Spring RTS Engine

...the Army drives stuff I find important to society -- it's fucking defense against all the nutjobs on the fucking planet!

Yeah, this is truth. If only we didn't need it...

but we do, so there's no sence whining about it.

Exactly. It would be nice if we didn't need to do it, but we do need to do it. Failing to would cause much, much more suffering than is being caused now.

More military power in US -> larger threat to the world -> more military power in other countries -> larger threat to the US -> more military power in US ...
-> extiction.

When will humans ever learn. The key to peace is mutual respect and understanding. Not mutual assured destruction!
Forgive me for saying this, but saying "Military power can keep the world peace" is like saying "When you are flying, dive down to avoid crashing the ground because the ground will dodge you to avoid being hit by your plane".

EDIT: And yes, espylaub is right. Soldiers, no matter in which country, are expendable killing machines. Reality is harsh. Don't be fooled by your government.

We'll stop building our military when we cease to have people threatening us. I.E. NEVER

Exactly Decimator. You think Bush chose to go to war? You think he woke up one day and said "Gee, I feel like invading someone today." If thats what you think you're nothing more than a weak minded communist who eats 3 meals of liberal bullshit a day. Nobody asked for this shit except for Osama and Saddam, and now that they've asked for it we're sure as hell going to deliver. Or would you rather be a smoking crater or being shipped off to extermination camps by those fucked up extremist lunatics? Because if that's what you want I invite you to get the fuck out of this country and go live in Iran or North Korea. Then you can tell us all how its better over there.

Sadly, it's true. I am not specifically saying that the US alone is the cause of every conflict. But the point is, if you change your attitude towards other countries, that is, instead of tagging them as "evil axis" and invading them, why can't you be friend with them and have negotiation? I mean, they are not barbarians. They don't hate someone for no reason They only hate you because of what you have done to them. Your government has done so much to made their people suffer from hunger and poverty, by economical or political means, for decades. That's why they hate you. That's why your government has to rely on militay power to try to evade the potential karma.
War IS the solution to everything, only after everything else had failed.

And why would you make a connection between peace-lover with communist? Is that because you agree that communists are peace-lovers?
I don't think they have a direct relationship. XD

??

Bwansy.. What the hell do you mean!?

Evil Axis we labeled them, cuz they

1: Suicide attack on our damn harbor!
2: Blew our passenger ships up, with u-boats!
3: Tried to get Mexico to invade and take back Texas!

I honestly don't need to go on, if you were referring to WWII in some way...

That's a bunch of bullcrap. I haven't done a god damned thing to any Arab or North Korean and yet there they are sending suicide bombers to kill all of us and developing nuclear weapons to turn America into a wasteland. Is that what you want? And this isn't some bullcrap attempt to sell you a lie -- I'm no democrat. This is what those people say themselves. You think we can "negociate" with osama bin laden, the man who send 19 people to die and kill 3,000 of us? You think we can "negotiate" with a man like Kim Jong Il who has absolutely no guilt in executing the entire adult population of a town? If you think it's possible, how about you go pay Osama a visit, ask him for peace, and IF we ever see you again (in one piece) you can tell us how it goes. For now, there are thousands of terrorists trying to kill us and we're sure as hell not going to put our weapons down because you seem to think that doing so is suddenly going to make these fucking lunatics magically not want to exterminate our entire country.

A Communist is someone who will act however they fancy to get us to relax our defenses, so they can strike at us when we're unarmed.

Don't be a fool. How do you negotiate with those who want to kill you? Tell them to wait ten years? These people are insane. What exactly do you suggest? They want us DEAD! If somebody is loading a gun in front of you, telling you they're going to kill you, take your money, rape your wife, and then sell your children as sex slaves, tell me, oh great one, what exactly should you do?

By the way, we'll assume that you had some sense and have a loaded gun.

This is exactly what American soldiers had done to Iraqi civilians. And what did they do> They stroke back! And got killed by the soldiers!

Decimator wrote:These people are insane.

It is exactly this thought that made the problem unsolvable. Again, they are NOT barbarians! They don't hate someone for no reason. They are humans. Just like you and me.
To Snipa: George W Bush IS refering Northt Korea and Iraq as "evil axis".

1) Struck back, I believe you mean, struck back.

and 2) Iraqi civy's are in a hard position. On the one hand, you have Saddam-fuckinginsaneoverlord-Hussein (who, coincidentally, is going to be hung from his neck till his feet stop kicking. Yay!) on the other hand, you have the American soldiers who are surrounded by hundreds of innocent civy's...with one terrorist who looks exactly like every other civy...until he pulls a gun/bomb/knife on you. Its a horrible HORRIBLE situation, only exasperated by the single soldier in a hundred who is a fucktard and has to do something incredibly stupid. The soldiers, amazingly enough, are human too and make MISTAKES!

The people, on the whole, are not insane. I have no doubt that the average terrorist is as balanced/unbalanced as the rest of us. Then this thing I like to call 'religiosity' comes in and they become puppets to be used by the VERY insane leaders of said terrorist cell.

Only problem is the Middle East is not the only place struck by 'religiosity'. America has a fair dose of that too. Religiosity, by its very nature, is unpredictable. Sometimes it can be used for good. Sometimes it can be used for bad. Osama-Bin-Laden is definitely using it for BAD!

Um...

My best friend, DRB, is in the Army National Guard, and did a tour in Afghanistan.

