I got this in my email today.....

The death of Michael Jackson at the age of 50 is sad for many of his fans,

but this soldier has a very valid perspective on the subject.

This is written by a young man serving his third tour of duty in Iraq.
Thought you might find his take on the Michael Jackson news interesting.
____________________________

*as told by him*

I was just watching the news, and I caught part of a report on Michael
Jackson. As we all know, Jackson died the other day. He was an
entertainer who performed for decades. He made millions, he spent
millions, and he did a lot of things that make him a villain to many
people. I understand that his death would affect a lot of people, and
I respect those people who mourn his death, but that isn't the point
of my rant.

Why is it that when ONE man dies, the whole of America loses their
minds with grief. When a man dies whose only contribution to the
country was to ENTERTAIN people, the American people find the need to
flock to a memorial in Hollywood, and even Congress sees the need to
hold a "moment of silence" for his passing?

Am I missing something here? ONE man dies, and all of a sudden he's a
martyr because he entertained us for a few decades? What
about all those SOLDIERS who have died to give us freedom? All those
Soldiers who, knowing that they would be asked to fight in a war,
still raised their hands and swore to defend the Constitution and the
United States of America. Where is their moment of silence? Where
are the people flocking to their graves or memorials and mourning over
them because they made the ultimate sacrifice? Why is it when a
Soldier dies, there are more people saying "good riddance," and "thank
God for IEDs?" When did this country become so calloused to the
sacrifice of GOOD MEN and WOMEN, that they can arbitrarily blow off
their deaths, and instead, throw themselves into mourning for a "Pop
Icon?"

I think that if they are going to hold a moment of silence IN CONGRESS
for Michael Jackson, they need to hold a moment of silence for every
service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They need to PUBLICLY
recognize every life that has been lost so that the American people
can live their callous little lives in the luxury and freedom that WE,
those that are living and those that have gone on, have provided for
them. But, wait, that would take too much time, because there have
been so many willing to make that sacrifice.. After all, we will never
make millions of dollars. We will never star in movies, or write hit
songs that the world will listen too. We only shed our blood, sweat
and tears so that people can enjoy what they have..

Sorry if I have offended, but I needed to say it.
Remember these five words the next time you think of someone
who is serving in the military;

"So that others may live..."

AMEN Wiersay old mate....AMEN.

The other thing that annoyed the h3ll outa me was that his death completely overshadowed the passing of Farah Fawcett...yeah, I know, another entertainer...but she was streets ahead in the morality stakes.

Cheers, Vince

Bless them all!!!!

Good post wiersy111

Joe

I totaly agree with you Vince and Wiersy. A FREAK dies and the whole country comes to a stand still. A Soldier dies and it's like, oh well. He volunteered for it. Well it's atleast that bad for someone that's in Law Enforcement but yet, who is it that gets the call in the middle of the night because some FREAK is trying to get into thier home.

People call soldiers baby-killers, war mongers and are shown no respect.
Police officers get called stinking pigs and other such names.
But, where would we all be without them.

I gotta say that the people who don't respect the military, or law enforcement, are obviously too ignorant for their opinions to matter.

I think you have to blame the media somewhat for all the fuss about Jackson. They are the ones blasting his story into every home. And they are also the ones ignoring the good work that the military and law enforcement do. But let a soldier or cop screw up and they are all over it!

It is just to bad that our citizens have forgotten where their freedoms came from. And they also ignore the law enforcement that is there for 24/7. Our society takes everything for granted not realizing that the media only shows them the sensationalized stories.

I'm with you Hoffy it just pi33es me off to know end how selfish our good citizens are.

But we can stop every thing to mourn a millionaire freak.

Hoffy wrote:

Police officers get called stinking pigs and other such names.

I have a mate in Sydney who is a Police Officer. The "group" he worked with all wore the same t shirt...on the front it had a pig's head in a circle and emblazoned around the out side was:


They were very proud Police Officers, and with good reason.

Cheers, Vince

I hate it .Some guy who will be forgotten in ten years is getting more publicity than those who die for the cause of right and freedom.And that idiot was a rapist yet Congress tried to pass a honor bill yet the Medal of Honor winner's Inauguration ball Barrack thought was unimportant enough to skip attending . .

Pffft- you guys are lucky you don't live anywhere near the mayhem, as I'm forced to right now.

And- the big memorial? Seems "they" misapropriated about 1.5 million in funds for the big shebang and the city planners and more are being indited by the DA....

HA.

HA.

Bummer. Let's see 'um wiggle out of this one.

Ya'll wondered why the whole thing kinda dried up over night? In the same light as closing schools and laying off cops the press got the big brush off on this topic and was told to stfu about the whole thing so the mayor can sweep it under the rug.

Nice place, this L.A.
Man I wanna puke sometimes.

I live a mile from the Merchant Marine Memorial and other things of this nature in an old wartime town. An old oiler the S.S. LANE VICTORY is parked close by as a floating memorial as well.
I reflect on the sacrafice and just plain guts it took to do what was done 'back then' on everyone's part.
But people forget as our Greatest Generation age and are lost to time. I remember them and will never forget. Most now are too busy with i-phones and internet group hugs and all that useless garbage. Makes me wanna puke, again.

Mr. 111- copy on the Semper Fi & Never Forget.

Just as a side note here, I served my last tour in Iraq with the only company deployed from the 1-194 Armor in many many years. This alone won't mean much to most people until they learn of the 194's history. The 194 Armor is probably best remembered for their involvement in the Bataan Death March. Every year in Brainerd Minnesota there is a memorial march to honor those living and dead. There are people from all over the US that show up to spend a grueling day road marching. The most humbling part of the day is sitting down and talking to the few survivors that are left, hearing of there heroic struggles just to survive day to day.
The military is full of units rich in such history that is being forgotten because people are to busy to learn their heritage. Soon the survivors of WWII will be gone and a great piece of history will go with them. It will be a shame when the stories of common people with uncommon valor are lost to history books.

Weirsy, just last night I was thinking about my Dad's WW2 experiences.

"Well, what we want you to do is get in this plane that is so full of bombs and fuel that it might not get off the runway. By the way, we've nicknamed the plane "Widowmaker". If you get it off the ground you'll fly it through the most sophisticated anti-aircraft system in the world until you get to the target. Then you have to fly straight and level for a while so you can accurately drop the bombs. Should you make it back you get to try it again tomorrow.”

Dad flew 30 combat missions, all before he was 21 years old. Others flew many more. I don’t even know how you’d begin to put a value on that. Today we have our young people doing the same sorts of things in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. I find it really sad that it seems the average person today is totally unaware of all of this.

Today our society thinks it's a "sacrifice" being in an area for a weekend that doesn't have cell phone or internet service. While sitting in their 3 million dollar lake home. Sure the history books will have a generic small blurb recorded however the writer interpreted their research. But the personal accounts will be gone forever.