From the Gathering of Eagles
For Kathy Mizner, 58, Saturday was a “fantastic day.†Mizner’s father served in World War II. Her husband was in Vietnam. Her son in Iraq. Like Kirlin, she rode the bus for D.C. that Hill had organized. To get to 30th Street Station for the 6 a.m. departure, she left her home in West Deptford at 4. Mizner is usually “scared to death†to drive on ice- and snow-covered roads, but this was important to her. “We’ve always been true to the flag and our troops,†she says. “That’s how I was raised.â€Â
“To be with true heroes, the Vietnam vets and the kids in uniform still serving, to give them a kiss and to say, ‘God bless’ . . . money can’t buy the feeling it gave me to do that for them,†she says.
As a marshal helping to ensure order, Hill heard plenty of angry exchanges, with neither side holding back. He recalls one protester marching by and yelling, “You don’t support the troops!â€Â
The vets fired back: “We are the troops!“
The entire article is in the Philadelphia Inquirer
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I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
Demonstrations make no difference.
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). If you would like to read how this happens please see:
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control. Government and industry are merging and that is very dangerous.
There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.
The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.
This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.