Based on his experiences and my own, I have several things to say, if you're considering the military:

1. Basic is every bit as nasty as people say it is. But that's the point. If you can't handle Basic, then you sure can't handle getting shot at. The U.S. military, being all-volunteer, is pretty selective about recruits. If you can pass the physical requirements... Basic is there to test the mental ones. There is lots of silly, monotonous crap involved- whoever said stuff about the bedroll-folding, etc., is right on. You're not constantly doing evolutions or shooting weapons- 99% of the time, you're doing something very boring- or you're doing PT.

2. The U.S. military is not exactly right-wing, politically. While it is quite true that many people in the military are very proud that they are serving their country, and are willing to do what is necessary to protect our freedoms, and the rest of that patriotic stuff... that doesn't mean they're robotic idiots. While the military certainly does "program" people during Basic, it's not like it changes your fundamental beliefs about what is Good and what is Evil. And, since a lot of people join the Army because they are genuinely interested in a career of military service, you get all types- so long as they aren't avowed pacifists and can take orders when it actually matters My advice is... keep your mind open. Assume nothing. Observe. It's just like everything else in life- if you assume things, you tend to miss the obvious.

3. The Army will, generally speaking, do whatever the Army thinks is best. Given that you're a very smart guy, that may or may not mean "playing with explosives". Contrary to popular belief... while you will certainly get to fire rifles and use some grenades, etc., you really don't get to play with a lot of weapons in the Army unless the Army is planning to use you in combat as an infantryman. If you manage to qualify for Ranger School... you'll get to play with explosives... but don't be too surprised if the Army decides it would rather teach you to fix electronics or something.

4. Take the time... and read up as much as possible about the Army's special programs, offers, and rules. There are a lot of goodies available to smart soldiers and to veterans that most troops don't even know about. Knowing the rules about how you get assigned a Specialty, for example, is very handy- and so is knowing about the various Schools, etc. In short... the Army can be a very interesting place, where you can learn a lot of awesome stuff and do cool things... or it can be a dead-end job that doesn't pay very well, is extremely boring, and at best is good because when you get done you get all kinds of benefits, your bills were paid during your service so you have lots of money saved up... and you have a neat uniform, which girls like

5. Anybody who thinks combat is glorious is an idiot. When you have actually been shot at, you'll understand.

Well thank god I'm not joining the US Army, then. Here in Canada our army is absolutely desperate for recruits (we have 1/10th the population of the US but our army is 1/100th the size of the US Army) and I'm going in for straight-up Infantry Reserve, and even if I weren't, here in Canada basic training, which ALL military personelle have to go through, involves training with everything from grenades to pistols, M4 carbines, M249 SAWs, M60 Machineguns, Carl G RPGs, Eryx missiles, explosives, pyrotechnics and mortars.

LOLz... I forgot you were from that red-leafy-place up north.

At any rate... given that Canada is... er... how do I put this... not exactly spending a lot've money on its armed forces... I will be super-surprised if you get to do much more than play with an M16 and throw a few grenades in Basic

Remember, all that stuff costs money. Especially stuff like Carl Gs, etc.- you will not get to play with it unless they really intend you to use it, unless the Canadian armed forces is a lot more willing to spend money on its troops during training than I suspect it is. But, meh- maybe they train everybody to use everything there, just in case a truck driver needs to operate a crew-served ATGM

At any rate, let us know how that works out when you get back from Basic, and good luck

To Zoombie: Right. But it doesn't explain why would the soldiers rape a 14-year-old girl before killing her whole family. And sorry for my poor english. (Yes, from my name you can know I am not from an English-speaking country. Also I am neither on the American side nor Middle-East side. I am totally an outsider to this war.)
To Argh: Thank you for telling this. You woke me up. I hope that the other persons would give up their assumptions about other pepole too.
To Spiked: Why didn't you explain you are Canadian? Sorry for assuming that you were an American. Canada is much better. However, I still hope that you can give up your racism. Listen to Argh's advice: open your mind.
EDIT: P.S. Willing to serve your country is always good, no matter which country you are in. I respect your decision, and I just wanted to give you some advice. I am really sorry for turning this into a flame war. Have a good time protecting your country.
EDIT2: Doesn't pyrotechnics mean fireworks? Yeah, the army definitely needs celebration sometimes.

I'm sorry, but my mind is going to stay more firmly shut than a bear trap to those who want me dead. Wait, I lied, I'm not sorry.

Remember my bit about fucktards (IE sonofabitches that do things like rape a 14 year old girl and murdur her entire family)?

Well people like that, thank God (If he exsists), are the exception NOT the norm. Most soldiers in the army are good people, as Argh points out. People who do things like THAT are NOT good people. They are people who deserve to be punsihed to the full extent of the law. And if the people who did things like that are not in jail (or dead) then the Army has some serious problems.


I have to say I really hate people who have to ruin for everyone. Like the bastards who tourchered those prisioners (I forget their names). When soldiers do that, people (despite most evidence on the contray) start to think ALL soldiers are evil or bad. They're not, damn it, they're not!

Edit: And don't feel bad about the english. I can barely speak Spanish, which I've spent...five years trying to learn... Five, damn it!

Of course not all of the soldiers are pervert. On the other hand I hope that people would understand that not all the Iraqi are insane terrorists.

To Deci: If I were you I would be the same, but keep in mind that not all the Iraqis and Koreans want you dead. Only the terrorists, which is the very minority, do.

Thumbs up! I only hate terroists, not Iraqies.

A not so subtle difference.