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Depressing or whichever, I'm ex-mil so it has a variety of extra overtones to me Isaac Send a noteboard - 05/09/2013 05:54:28 PM

Every battalion banner, or guidon, in the US army gets 3 foot streamers attached for each campaign the unit was in and a lot of the older units that are still extant have guidons that look like fucking maypoles. There's 187 for the Army and 32 pre-date the Civil War, nor do they spew one out casually, Panama and Grenada both have one but most of those post 1970 actions I listed don't, sometimes because it was a marine or air force action, others just because it was too insignificant, of those 187 only 47 are post WWII and 20 added post-Vietnam. We didn't suddenly become more war like after we smashed the Axis. We have a lot more minor conflicts and a lot less major ones mostly for two simple reasons. 1) We're a world spanning empire with investments in and people from everywhere so we take an interest, 2) Communications and travel are very fast. Which basically just means very few conflicts can occur in which we can't claim some realistic interest in the outcome and lack the ability to intercede in. The world is very peaceful these days, partially because the US and various allies or rivals stamp down on necks when things start getting out of hand. It's not always done very well and I'm not advocating attacking Syria but the net effect of our warmongering has been a decided drop in overall war-spawned deaths. Let's not oversimplify things to imply we just got bored and attacked various places without cause.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein

King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
This message last edited by Isaac on 05/09/2013 at 05:56:15 PM
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It depresses me to realize that not a single decade of my life has passed without US military action - 05/09/2013 07:28:39 AM 1104 Views
Yup, well said. *NM* - 05/09/2013 12:35:14 PM 296 Views
That's not even a vaguely complete list - 05/09/2013 01:11:25 PM 930 Views
Which makes this even more depressing? (and yes, many were more police actions) *NM* - 05/09/2013 04:58:24 PM 376 Views
Depressing or whichever, I'm ex-mil so it has a variety of extra overtones to me - 05/09/2013 05:54:28 PM 669 Views
You're absolutely right. The world is pretty peaceful today. In part due to US power. - 05/09/2013 06:36:05 PM 649 Views
China? Burma? North Korea? Mexico? - 06/09/2013 08:42:48 AM 701 Views
Oppressive governments =/= violent movements - 06/09/2013 08:03:45 PM 726 Views
What a pile of horseshit you're throwing around... - 05/09/2013 03:02:44 PM 656 Views
Yes, I was going off of memory *NM* - 05/09/2013 04:57:21 PM 362 Views
On Qi I vaguely recall - 05/09/2013 07:58:35 PM 812 Views
Fairly plausible; way to put it in the right perspective - 05/09/2013 10:34:30 PM 656 Views
By 'right' do you mean right as correct or right as in political stance? *NM* - 05/09/2013 10:56:59 PM 418 Views
Accurate, valid; no political or moral connotation was meant. - 05/09/2013 11:10:15 PM 705 Views
Ah, ok. Sometimes in topics like this its hard to tell. *NM* - 05/09/2013 11:35:25 PM 445 Views
Truth - 06/09/2013 01:13:49 AM 546 Views

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