Opinion - America Must Keep A Strong Military

However, we must get out of the war business. We do not have to be in an ongoing war.

(NEWBURGH, Indiana) - The recent assassination of a British soldier walking down a street in London was a despicable act. He proudly wore his country's uniform and for that he gave his life.

Most of us are very proud of our military. We should be. Without our armed forces we would not be the free country we are today.

America must keep a strong military. Our sons and daughters put everything on the line for our country. We should stand strong with them.

We must keep a strong number of soldiers. We never want the world to look at us with the perception that we have a weak military. Currently we have a small Navy, (Russia is on the move building a super Navy) and a small Air Force. The Army and Marines are tired and stressed out because too few are being asked to do too much. We need a larger pool of service men and women to do the work they are being asked to do. We could certainly use some of them just to protect our own borders.

However, we must get out of the war business. We do not have to be in an ongoing war. Congress should always vote and declare war if America is involved in the war. We then should go in and get the job done. Fighting wars for five and 10 years is too long.

Deployments of our soldiers are generally too long. Fifteen months is too long. For the sake of our soldiers and their families we must eliminate 15-month tours. No tour of duty should ever be longer than 12 months, but I am in favor of a nine-month tour. Nine months is a long time to be away from family. This would reduce stress and give our military hope of being able to emotionally survive. Too many soldiers return back from deployment emotionally shattered to marriages that are stressed to the max. A nine or six-month tour would be better than a 12-month tour.

Our service men and women deserve our best support while they are in the service and then we should help them as they transition back to civilian life. Every service person should have civilian life boot camp before they are released from the military. They should leave with a fine-tuned resume featuring their education and skills they learned while in service. The basics of how to find job openings and preparing to interview for a job opening should be taught. A plan of how to return to civilian life and go forward with an active life should be addressed. This might help keep some of our veterans off the street. It is sad that we live in a nation where so many of our former service people live on the streets of America. There are different reasons for this but it should never be because we did not help transition soldiers back to everyday life. We must take care of our veterans with continued support for their college education, health care insurance and benefits that were earned while in service to our nation.

It is my prayer that we never have to use our military in another war. I would love to see our nation never lose another person on the battleground. We should never enter into any kind of war without the consent of Congress. When we do enter into any kind of conflict it should be quickly carried out. When we are finished we need to leave. The long drawn out years of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan should never have occurred and could have been completed in a shorter time period.

Salem-News.com's Glenn Mollette is the author of American Issues and hundreds of other articles and books. A resident of Newburgh, Indiana, Glenn is a national columnist, author of ten books and hundreds of stories, articles and features. His most recent book is American Issues, Every American Has An Opinion.

These books are titled, "Silent Struggler, A Caregiver's Personal Story" and "Nursing Home Nightmares, America's Disgrace"

He is originally from Martin County, KY where Lyndon Johnson began his campaign on poverty. Hear him each Sunday night on XM radio 131 at 8 EST.

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Vic May 27, 2013 11:12 am (Pacific time)

Right on Bill !!!

pinkfloyd May 25, 2013 10:02 am (Pacific time)

Wish I could write a novel, it would be more convincing, but here are the main points. 1. As mentioned in another post here, all wars are banker wars, they have nothing to do with our freedom, it more has to do with our slavery. Sorry to vets, I love ya and I am one also. And Bill is correct, vets are not being taken care of at all. 2. The muslims flooding Europe is no different than the hispanics flooding the U.S. I have NO problems with muslims nor hispanics, but this was all planned by the bankers long ago, for their continued plan over generations for world domination. They knew the flooding in of immigrants would cause chaos, but thats their M.O. Cause the chaos and come in as referee and save us all. With THEIR agenda. 3. There is no stopping this now, people have been apathetic much too long, the education system is nothing more than indoctrination, and people seem to love their tv's. and I see not only in Europe, but in the U.S. massive chaos in the near future. 4. They are fibbing about the economy. If it wasnt for the foreign banker owned federal reserve bank printing money (our tax money and our childrens tax money), to jack up the stock market and buy mortgage backed securities (they are printing 100 billion a month), the economy would collapse tomorrow making 2008 look like Disneyland. It cant last, and I dont know if it will be a few months or a few years, but its not far off. Thus, the massive push for a police state, via department of homeland security, and the TSA. Either sticking their hands down our pants, or making unwarranted arrests via the patriot act and the NDAA, that was not birthed for muslims, it was birthed for the American people when they find out how badly they have been lied to...As bush said "if the American people knew what we were doing, we would all be tarred and feathered". And obama took the baton from bush, sorry if this sounds racist, but it does seem as tho blacks can run faster than white people. 5. Buckle up, we are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy. 6. The only time Jesus got mad is when he violently turned over the tables of the money changers (bankers).. Satan took Jesus to top of the hills, and offered Him all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus said no, the rothchcild banking cartel said "pick me pick me"

Ralph E. Stone May 25, 2013 7:39 am (Pacific time)

Anonymous, maybe we need a Muslim Control Act like the Communist Control Act of 1954, which was created during the period of the Second Red Scare (1946–1954). The Act was one of many bills drafted with the intention of protecting America from the potential threat posed by the international Communists. During this time, some argued that the pursuit of subversive aims even by peaceful means should [have been] outlawed.” Thus, many opposed Communism because of its supposed “subversive aim” to undermine democracy. With a Muslim scare, we can continue to enact and keep those repressive laws and maintain a strong army to meet the Muslim threat.

Ronald von Pirch May 24, 2013 10:02 pm (Pacific time)

I agree that the Muslims will not take over the USA, but in some countries in Europe they are on the best way to do so. It is their declared plan to do so and they declare this in public. It is a long therm plan in it will be solved just by overpopulation. All their comments you can find in the Internet. Here is one from Germany : We will overtake this country and not a single shot will be fired. There are similar comments from administration officials who are Muslims. I agree that the most people on earth are peaceful and just want to live in peace, whatever their religion may be. That does not change what is going on worldwide. You can not discuss with religious fascists whatever their religion might be. By the way : Maybe the Muslims can not found a new party in USA but in Germany they can if they want to do so. They can be elected and can rule the state. It is just a question of how many they are inside the country. The Sharia is just two generations ahead there.

Bill Annett May 24, 2013 2:54 pm (Pacific time)

As an ex-G.I. who lost a brother in WWII and whose father took a bullet at Vimy Ridge, I'm getting a little tired of this "defending our freedom" crap. At least the last four of our wars have been about anything but. Yes, we should have a nominal army, navy, marine corps and air force, but $750 billion worth is a little much, espedcially since there's nobody left big enough to fight. Let's give less to the peacetime generals in the Pentagon with their ten rows of fuit salad, including their marksmanship medals, and a little more to the VA, where true combat veterans are often homeless and still paying co-pays.

Anonymous May 24, 2013 1:01 pm (Pacific time)

This British soldier no doubt offended the Muslim gentlemen and got what he had coming as per Sharia Law. It's time Christians come to the understanding that they need to convert to Islam or face Allah's wrath. This goes for all other religions and/or ideologies that do not embrace Islam. President Obama will soon come before the world with Eric Holder to declare America as an Islamic land to now come under the Caliphate.

Nope. There is as much contrast among Muslims as there is between the Ecumenical Ministries and the Westboro Baptist Church. Most Muslims are peace loving people, they have bad representatives, they are called Wahhabi and/or Salafist, and they are the people the United States funds and supports, the same people our military fought in Iraq. Yes the Unites States and Obama are messed up, yes Sharia law is a ridiculous abomination of political rule, but no, the Muslims are not taking over western countries.

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Opinion - America Must Keep A Strong Military

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