*WARNING: the following post may contain pure anger*
So apparently it's Armed Forces week. That's news to me! The last I heard was that Armed Forces day is Saturday 25th June (I hate myself for that unintentional advertising), and now all of a sudden there's a whole week dedicated to them!
Why? Seriously, why?
It makes me feel physically sick when people refer to members of the armed forces as "our heroes" and "our lads & lasses" or whatever other nauseating term that's been dreamt up. They are people doing a job. A dangerous job, yes, but firefighters and police officers (amongst others) also put their lives at risk in their line of work but they don't get a whole day (let alone an entire fucking week) dedicated to them!
There was a story on The One Show last week about a soldier who refused to go back to a war zone. He was suffering psychologically and probably would've put himself & others in danger by going back, but that didn't stop some idiotic woman from verbally abusing him for making that decision. I for one think he's much braver for standing up to his 'superiors' than blindly going back to war; the obligation to the armed forces is ridiculous and a real reason to despise them utterly. I'll say the same thing I said on Twitter at the time: a job's a job and you should be able to quit. That's not too much to ask is it?
I'm not normally happy when a complaint from the minority is listened to over the voice of the majority, but I was very pleased when I heard the news about some Armed Forces Day banners being taken down as some people think it glorified war - it's about time people who think the same thing as me get our opinion heard! It continues to astound me there is such unquestioning loyalty to people who are labelled as heroes as soon as they join up... And the soldiers like to think of themselves as "peacekeepers"! Violence doesn't solve anything in my book.
Given that I've grown up in a staunch Conservative area, in a house that receives the Daily Mail every morning, I think it's something of an achievement that I've not been sucked into the whole army worship thing... More a miracle, actually!
It feels like I'm constantly having to justify myself for holding this opinion - that's right, people judge ME for not supporting perpetuators of war. If ever there's evidence that we're living in a topsy-turvy world, that's it!
Obviously I welcome any opinions you may have, so comment away on here or Facebook/Twitter. Judge me if you like, but you'll only back up my point of view further!
