If yiu didn't fight in WW II.....

"Ragnar" wrote in message
...

Most people involved with those activities are trying to relive a "golden
age" of some sort. WW2 was the last "pure" war, with good and evil facing
off in a fight to the finish (yes, the Soviets weren't "good", but you get
the idea). Today's world is largely unsatisfactory to some people, and
instead of working to make it better, they try to relive the past.

Surely you jest. All war is an abomination and there is nothing "pure"
about it. You do what you have to do in a war and move on.

Tex Houston

Subject: If yiu didn't fight in WW II.....
From: "Tex Houston" 777
Date: 2/27/04 7:47 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


"Ragnar" wrote in message
...

Most people involved with those activities are trying to relive a "golden
age" of some sort. WW2 was the last "pure" war, with good and evil facing
off in a fight to the finish (yes, the Soviets weren't "good", but you get
the idea). Today's world is largely unsatisfactory to some people, and
instead of working to make it better, they try to relive the past.

Surely you jest. All war is an abomination and there is nothing "pure"
about it. You do what you have to do in a war and move on.

Tex Houston


AH a voice of reality.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

ArtKramr wrote:

If you didn't fight in WW II do you feel as though your had missed something?
Do you feel that given your druthers you'd rather have been there than not? Any
regrets at having missed it? Anyone?

Arthur Kramer

No regrets, Each era has its time..
someday history will be just that, History,
and hopefully learned & may it never be repeated.
101st Airborne (65-68)

I was born in 1923 and, when I was a kid, I was hugely interested in everything
I could get my hands on about WWI. To this day, I can probably dredge up
details about various land battles that today's youngsters don't even have a
clue about.

George Z.


Ragnar wrote:
"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...

I was born in 1963. Kind of assinine to feel that I "missed" something that
was over before I was borne.

Then how do you explain the fascination with WWII aircraft and flight
sims?

Most people involved with those activities are trying to relive a "golden
age" of some sort. WW2 was the last "pure" war, with good and evil facing
off in a fight to the finish (yes, the Soviets weren't "good", but you get
the idea). Today's world is largely unsatisfactory to some people, and
instead of working to make it better, they try to relive the past.

Art wrote:
Colin Powell said it, Not me. I guess he is the insulting old ****. Right?


Art, you have been asked to consider and clarify the time period that Powell
was talking about and you refuse to do so.
You are painting a couple of hundred years of the Militia with one broad stroke
(based on Powell's referal IIRC to a brief time frame of about 6 to 10 years).
The fact that some people (some not all) used the Guard as an avoidance of what
they considered an idiotic war is insulting to a lot of people who did their
job.
I wouldn't call you an insulting old f#*k, but at times you can be a
belligerent ass.
This time you are being a belligerent ass in the first degree.
And yes contacts help even in the advertizing business. You ever use any
influence? Ever call your Senator or Representative? Ever ask for a favor?
Next time I am going to ask for a clerk's job in MACV HQ or go for Club officer
at the local aerodrome.

Rick Clark
MFE

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 10:19:56 -0500, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:

And you think the "historical" input of a clown who cannot acknowledge that
the entire national Guard was mobilized and a goodly chunk of them already
were in the fight when he graduated from high school, and goes on to lable
those same personnel as "shirkers", has any real value? A guy who makes the
astonishing claim (repeatedly) that his outfit *never* missed its designated
target, despite the clear evidence that such results would have been
impossible during that time period? One who disparages the efforts of those
in his generation who served honorably and went where they were told, and
did what they were instructed to do, as being somehow of less value than his
own efforts? Sorry, but all of that adds up to a rather biased and
untrustworthy source IMO.

I don't disagree with all of your criticisms - he seems happy enough
to denigrate others and seems to lack the intellectual honesty to
apply the rather intolerant historical standards he applies to others
to himself, but on the other hand, warts and all, his views of his own
experience are important historical information, and should be
preserved.

His personal contribution to WW2 exists independently of all the
ephemeral usenet bitching, even when he is a primary instigator of the
same bitching.

Gavin Bailey

"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...

AH a voice of reality.

The troops is Iraq and Afghanistan are America's greatest generation.

"George Z. Bush" wrote in message
...
I was born in 1923 and, when I was a kid, I was hugely interested in
everything
I could get my hands on about WWI. To this day, I can probably dredge up
details about various land battles that today's youngsters don't even have
a
clue about.

Identical to Art's post 1945 knowledge.

(ArtKramr) wrote in message ...
If you didn't fight in WW II do you feel as though your had missed something?
Do you feel that given your druthers you'd rather have been there than not? Any
regrets at having missed it? Anyone?

I think I understand the onus of this question, and why people (as Art
mentioned) tell him "I wish I coulda been there". It's sort of the
latent desire to have been involved in a period of human strife that
was a turning point in history, brought on by some sort of deficit in
things to feel macho about. And I don't say that in derision, but it
is (it HAS to be) based in that Hollywood vision of what that war was
like, horrors and all. Take "Band Of Brothers" on HBO...the simple
title induces visions of quietly being heroes for each other in the
fields and villages against a common enemy. Men who weren't a part of
that (in any war, from WWII to Vietnam to today's conflicts) sometimes
wonder how they'd handle that situation, and I think it's safe to say
some think a little more highly of themselves than might be warranted.

Me personally, I can't say that I regret not having taken fire for my
country. If she asked, I would have, but she didn't, and my life's
course didn't steer me that way. But I honor those who did.

Subject: If yiu didn't fight in WW II.....
From: (Jeb Hoge)
Date: 2/27/04 9:55 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

(ArtKramr) wrote in message
...
If you didn't fight in WW II do you feel as though your had missed
something?
Do you feel that given your druthers you'd rather have been there than not?
Any
regrets at having missed it? Anyone?

I think I understand the onus of this question, and why people (as Art
mentioned) tell him "I wish I coulda been there". It's sort of the
latent desire to have been involved in a period of human strife that
was a turning point in history, brought on by some sort of deficit in
things to feel macho about. And I don't say that in derision, but it
is (it HAS to be) based in that Hollywood vision of what that war was
like, horrors and all. Take "Band Of Brothers" on HBO...the simple
title induces visions of quietly being heroes for each other in the
fields and villages against a common enemy. Men who weren't a part of
that (in any war, from WWII to Vietnam to today's conflicts) sometimes
wonder how they'd handle that situation, and I think it's safe to say
some think a little more highly of themselves than might be warranted.

Me personally, I can't say that I regret not having taken fire for my
country. If she asked, I would have, but she didn't, and my life's
course didn't steer me that way. But I honor those who did.



Thank you. Well said. Honest and forthright.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer