Without straddling either side of the fence too hard, but I’ll come right out & say I’d prolly consider myself more liberal than conservative, but bear in mind that I agreed wholeheartedly with a lot of Reagan’s concepts in the 80’s in my high school years, I think this country needs to be defended, that we have to splat a certain amount of money on defense and the military, that we have to be wary of foreign powers which may be conspiring against us, yes, this is all well & good, BUT, this must, MUST, be tempered with a clear and referenced viewpoint on what the hell we are actually doing.
Ok, let me slow down here. Reflect on what I am saying. Have a sip of rum. Ah yes, the learning. I take very seriously the proliferation of these ribbon bumper stickers on every other car. And that’s in Hawaii, with a very very high percentage of military population. But, be that as it may. There is a very noticeable, and admirable (on the surface, and potentially deeper) attitude that although whatever we may think of the politics behind the war, we should support the troops wholeheartedly, and I fully agree with this, but part of me wonders if it’s dangerous. How can we be totally subjective to the situation when the pro-war faction can hold over our heads the sacrifice of the troops, the work they are doing, etc.? hmmm, I seem to be getting into dangerous waters.
Anyway, I really hope to hell someone out there understands the point I’m trying to make in an extremely roundabout way. The relevance of the movie, first blood, being, that, in the 70’s, in the aftermath of Vietnam, we were more than ready to shit all over veterans if they looked “shady” or “unkempt” and this was in light of the fact that politically the majority of the population, despite the overwhelming successes of pro-war factions, at least on a presidential level, during the war years, although they didn’t always run on such platforms, was largely against the war. And they expressed this opinion in the disgusting displays of violence and/or shabby treatment (which continues to this DAY, go take a tour of a veteran’s hospital) of Vietnam vets, and it just got me wondering, are we headed toward the same type of archetype in 5, 10, 15, however many years, with a large section of the population amongst us that gave so much to this foreign war that was or was not a success, and will that indicate any type of reflection on their ability to deal with society & how will society and the government deal with them moving forward?
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Remember, Rambo killed himself
2 - gonzo marx
it comes ot this week from the Veterans Affairs Committe that they have gotten confirmation from the White House about being over a billion dollars short this year...they were told a mistake in the budget
CNN interviews with some of the committee members show that they asked the WH during the budget process about what they saw as a coming shortfall in funding..
this past week, when asked, the WH said they would make it up from the VA's budget for maintenance and upkeep...problem there, the entire mainenance and upkeep budget totaled about $750 million...no where near enough to cover the over a billion shortfall
nice way for an Administration to treat our troops, eh?
make certain you let your elected federal Representatives know that you support those troops and want them to get the very BEST in health care...just like they were promised when they signed up
nuff said?
Excelsior!
3 - berkeley joe
hey aaman, was that in the book version or Rambo III, cuz honestly, I never read the book and can't remember what slash possible never say rambo III.
I was watching the "ultimate" dvd today of first blood, though, and there is an "alternate ending" in which rambo kills himself, via colonel Troutman.
4 - berkeley joe
i meant to say I possibly never SAW rambo III
5 - SFC SKI
In the book he kills himself.
The "crazy vet" archetype was a tremendous slander of the Vietnam vet, I hope we won't see it repeated for Iraq and Afghanistan war vets.
6 - Dave Nalle
Unlike the later Rambo movies, First Blood was actually quite a well written and skillfully directed film, and Stallone actually turns in a decent performance, probably his best aside from Rocky I.
As for the issue of how we treat our vets, there's nothing wrong with treating them decently even if you don't like the war they were in. It's their service and sacrifice you're recognizing, not the decisions made by their leaders.
Dave
7 - Aaman
He kills himself in the book version, and in the ending you refer to. THis ending was shown to test audiences, but the reactions were too visceral, and so it was reshot - thus you might call it the 'real ending'.
I reviewed it last year
8 - jstakes
i'm pretty sure iraq war vets will be treated much better than vietnam vets were-- on the surface.
kinda like how it is now. sayin nice things but not really showin it in actions.
those that have trouble reassimilating and have need for some quality mental health services after it's all over, well. good luck to them.
9 - Victor Plenty
Maybe the Scientologists will patriotically offer free testing and treatment to all the returning veterans who bring back mental health problems from the hell they've been through.
10 - MCH
One of the great ironies of our country is that such draft dodgers like Sylvester Stallone (student deferments) and Rush Limbaugh (student deferments, medical deferment for a pimple on his keester) have been able to become multi-millionaires by pretending to be patriots; while many of the truly courageous patriots (who weren't able to buy their way out of the war and actually fought the battles in Vietnam) are homeless and living in cardboard shacks, suffering from PTSD, nightmares, drug addictions, etc, etc...
11 - johnny
I am so dissappointed that I wasted the moments of my life that it took to read your post. I actually wanted to waste more so that I could explain why. First, you should learn how very difficult it is for a reader to understand you when you are arguing with yourself. You actually interupted yourself. That's amazing. Not to mention a series of broken thoughts loosely held together by conjunctions in order to pawn them off as some kind of complete thought. You offered no opinion, yet simply asked conflicting questions. I think you may have had a decent point somewhere in there and I hope you can someday articulate yourself more effectively.