Why do I get flamed in the USA

[hussar]

for being a Northern Ireland veteran? jeez I was soldier doing my job after all

[commander bunnypants]

1. Hey Man

I would never flame a military person. I have to much respect. I would flame Bush all day long. But not you


DDQM

[wickerwoman]

16. No offense,

but that's not a very strong position.

You wouldn't flame a member of a South American death squad because they're a "military person"? A Nazi? I'm not arguing that British soldiers in Ulster are death squads or Nazis- merely that anyone with a gun and a uniform is a "military person" neither of which accesories seems to me to command instant respect.

Keep thinking this through.

[commander bunnypants]

37. Sheesh

Man, yuou are to literal. Of course I dont respect, Nazi'z, deathsquads, or the K'mer Rouge. But for the average soldier. Damn I respect them.

DDQM

[Blue_Chill]

2. I don't know

But that's a pretty cool dog in the picture.

[hussar]

5. I thought he was a stray so I adopted him

I've got loads of pics of him but it turned out he he had a home, he used to come into our camp and get scraps from the canteen, slept on my bed and went on patrol with me and the lads sometimes, he actually got wounded after a couple of rounds missed a patrol and he caught a bit of shrapnel, he was fine.

[supernova]

3. I don't know

What were your experiences? Not an invitation to flame, just curious. I haven't shared many threads with you.

I get flamed for being a liberal southerner. For some on DU, that's hard to take. :shrug:

[stanwyck]

7. Another liberal Southerner

although I was raised in the North. But I've been here 20 years and raised my two 20-year olds here. Lots of liberals here. We just need to raise our voices to be heard over the fundamentalists, flaggers, and good ole boys.

[hussar]

9. Oh I was in a bar

and some kid had some great, great, great grandparent that came from Ireland from the South at that, he just wanted a cause I think and wanted to have a go.

[supernova]

17. Sounds like

he was acting out on you. You were a place to vent, and shame on his grandpa for foisting that anger on him.

It wasn't you personally.

[hussar]

23. His sister dragged him away

and apologised for him, all was ok after that

[It was not a pretzel]

4. Do you really?

Don't ask me though, I'm British. I'm just surprised it is so. My closest neighbour did 2 tours in N.I. as a Royal Marine, one of those plains clothes, I think he was involved with the people who brokered the peace deal.

[hussar]

13. Seems like a lot of people

in the US have Irish blood in them, the Vietnam vets at least get some recognition while our own goverment doesn't even recognise us as they don't want to admit it was a war.

[Byronic]

6. No flame from me!

I salute you sir. Thank you for your service.

[mhr]

8. Flame The Leaders, Not The Soldiers!

Soldiers are only sent where their leaders tell them to go.

Soldiers do not set policy, civillians do!.

The Blame, The Scorn, The Outrage, and The Anger should be directed toward the top never the bottom!

[wickerwoman]

10. Something like 1 in 4 Americans have Irish ancestors

and since many of them were discriminated against in the US as well as in Ireland they can tend to over-romanticize the old country.

The IRA gets most of its funding from the US whether we want to admit it or not.

I'm 7/8ths Irish and I went through my militant nationalist phase like a lot of Irish-American teenagers do in a half-assed way. Very few adult Irish-Americans support the IRA or would really go out of their way to flame you for serving in Ulster.

I wouldn't flame you for doing your job. I would flame you if you tried to argue that that job was a just or righteous thing (maybe- it's pretty early in the morning :-)). You're the one who has to live with it, however, and flaming the foot soldiers isn't going to improve the situation over there.

[hussar]

15. Exactly to the point

Thankyou for putting that across so well

Peace

[It was not a pretzel]

27. I dunno

something tells me there is no getting over the fact that most people in N.I. want to be part of the U.K.

I don't want to start a flamewar but that's how I felt as a chickenhawk back in the 80's and that's pretty much how it remains.

If and when the people of N.I. want to be re-untited with Ireland then they should be.

