← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Jack Cassidy
Thread ID: 17586 | Posts: 17 | Started: 2005-03-31
2005-03-31 23:48 | User Profile
I was hoping for an appropriate thread to post my goodbye on so I wouldn't have to do it in this egotistical way, a vanity post. And I needed to do it before April 1 for reasons that will be obvious.
I've been watching this war in Iraq and I have felt a little guilty. All the euphoric patriotic bullshit has worn off. The casualities and deaths of U.S. servicemen are no longer even reported on the news. Three soldiers died yesterday and the 24-hour news channels didn't even mention it. Recruitment is down. Irrespective of my views on this war I'm still an American. So I am joining the U.S. Army. I will train to be a soldier and I plan on going to Iraq. I need time off to clear my head and work on my Arabic (and to a lesser extent Turkish and Persian-Farsi). I'm going to hit the gym and track with a passion (I plan showing up in Special Forces physical condition). To use Secretary Rumsfeld's distinction, I guess I'll be in "the army you wish you had" category:) . So goodbye for now. I hope to be back.
ps- I regret not supporting OD financially, something I will rectify soon (btw, I always appreciated OD's tactfulness in never soliciting-- unlike some others. e,g., FR).
pps- I will be signing off OD completely after this post and no longer read it, so I won't read any follow-up posts. I'm too afraid of what some of the responses might be.:)
2005-04-01 00:18 | User Profile
In case this isn't an April fool's, here's some Shakespeare I thought might be fitting:
I shall lack voice: the deeds of Coriolanus
Should not be utter'd feebly. It is held
That valour is the chiefest virtue, and
Most dignifies the haver: if it be,
The man I speak of cannot in the world
Be singly counterpoised. At sixteen years,
When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others: our then dictator,
Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight,
When with his Amazonian chin he drove
The bristled lips before him: be bestrid
An o'er-press'd Roman and i' the consul's view
Slew three opposers: Tarquin's self he met,
And struck him on his knee: in that day's feats,
When he might act the woman in the scene,
He proved best man i' the field, and for his meed
Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age
Man-enter'd thus, he waxed like a sea,
And in the brunt of seventeen battles since
He lurch'd all swords of the garland. For this last,
Before and in Corioli, let me say,
I cannot speak him home: he stopp'd the fliers;
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into sport: as weeds before
A vessel under sail, so men obey'd
And fell below his stem: his sword, death's stamp,
Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot
He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries: alone he enter'd
The mortal gate of the city, which he painted
With shunless destiny; aidless came off,
And with a sudden reinforcement struck
Corioli like a planet: now all's his:
When, by and by, the din of war gan pierce
His ready sense; then straight his doubled spirit
Re-quicken'd what in flesh was fatigate,
And to the battle came he; where he did
Run reeking o'er the lives of men, as if
'Twere a perpetual spoil: and till we call'd
Both field and city ours, he never stood
To ease his breast with panting.
:starwars: :tank:
2005-04-01 00:22 | User Profile
Are you in a time zone where it's already April 1st?
Of course, that would imply you'd never support OD financially in reality :smartass:
2005-04-01 00:39 | User Profile
We're sailing on a strange boat Heading for a strange shore We're sailing on a strange boat Heading for a strange shore Carrying the strangest cargo That was ever hauled aboard
We're sailing on a strange sea Blown by a strange wind We're sailing on a strange sea Blown by a strange wind Carrying the strangest crew That ever sinned
We're riding in a strange car We're following a strange star We're climbing on the strangest ladder That was ever there to climb
We're living in a strange time Working for a strange goal We're living in a strange time Working for a strange goal We're turning flesh and body Into soul
2005-04-01 01:04 | User Profile
Jack, Jack, Jack. Did you hear anything that we've been saying here for the past 3 years?
Don't forget to bring a KJV Bible with you to Iraq, along with body armor and extra socks.
And may the Lord be with you.
2005-04-01 01:32 | User Profile
Good luck. We can always use good soldiers when the Revolution comes.
2005-04-01 01:52 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Jack Cassidy]So I am joining the U.S. Army.[/QUOTE] You're joking, right? :confused:
Getting physically fit and visiting exotic countries is one thing. But, if you really want to defend your nation, join the Council of Conservative Citizens, or start a local Friends of American Renaissance chapter. Hell, you could even join a good militia. Do something, anything but serve the Washington regime in its stupid foreign wars. The American Empire is on the way out.
The war for white civilization isn't going to be fought in Iraq. It's going to be fought right here in the West.
2005-04-01 02:54 | User Profile
Jack, I just wanted to say that I knew you were a good man almost from your earliest appearances here. And while I don't think this war is legitimately in America's interest or self-defense, I appreciate your guts and your idealism - two qualities in very short supply these days. Besides, I make it a point never to try to talk a grown man out of any decision he makes for himself.
I will say that I'll be thinking of you, and will keep a good thought for you and your family until you get back.
And if, for whatever reason, you change your mind on any of this, none of what I've just said will be invalidated. You're a brick regardless. Best of luck, and God bless.
