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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nihil who wrote (53213)	7/10/2000 10:30:25 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71178

Spoken like someone in his 60's. Try to remember what it's like to be a teenager. Boys join the military because it's a step up for them, in terms of prestige. They get to wear pretty uniforms and impress the girls. What you perceive as waste they perceive as glory. Sure, the Marine Bands and the Blue Angels are unnecessary - it's also probably a waste of the taxpayers money to bury anyone with the requisite service at Arlington Cemetery, and give their families a flag. But it makes people proud to be Americans, and that's a good thing, I think. You could probably say that the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian, and so forth, are also wastes of the taxpayers' money - and the national parks, and the National Weather Service, on and on. Why waste money preserving the Liberty Bell and the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner? Why not pave over the Reflecting Pool, it would make great office space? So would Ellis Island. And while we are at it, chop down those cherry trees, we can use them for firewood. Sell Manassas Battlefield to Disney so they can build a theme park. I am sure you can come up with more suggestions.

To: nihil who wrote (53213)	7/10/2000 10:31:20 AM
From: Crocodile	Respond to of 71178

Well, things are pretty much the same or worse up here... aging equipment and weapons... poor pay... not enough troops to handle the heavy demand for Canadian forces to do peace-keeping missions... "impossible missions" where soldiers are required to play Sitting Duck to rebel snipers.. Add to this search and rescue choppers that are so old and decrepit that they invariably go on fire or crash on the way to land and sea rescues and that = low morale...

To: nihil who wrote (53213)	7/11/2000 12:44:28 AM
From: JF Quinnelly	Respond to of 71178

Any nation that will not pay its fighting men enough to live deserves contempt. They'll figure that out after the next big war. I don't think I agree with your idea of merging all of the services. Marines are really lightly armored fast attack forces, and they go in first before the Army can mobilize its heavier equipment. It's a different job, they have to be more intensely trained. And Naval aviators are always going to need to be trained for carrier landings unlike Air Force pilots, no matter what uniform you have them wear. The aircraft will be different. There's size limits on carrier based aircraft that ground based planes don't have. And Marine pilots, like the few Army pilots, are trained in ground-support, something the other services won't stress.