[wickerwoman]

32. You have to look at the historical context.

There is no such place as "Northern Ireland" and no ethnic group called the "Northern Irish". The entire "country" was created to encompass the 6 counties where the nationalist Irish did not have a clear majority- if you look at a map Donegal is the northernmost county of Ireland but isn't part of Nothern Ireland. Why not? It has a majority Catholic population.
The fact is that the land of Ulster (the richest in Ireland) was stolen 600 years ago and deliberate genocidal policies brought to bear on its population. It's majority Protestant because the Catholics were killed or pushed out in swampland and starved.
So I think you're on shaky ground for several reasons when you talk about the will of the "people of N.I."
Take a vote among all the Irish and it is clear that Ulster should be a part of the Republic of Ireland. Just asking the people who live in Northern Ireland is like trying to conduct a scientific experiment after first limiting the sample size to cases that you are pretty sure will prove your theory.

[It was not a pretzel]

34. i don't disagree but based on the fact of what people

wanted 600 years ago would lead to an awful lot of bloodshed all over the world, not only within Europe but within your own country too.

[wickerwoman]

38. That line of argument oversimplifies the issue.

Independance is something that is desired today by the majority of Irish people (regardless of where they happened to be living in 1922.) It's not simply some 600 year old beef- it continues to exist today.
Additionally, I'm not convinced that the majority of English people want to hang on to Northern Ireland either. What you have is a small number of people (Ulster Unionists) who are desperate to hold onto every shred of their unfairly gained wealth and power in Northern Ireland thwarting the will of a much larger group of people. Arguing that this situation exists elsewhere in the world doesn't really negate the basic injustice in this case.

[CanuckAmok]

11. Can't please everybody...

I get hassled because I was overseas with the UN, even though we were trying to diffuse conflicts, not cause them.

Sorry you had to carry an FN, too--heaviest eleven pounds ever made.

[Vespasian]

12. Is that a beer helmet?

You rascally Irish soldiers, drinking on the job!

Just kidding. :D

[hussar]

18. Na but it helped deflect the bottle and bricks

on some occasions......peace

[Kamika]

14. Bunch of Irish here

they are pretty pro IRA

[hussar]

19. Good point

liked your pic BTW

[Screaming Lord Byron]

20. As shown in that IRA terrorists / freedom fighters thread.

for god's sake no one ever ask that again

[WoodrowFan]

36. for the right price I Won't

for the right price i won't post a poll asking who is the biggest terrorist.... the IRA, the Serbs in Kosovo, or Nadar.
heh heh heh

[CanuckAmok]

39. Hmmm...where's my PayPal account info...? n/t

[HEyHEY]

21. Ignorance

People just lookin' to lash out at authority

[CanuckAmok]

24. HEyHEY, you think you know everything!

Sorry, just putting the 'jerk' in 'kneejerk reaction' :+

[HEyHEY]

28. You just saying that because I do

;-)

edit; What's an FN?

[Zero Gravitas]

30. FN = rifle

[Screaming Lord Byron]

22. Speaking as someone from Irish Republican stock. I salute you.

You had a job to do. A job no one should have to do, but no flames from me. I'm just sorry you had to get in the way of our nasty dispute.

[hussar]

25. Thanks

I am older and wiser now and see things in a different light, hope it works out over there but I'm not holding my breath - peace

[SiobhanClancy]

26. I don't blame you..

any more than I blame our guys in Iraq right now. That's all I'd better say about this:)
Take Care.

[JVS]

29. Because people suck.

[Skittles]

31. me mum's a Brit

and I'm a USAF veteran; you won't hear it from me. So what was your name for the dog, and do you know what his real name was? LOL, what a mooch. :D

[hussar]

33. I called the dog "king"

Don't ask me why I thought he was a stray and I was going to take him back to the UK, got all his jabs and bought him a collar and leash etc. He went walkabouts as he often used to do and came back with his owners address written on the collar I had put on him, turns out he was from one of the deadliest housing estates across the road from the camp where many soldiers had been killed.

Funny thin, he used to go ape(mad) when he saw a policeman, he hated them, I got bitten by a dog on my first tour in 77 after being surrounded by 4 of them, the pic is from my 2nd tour in 79

[WilliamPitt]

35. Buncha Irish in America think they know what the war was all about

They don't. They can't.