2005-04-01 03:41 | User Profile
Best of Luck to Jack, may he make it home safe and sound.
[QUOTE]What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? -- Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -- The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Wilfred Owen
[url]http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17550[/url] [/QUOTE]
I can not disagree with Stuka.
2005-04-01 04:19 | User Profile
I gotta admit it, ol' Jack actually had me going for a minute. Then I realized the date.
2005-04-01 04:41 | User Profile
Sorry Jack, you ain't fooling me.
2005-04-01 06:31 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Stuka]You're joking, right? :confused:
Getting physically fit and visiting exotic countries is one thing. But, if you really want to defend your nation, join the Council of Conservative Citizens, or start a local Friends of American Renaissance chapter. Hell, you could even join a good militia. Do something, anything but serve the Washington regime in its stupid foreign wars. The American Empire is on the way out.
The war for white civilization isn't going to be fought in Iraq. It's going to be fought right here in the West.[/QUOTE]I'd have said join the Minuteman project. They're the people really defending America.
[QUOTE=xmetalhead]Jack, Jack, Jack. Did you hear anything that we've been saying here for the past 3 years?
Don't forget to bring a KJV Bible with you to Iraq, along with body armor and extra socks. [/QUOTE]I guess not. One problem with the internet. Some people just need to get involved in something, not just talk. Even if its a sad, lost cause.
We're losing our country, and people like Jack are running off and fighting with the people undermining it, Bush and Co, 10,000 miles a way. Where looking at sites like this is [I]verbotten[/I] You try to :lol:, but you really want or :cry:
Maybe you can set some of your fellow soldiers straight Jack. Good luck and Godspeed
2005-04-03 00:05 | User Profile
Is this for real or some kind of joke posted a few a hours too early?
2005-04-03 15:04 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Jack Cassidy]I was hoping for an appropriate thread to post my goodbye on so I wouldn't have to do it in this egotistical way, a vanity post. And I needed to do it before April 1 for reasons that will be obvious.
I've been watching this war in Iraq and I have felt a little guilty. All the euphoric patriotic bullshit has worn off. The casualities and deaths of U.S. servicemen are no longer even reported on the news. Three soldiers died yesterday and the 24-hour news channels didn't even mention it. Recruitment is down. Irrespective of my views on this war I'm still an American. So I am joining the U.S. Army. I will train to be a soldier and I plan on going to Iraq. I need time off to clear my head and work on my Arabic (and to a lesser extent Turkish and Persian-Farsi). I'm going to hit the gym and track with a passion (I plan showing up in Special Forces physical condition). To use Secretary Rumsfeld's distinction, I guess I'll be in "the army you wish you had" category:) . So goodbye for now. I hope to be back.
ps- I regret not supporting OD financially, something I will rectify soon (btw, I always appreciated OD's tactfulness in never soliciting-- unlike some others. e,g., FR).
pps- I will be signing off OD completely after this post and no longer read it, so I won't read any follow-up posts. I'm too afraid of what some of the responses might be.:)[/QUOTE] Good for you, Jack.
We need you in the Army.
Remember that Lenin sent his Bolsheviks to the front to face nearly certain death in the hopes of organizing his cadres there.
You do the same, old friend. Go as high and inside as your talents can take you.
God be with you!
2005-04-03 18:15 | User Profile
I think its a mistake, albeit a very honorable and admirable one.
Best of luck.
2005-04-03 20:59 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Walter Yannis]Good for you, Jack.
We need you in the Army.
Remember that Lenin sent his Bolsheviks to the front to face nearly certain death in the hopes of organizing his cadres there.
You do the same, old friend. Go as high and inside as your talents can take you.
God be with you![/QUOTE]
You bring to mind the inner monologue of Zhivago's brother as he joins the Russian volunteers in August, 1914...
[img]http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2000/08/07/DrZh.gif[/img]
We, too, are on the cusp of something that will clear out a few cobwebs.
2005-04-04 06:05 | User Profile
...One of the most memorable and powerful sequences from David Lean's film of the Russian Revolution, Dr. Zhivago (after Pasternak).
[Approximately 1:12:30 into the Film] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"...In bourgeois terms it was a War between the Allies and Germany. In Bolshevik terms, it was a War between the Allied and German upper classes--and which of them won was a matter of indifference...
I was ordered by the Party to enlist. I gave my name as "Petrov".
They were shouting for victory all over Europe--praying for victory to the same God. My task--the Party's task--was to organize defeat. From defeat would spring the Revolution...and the Revolution would be victory for us...
The Party looked to the conscript peasants--most of them wearing their first good pair of boots. When the boots wore out they'd be ready to listen. When the time came I was able to take three batallions with me out of the front line--the best day's work I ever did.
But for the moment, there was nothing to be done. There were too many volunteers, like me. Mostly, it was mere hysteria.
But there were men with better motives--men who saw the Times were critical and wanted a man's part...good men, wasted.
Unhappy men, too. Unhappy in their jobs--unhappy with their wives...doubting themselves.
Happy men don't volunteer...they wait their turn--and thank God if their age or work delays it......"