in and my mom, at 86, says she'd go back in tomorrow.
And contrary to popular belief, the education level of the military is above the average citizen.
This doesnt change my opinion that the Iraq war was a terrible waste and the govt has misused the military many times.

[Bohunk68]

8. So very much in agreement.

Just posted a thing on my fb page that basically said the same thing. I get tired of all the platitudes "honoring" our service and then the bastids vote in the Teabaggers to cut those benefits but yet keep funding the wars to put more money in the pockets of the likes of Dick Cheney and Romney. Sickening.

[Inkfreak]

9. Never turn down a free meal..

But I do agree with contacting our congressmen to advocate for better treatment of all my fellow vets.

As far as being thanked, I'll take it in the the spirit in which it was given. I don't get it a lot. It's not as if I go around advertising it. It was a job. An alternative to college at the time. I knew I couldn't afford college.

[votesparks]

19. Most of the free meals

are filled with GMOs and other very unhealthy processed foods from the corporate agriculture complex. Not much of a thanks when you think about it. Better than starving, but that's about all.

[heaven05]

11. you're right

And the 'free' meals, around here at least, are limited and kid's meals. Capitalism at it's best. Prime rib, with large salad and many sides with drinks, that's what we deserve.

[brewens]

13. How about if I just put one of those "Support Our Troops" stickers on my truck?

I'd spring for one of the yellow ribbon magnets too but I'm afraid a bagger will steal it to put on their car.

[mountain grammy]

15. All the veterans in my family agree!

But my husband will never turn down a free meal..

A few years ago, I bought him a "Vietnam Veteran" cap, which he wears on Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, and whenever it'll get him a discount. The first time a young man came up to him and said "thank you for your service" and offered his hand, my husband was genuinely confused. He joined the Army in 1970 because he would have been drafted and hoped enlisting would keep him out of the war.. no such luck, but he came through ok and is forever grateful for that.

The man is proud of his service, like our son, US Navy, 1988-1992, but both agree, the militarization of America is out of control.

[votesparks]

16. The whole worship the veteran meme

allows for Americans to blindly accept how they are used (for the agenda of big money), and never question U.S. foreign policy.

[mountain grammy]

21. Yes, real support of veterans would be not making new ones.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

24. yep. n/t

[hootinholler]

17. GMTA!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024013423

Yeah, done.

[Sunlei]

18. good point. wish 'they' would have took all those war trillions & made all Americans lives decent.

thanks for your post though, I have to thank you for speaking up

[MattBaggins]

22. This Vet is going in for a colonoscopy today

happy happy joy joy

[red dog 1]

60. Good luck!

(I've had 11 colonoscopies)

and Happy Veteran's Day!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

23. hear hear! capitalism's pretentious charade in a circus of oblivious superficiality.

Like Support the Troops yellow car magnet ribbons. Made in China.

[BlueJazz]

25. Whatever our Vets want...that's what they should get! I don't know the statistics but....

...I'll wager that the politician's sons and daughters didn't have to worry about Land mines and other assorted body destroyers.

Grrrrrr!

[matt819]

30. Excellent piece on Salon today about this

The last time one could have thanked a veteran was in WWII. Since then the military has done nothing but serve as fetishes for politicians or mercenaries for corporations. I owe my freedoms to the US Constitution. The fact that someone served as a mechanic at a military base in Frankfurt, or some such, as nothing to do with it. This doesn't detract from their service, whatever their reasons for serving, but thanking them for protecting my freedoms? Ridiculous.

[NuclearDem]

34. I'd really want to see them "honor my service"

By making TRICARE available to everyone and giving everyone access to free undergraduate education.

That'd be so much better than a free Applebee's appetizer.

Thank you,

Alex
97th Intelligence Squadron, USAF
Offutt AFB, Nebraska

[AndyA]

36. America should show thanks to Veterans instead of just saying it.

Because showing them their service is appreciated actually means something. Saying thanks when we do nothing to show appreciation seems rather empty, and implies that their service wasn't really appreciated.

It's a national disgrace the way Veterans are treated.

[stage left]

41. In my opinion so much of the thanks to veterans

Is just lip service. I've just seen a lot of it on my face book feed from people I know voted Republican, voted for the very people who just cut food stamp benefits for vets(among other groups). And I'm thinking how dare they, how dare they say anything about supporting veterans? In response I posted this(and I see several of my fellow Duers had the same thought)--"We could honor American Veterans best by not making so many of them." The last war that made any sense was World War II.

