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America The Greatest Country on Earth
Ok, I've sat back and read this for nearly 3 weeks now, and despite nudges from several, I again (a la the "imigrants" thread) stayed silent to watch what happened, and was said.
As some of you know, I have a foot on each side of the border. I was born and (mostly) raised in Canada, as was 8 generations before me, however I have strong ties to the US. My father served, as did I, in the USMC, both as pilots, and I have a lot of family in the US.
Yes, America is a great country, is it the best? Well, that depends on who you ask. No different than asking "Which is the prettiest girl?, or Which is the best brand of pickup or tractor?" As the old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and even then it depends on badly he wants to be holdin' her....".
Would I go to war to defend the US, yes, I did, in Grenada, Operation Sudden Fury, was it the right thing to do? Don't know, I followed orders, period. Would I go to war for Canada, you bet your bippy I would, if the need arose!
News flash, NOTHING is free!! Not health care, not food, not shelter, not life itself, certainly not freedom itself!!
Are there waits for health care here, sure, sometimes, but if you need it it's there for you. Stories of people 'having' to go to the US for health care is just that, stories. Sure some people go, the ones who know better than their doctors do, and elect to pay out of pocket because they're too important to wait while a more serious commoner goes first. I had an MRI done, there was a 3 day wait, why it was a 3 day wait?, because they had to wait for my condiditon to stabilize first.
Canada, along with several others in the world, offer a great opportunity to those willing to take advantage of it, unfortunately, too many people want just that, to take advantage of it.
My final word, the BEST country, the one that affords YOU, it's protection, it's liberties, it's opportunities to raise your family in safety and security, and a happy & prosperous life, as one nation under God.
Quit bitching and do something to better this world.
Semper Fi.
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America The Greatest Country on Earth
WW, without stirring it up too much here, I have a little food for thought for you.....
Remember how you told me about one bad Dodge truck didn't mean they were all junk, wasn't that the yardstick you just used for Canada, one indignant Quebecer (who probably had a chip on their shoulder the size of Maine) means all Canadians are like that? Common now.
When you talk about 'token efforts' after Katrina, balance that out with us being roughly 10% the population of the US tooo, and that to us it was "foriegn aid" not "domestic relief", or that during the great ice storm of 1998 when we sent countless electric crews to the US to help with cleaning up the damage despite our own mess up here.
Likewise, ask anybody in the southern states, or along the I-95 or I-75 corridor, there is a long line of Canadian electric-utility trucks heading for the clean-up after each hurricane.
Or how about the Alaskan Highway, the DEW line and NORAD, how responsive do you think a country like Mexico would have been to projects like those?
Like it or not, Canada and the US are tied at the hip, their economies are interdependant, their tourism is, their manufacturing and even natural resources, water, electricity, oil & gas, are all 'southbound' commodities.
You could certainly have a worse neighbour.....
Best of luck.
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America The Greatest Country on Earth
WW, I think we're on the same page here then, sorry, I did get a different 'read' on it the second go through.
I think there's room for improvement BOTH sides of the border, no doubt about it!!
If you ever want to feel less "like a tourist" head to Newfoundland or most of the (rural) parts of the Maritimes. Real good people out there, they treat you like family and mean it!
BTW,  , I got a (re)broken nose from a squid at Quantico, and then broke a knuckle thanking him for it! Luckily for me a couple of SP's saw him take the first swing.
I got the same feelings for a Navy Rescue Swimmer who jumped from a helo to pick me up after I had to bail.
Best of luck.
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America The Greatest Country on Earth
, two things we're REALLY good at, driving in snow, and putting that last block of snow in the roof of the igloo!!
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America The Greatest Country on Earth
WW, a couple of small points here.
The US didn't enter WWI until well into the thrid year of the conflict, and mostly then because the Italians (who also had just recently joined the fight) were getting bruised some....
Most scholars agree that WWII really started with the Germans annexing Austria in March of 1938, however the fighting didn't really start until they invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. The US, while symapthetic, and happily selling armaments and food to Europe, didn't enter the war until Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbour in December 1941, better than 2 full years after the fighting began.
The bottom line? Most scholars agree, the main reason the Americans were victorious in almost every war they've fought was not so much because of their fighting ability, but the same reason the Soviet Union is a memory now, they were able to out-spend, and out-produce their enemies.
SG8NUC, I stop in NC all the time, I was at MCAS Cherry Point NC, beautiful area!!
Best of luck.
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America The Greatest Country on Earth
WW, I do know about that aspect of it, in fact one of my great-uncles was one of those pilots, that was what I was talking about with "...happily selling armaments and food to Europe...".
The term "volunteer" only applies to the way in which the men got there, they were not conscripts, they volunteered to go, but don't kid yourself, under the "Lend/Lease" program the US got PAID, and quite handsomely I might add, for every man, plane or truck that went over there.
As for the US doctrine of war, I think it was best summed up by John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961;
"Let every nation know...
whether it wishes us well or ill...
that we shall pay any price,
bear any burden,
meet any hardship,
support any friend,
oppose any foe,
to assure the survival and the success of LIBERTY".
Countries like Iraq & Afganistan WILL see liberty or a lot of good people will have died for nothing, and a lot more WILL die for even less reason!!!
Best of luck.
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America The Greatest Country on Earth
HF, let me try to explain it this way.
If you see a crime being committed, someone being robbed for instance, but it is not against you, YOU are not being robbed, do you ignore it, or try to stop it?
I would hope you would help that person, and am pretty sure you would.
So, a whole country is seized by a ruthless dictator who has no respect for the life, liberty or security of anyone but himself, do you ignore that too? Do you let him amass a vast fortune from oil sales, etc., with which to fund terrorism and possibly to attack you & your family?
I'm pretty sure your answer will still be to help out.
Best of luck.
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America The Greatest Country on Earth
WW, thank you.
Denis, the problem is, it's NOT the Iraqi's saying go home, this is not your fight, it's the pions of and zealots who are the remnants of the dictatorship!!!
Witness the recent highly succesful, but not widely reported because it wasn't sensational enough, raids and arrests made because of intel. given to the Allies by everyday people.
All you have to do is watch the news footage, look at all the happy people, cheering and welcoming the Allied forces, there are only a few insurgents, but that's all it takes to fill CNN's reports......
There's what? About 150,00 people (troops & Civilians) in Iraq now? So if "Iraq" doesn't want us there, why so (relatively) few deaths or even attacks?
JDCman, yes there have been, and continue to be some bad spots, but they are under pressure to change, just like Iraq was, Iran for example, and they can either change, or push their luck just a little too far like Saddam did.
Osama was fighting with weapons supplied by the US to try and drive out the Soviets.
The Shah of Iran was given a the only US Intaglio-type currency printing press. Want to guess where all the high quality conterfeit money is coming from?
While we're putting together this list, let's not forget other places like China, if they ever get thier Army on their bicycles and pointed towards the US be sure to say "Thank you come again!" like the nice man at Wally World that funded them does!!
Best of luck.
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