"Brave & Coward" misused words OP/ED

[Brian37]

Friend and foe alike misuse these words. You can be brave and wrong at the same time. You can be a monster totally confident in your cause and harm others in the process thinking your position is a virtue. It would be a false statement, for example to say Hitler's army were full of "cowards". It would also be a false statement to say that the 9/11 hijackers were "cowards". Monsters yes, but if you have a horrible position you truly believe in, you can defend it to the death.

It is also why I hate arguments over service vs non service left and right. Ted Buttnugget for example didn't serve. I really don't give a shit if he did or not. Most people don't have the psychological strength to face mortal combat. Many who do take the risk come back with PTSD as well. 

What makes Ted an asshole, isn't that he didn't serve, what makes him an asshole is that he acts like he could serve. I am not a physically brave person, I know my brains would be scrambled if I tried to serve in combat and I would get someone killed. Why would anyone want to force someone into a position they are not equip to handle is is insane. Service is needed in our imperfect world unfortunately, but to dare people into it or demand it blindly without vetting to insure those who get to the battlefield is dangerous. 


I think it takes much more "bravery" to admit when you cant handle something, or to admit when you got something wrong, than it is to assume a risk needlessly. 

The "coward" to me is not the person who knows their limits, but the one who is so sure they are willing to do stupid shit out of some false sense of comfort.

[Gawdzilla]

"No courage without fear." If you aren't worried about dying that's not courage, that's stupidity. I got shot at a lot in the Navy, mostly early '70s, and I never stopped being scared. Despite that I did my job and that's what helped me survive. (That and a lot of luck.)

If anybody says they were in combat and weren't afraid they're lying, insane, or stupid.

[Brian37]

"No courage without fear." If you aren't worried about dying that's not courage, that's stupidity. I got shot at a lot in the Navy, mostly early '70s, and I never stopped being scared. Despite that I did my job and that's what helped me survive. (That and a lot of luck.)

If anybody says they were in combat and weren't afraid they're lying, insane, or stupid.

I am glad we have people who can do that. But would you think it wrong to admit you don't have that? I don't have that. You wouldn't want me next to you on the battlefield, I would get you killed.

[Gawdzilla]

"No courage without fear." If you aren't worried about dying that's not courage, that's stupidity. I got shot at a lot in the Navy, mostly early '70s, and I never stopped being scared. Despite that I did my job and that's what helped me survive. (That and a lot of luck.)

If anybody says they were in combat and weren't afraid they're lying, insane, or stupid.

I am glad we have people who can do that. But would you think it wrong to admit you don't have that? I don't have that. You wouldn't want me next to you on the battlefield, I would get you killed.

I have nothing against people who don't want to get killed, I'm one of them. The thing that kept me alive was years of training before I saw combat, thanks to a neighbor who was a veteran. Without his help I don't know how I would have reacted to my first fire fight. And I had new troops who just weren't meant to be on the pointy end, and I arranged for them to find a job they were better suited for, without rancor. We kept the men who were able to fight and moved along those who weren't. I never called them cowards, I called them "smarter than me." 

The rational reaction to danger is to be try to be where it isn't dangerous. Nothing wrong with that.

[Brian37]

I am glad we have people who can do that. But would you think it wrong to admit you don't have that? I don't have that. You wouldn't want me next to you on the battlefield, I would get you killed.

I have nothing against people who don't want to get killed, I'm one of them. The thing that kept me alive was years of training before I saw combat, thanks to a neighbor who was a veteran. Without his help I don't know how I would have reacted to my first fire fight. And I had new troops who just weren't meant to be on the pointy end, and I arranged for them to find a job they were better suited for, without rancor. We kept the men who were able to fight and moved along those who weren't. I never called them cowards, I called them "smarter than me." 

The rational reaction to danger is to be try to be where it isn't dangerous. Nothing wrong with that.

Thank you, in all seriousness. I really get down on black and white thinking and gender rolls. I see no problem with men being protected by other men or women for that matter. What matters is the protection and ability, not who does what. 

I only would agree that it is wrong to put yourself into a situation you are not capable of. Really no different any other aspect of life. Just like it would be unwise for a desk jockey CEO to attempt the work of the labor. If you are trained as a bean counter, that does not mean you are trained to run the machines the workers do. 

Just like one can be a neurologist, but would have no business working to fix a transmission of a car if they are not a trained mechanic.

[Thumpalumpacus]

It is also why I hate arguments over service vs non service left and right.

Any politician urging the nation to send our young adults to combat and possible death should have had the experience of being in that position. I don't critique a politician's service record in order to estimate his or her bravery, but because I want to know if the fucker put his money where his mouth is.

[Gawdzilla]

Military service doesn't automatically mean life-threatening situations. In WWII 90% of US service personnel never saw combat.

[The Grand Nudger]

If anybody says they were in combat and weren't afraid they're lying, insane, or stupid.

I am glad we have people who can do that. But would you think it wrong to admit you don't have that? I don't have that. You wouldn't want me next to you on the battlefield, I would get you killed.

Nah Brian.....we've got you, you know the infantry motto?  

"FOLLOW ME!"

If you ever find yourself alone and on foot..terrified on the field of battle, look for these guys.......trust me you can't miss 'em


@Gawdzilla Or some combination of all three, eh, lol?

[Brian37]

It is also why I hate arguments over service vs non service left and right.

Any politician urging the nation to send our young adults to combat and possible death should have had the experience of being in that position. I don't critique a politician's service record in order to estimate his or her bravery, but because I want to know if the fucker put his money where his mouth is.

When it comes to putting military lives at risk, even before WW1 and WW2 America's foreign policy has sucked. And if I remember correctly Jon Stewart did a piece going back to the founders about our crappy history of how we have treated vets.

But yea, I agree, if you are going to send someone into a fight, you better have a damned good plan going in, and a plan to win and a plan to leave. We really have been stuck in quagmires since WW2. I think Obama is simply the latest president stuck with a long term mess we started long ago. 

I would say Obama isn't a Warhawk like those on the right, and if he did decide to go to war, I would trust him more because he doesn't have a Dirty Harry mindset. But even he is stuck with the baton passed to him so.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Military service doesn't automatically mean life-threatening situations. In WWII 90% of US service personnel never saw combat.

I didn't say "automatically", so yeah. But you and I both know that funny things can happen between the MEPS, the chow-hall service line, and the morgue, that don't happen in the civilian world. My abiding memory from enlistment: Air Force needs come first. I wanted to be in crypto -- they wanted firefighters. So guess what? I got to put my ass on the line whether I was in combat or not. Same deal for the ammo/EOD guys, LE/SPs, and so on.