[FairWinds]

44. Who are the real heroes ?

For sure, not me !!
Here's an article I wrote on the subject . .
http://otherwords.org/redefining-heroism/
In my view Vets do not deserve any more consideration than, to give just
two examples, teachers or water treatment plant workers (who really do save
a lot of lives!) How about a "Water Treatment Plant Worker Day"?

[Paper Roses]

45. Bravo! n/t

[Aristus]

47. More and more, "Thank You For Your Service!" is starting to sound like:

"Have A Nice Day!"

[BrainDrain]

49. Bravo!!!!!!

This vet could not agree more. Fuck this military fetish. Stop thanking me for not wanting to go to college and using the military as a way to escape a dead-end life and move on to a new and better one after I got out.

I was no hero and I sure as fuck don't want to take anything away from the anyone who really deserve that over used word.

[Liberal_in_LA]

50. kick

[Victor_c3]

51. To me, an apology is more suitable for most modern veterans

As a veteran of the War on Iraq, I'd like to hear this:

"I'm sorry that, although you joined the military to protect our freedom and our country, you were sent to fight in a war of American imperialism. Although you were eager and willing to give to a cause greater than yourself, your good will and good nature was misused by our politicians to satisfy a blood lust and desire to kill Arabs after September 11th. The blood you spilled, the pain you experienced, and the loss of friends and fellow comrades in arms was all for nothing. Sorry."

As a fellow veteran and a citizen of the US, I'd like to offer you my sincerest apology.

I'm truly sorry.

[cynatnite]

53. A crappy meal at a restaurant is sometimes the only decent meal a vet gets...

I don't require thanks or even a meal. I agree we need better services.

But I don't fault anyone who says thank you or a vet taking a free meal.

You shouldn't either.

Cynatnite
Army Medic, 1986-1990
Flight Medic, Air National Guard, 1990-1998

[redstatebluegirl]

54. I started saying thank you after my brother and his friends came home from Vietnam

and were spit on and treated like crap. I would never intend to offend, maybe I should stop doing it.

[kydo]

55. What always has bugged me about the free stuff the vets get on veterans day is

How come spouses and family are not included? It's not easy being a military spouse or a child of a military.

So far the only place this year to include spouses was Starbuchs.

[Enthusiast]

56. K&R.....nt

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

58. Sometimes for some people that so called crappy meal

is much more than that, which means it is more than just some little thing. I can appreciate what you are getting at guardsman ,dig a little deeper.

[onethatcares]

59. vet to vet,

I agree more than you can imagine.

I keep waiting for them to use the day to hype mattress sales.

Stop the wars, bring the troops home and let's actually fund the benefits due.

[The Wizard]

61. Roger that (NT)

[HoosierCowboy]

62. Smoke a Doobie

...with a veteran PTSD casualty. They'll appreciate it a lot more than undercooked eggs at some franchise restaurant.

I really think the V.A. should provide Medical Marijuana for free to the most pervasive battle casualty most of these returning vets endure.

[red dog 1]

63. "Call your Congressman tomorrow"...Good advice.

Also calling both of your United States Senators tomorrow as well and ask them to support increases in veteran's services and benefits

Also call President Obama.
White House comments line:202-456-1111
White House switchboard: 202-456-1414

Send President Obama an e-mail
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Click on "Submit comments on-line"

[Buck Turgidson]

64. Sir. Yes, Sir!

[MannyGoldstein]

65. I will do that.

Thanks for kicking our asses.

Regards,

Manny

[Iwillnevergiveup]

66. A veteran I heard interviewed today

said that when people say, "Thank you for your service" to him, he responds with, "You're welcome." After that, there's usually an awkward silence and the thankful person can't think of anything else to say.

My dad who served in the Navy in WWII said this morning how disturbed he is with all the suicides among veterans - didn't remember that happening in his day.

There are waaaay too many vets from all our wars who are not properly cared for. And then for many of those, their military service began a long decline in the rest of their lives. A national disgrace, and unacceptable.

You are right, David, we need to call our Congress critters. It's the least we can do.

[Katashi_itto]

67. Goddamn right. Sick of listening to bunch of civilians spewing fake "thank you"s then forgetting

about vets for the rest of the year.

[treestar]

68. OK

Agreed that the fake propaganda and holidays are just window dressing; real services are a better and true thanks.

[Butch McQueen]

69. Thanking a Vet is Just a Way of Apologizing to Poor John Rambo

I'm a vet, did 21 years of it from the late 70s to the year 2000 (had a break in service in there). Not to sound all cynical, but by and large (fully acknowledging that there are exceptions) the societal meme of "thanks for your service" has always struck me as being kind of hollow unless it is coming from another vet. I've always wondered if the meme didn't evolve as almost a sort of a knee-jerk collective guilt response to what the Vietnam vets came home to. At the risk of being all "over the top" I think in some instances thanking a vet for their service is almost a form of self-praise, "see what a great person I am, I'm thanking you instead of spitting on you". Granted that is a pretty harsh view to hold, but in my opinion the best way to thank a vet is to simply, really, honestly, and sincerely give a damn about our military and the role it serves in society. Even when I was in uniform I had more respect for anti-war protesters (even when I didn't always agree with them) who took the time to really educate themselves on the pros and cons of a given conflict than I did people whose civic involvement in a given conflict consisted of chanting "USA USA USA" and calling it good. The pros and cons of eliminating the military draft can be argued endlessly, but it seems to me that one of the downsides is that created a situation where most Americans quit giving any serious thought to how politicians use our servicemen and women in conflicts all around the world. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but if you want to thank this veteran than please take the time to educate yourself regarding our country's foreign policies, form fact based opinions on what you have learned, and then act accordingly... protest a war or support it - that is up to you, but at least do so from a perspective of facts, not feelings. Write your congressman, send a letter to the editor, do whatever it is you do to passionately involve yourself in issues that really matter to you - and for God's sake VOTE!

Butch

[CaliforniaPeggy]

70. Thank you for your very thoughtful post, Butch McQueen...

I really agree with your points.

And Welcome To DU!

[gopiscrap]

71. welcome to DU

[unhappycamper]

77. I say "Welcome home" rather than the lame "Thank you for your service".

Welcome home, Brother.

[SeattleVet]

72. What I posted on Facebook a while ago (with a few ideas stolen from this thread):

I don't know about others, but I sometimes get a little uncomfortable when someone thanks me for my service. I consider my service to have been a duty, and you don't need to thank someone for doing their duty. I served for 12 years. At times I was even stationed in the same hemisphere where there was some shooting going on. Both of my sisters also served, and did our father, grandfather, uncles, etc. (Sometimes it seems like our family will fight with pretty much *anyone*!) It was just what we did. It was our job. For most of my time it was pretty much like a regular 9-to-5 job, except we wore funny clothes and gas masks and carried M16's sometimes, and wound up sleeping in the mud from time to time (except in the Air Force it was usually a sleeping bag on an air mattress on a cot in a tent with a kerosene heater - the mud was mostly outside the tent).

Do you want to *really* thank a veteran for Veterans Day? Then sit down and write a letter and get on the phone tomorrow to your Senators and Representatives and demand better services and benefits for all veterans. Tell them to stop cutting food stamps to the hundreds of thousands of veterans and their families that need them, and to start making a priority of increasing funding in other areas of assistance to vets. Putting a 'Support the Troops' bumper sticker on an SUV and then voting to cut funding for the VA, homeless vets services, PTSD assistance and intervention, or food assistance seems kind of backward.

Your greatest support of veterans would be to insure that we elect people who do not feel the need to create so many wounded veterans. Work to get these men and women back home and out of harm's way.

In the meantime check out the volunteer opportunities at your local VA hospital, and see what donations they are looking for (they usually need books, playing cards, and personal care items). *That* would be a huge way of saying, "Thank you", and help in creating a happy Veterans Day for so many who have served and given more than most. Actions are SO much stronger than words, and over the past 10 years or so "Thanks for your service" almost seems to have been reduced to the equivalent of 'Have a nice day".

(End of rant!)

[DocMac]

73. Wow, this thread went this far?

I served in the Marines in the 70's.

What are people afraid of when we have satellites that see anything coming, nuclear weapons, and 300 million guns in the citizens hands?

I want an answer!

[RoccoR5955]

74. Consider it done! n/t

[Rex]

78. There are a lot of homeless vets that would love a crappy meal.

Don't forget to remind Congress of the piss poor job it does to help veterans.