btq96r

I think it only changes or changed (not sure if it's been made a Congressional restriction yet or not) because the story about it broke. And when I said propaganda, I meant targeting citizens at large, not potential recruits. Any all volunteer force has to recruit where the talent pool is, I get that...but I doubt anyone was stirred to service by seeing someone from a nearby military post or the local Guard/Reserve unit getting a shout-out during a break in the game. In my mind, the NFL and other sports are being used to flat out preempt questioning of the military industrial complex by chaining support for the troops to avoiding hard questions about just how listless we are in our policy.

Imigur is good enough for most online posting needs. Far from perfect, but far better than Photobucket became.

Why? The pentagon loves the NFL so much they were paying for the pomp and "salute to the troops" during the games out of the recruiting budgets. I think it was little more than a way to create patriotism through propaganda, but the military liked it well enough. It seems to have worked judging by the outrage at a perceived slight against the troops and their sacrifices.

Why would Congress get involved? All the stadium funding deals are done at the municipal and state levels, Congress couldn't regulate this if they wanted to.

For football at least, showing the anthem on TV has been a normal thing. Maybe that goes hand in glove with how the DoD admitted they were paying the NFL for "tributes to the troops" as a recruiting tool, but showing the anthem on NFL broadcasts isn't a new ratings check block.

I don't know about every player who took a knee or raised a fist on Sunday, but Colin Kapernick as put his money where his knee is at least, being named the Week 1 Community MVP even as a free agent. He's been donating to various causes on the way to a total of a pledged million...not an insignificant amount when you consider he may never see another NFL contract again. https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/09/15/colin-kaepernick-nflpa-charity-community-mvp

The calculus on this changed on Friday night, when President Trump, at a podium with the seal of his office, made the comments he did. Now, I get that he was at a campaign event, and that he doesn't have the unilateral authority to fix the NFL to his wants (though he surely wishes he did I'm sure). That said, for a man who took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution to argue with all the influence of his office the way he did was quite disheartening to me, even for this President. Also, my comment was as much in response to a perceived insult to those who served. I know I speak only for myself, but I have no issues as I can see how they are using the attention of the anthem as a amplifier for the message versus an insult of my service. I'm actually iffy on the employers authority in this case as the NFL isn't a traditional workplace and subject to the agreements between the league and the players union, but it's clear that both the NFL offices and a great many teams (the most notable exception being the Cowboys and Jerry Jones) are okay with it for now. So, I'm not seeing your point on employment rights since aside from Kapernick not being hired by teams that could clearly use his talents, nobody has been fired for their protesting. In contrast, the NBA took efforts to clean up their image a while back, putting in place a dress code for team travel to and from an arena, and mandating players cease warm-up activities and stand respectfully for the national anthem. The players union accepted it. How much that is enforced or even changed in light of what's happening is in the air.

I've only made it through the first episode so far, but I can tell this is a series that needs to be seen by many. Would that those in positions of power could be swayed by the lessons it has if they cared to listen.

If those NFL players taking a knee think I served in the Army, deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq four times over eight years just to give them the ability to make their statement of protest during the national anthem...they're exactly right.

Never forget.

The PBS App is also good to go on Roku, AppleTV, and Amazon Fire. I watch a lot of Frontline, American Experience, and NOVA through it. http://www.pbs.org/anywhere/connected-tv/

Ken Burns documentaries don't disappoint. Been looking forward to this since I heard about it a while back. I kind of want to watch this with my Dad on my next visit to see him. He enlisted in the Army in '66 knowing full well what his immediate future held, and I'd love to hear him talk about it more if it is something he's willing to share. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk. OhShoot very much likes to know when we're using Tapatalk.

Honestly, in my professional and personal lives, finding the expert to do the job right is hard enough...people who try to impress me by how they dress are only setting themselves up for disappointment if I see they're more prepared with their attire than they are with their minds or the content of their work. If you want to dress nice, cool. I never think I'm paying for the clothes, only the quality of the product. Would that it increases faster. Mon-Thur, I wear some decent slacks with a casual to dressy button down shirt I always keep untucked. I know it's not "professional" by the modern sense, but I honestly hate tucked shirts. I always say if I can wear jeans and a polo on Friday, yet still be productive and of value to the company, why are Monday-Thursday different? That said, I can begrudgingly realize when the time to play dress-up is at hand for visitors of a high enough status or out of office meetings/events of import. I keep a black blazer on a good hanger under a plastic bag on the back of my office door, and I can tuck in my shirts, throw on the coat and be both dog and pony in a moments notice. But it's a fraud on who I actually am, and I feel like I misrepresent myself when I do it all in the name of what really amounts to dick measuring through clothes. Yup. Hell, think of how much good it would do if even a fraction of those buried in their one and only suit instead donated them to an organization like Career Gear, so that someone poor can get a suit for a job interview that could be the ticket to raise them from poverty.

When I left the Army a little over eight years ago, it was bittersweet, but I knew good men would remain and good men would sign up to take their place on duty. @R1100R, your son is one of those good men, and you have every right to be proud. Tell him thanks on my behalf and to start pushing...then when he knocks a few out, tell him to recover and say thanks again.

Well, they raised the bar, alright...they made a Glock uglier than ever.

I'm a fan of it. Thought it was well done all around, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do in Season 2 as well.

Hard to say they aren't making a great rep for themselves in the American market at the moment. As long as CZ can keep producing quality firearms, I think they'll have lots of repeat business.

Good point. Guess we'll have to see if he's Targaryen enough to not get burned, or just dragon friendly.

If you remember the first season, Jon very much got burned by the oil lamp he had to grab and throw onto the wight. Part of Dany's is she never felt the burning of the hot dragon eggs in Season 1. In the books, they explain that not all Targaryen's are immune to fire, but some were.

Ahh, much better! Thanks. In addition to the dank, the wood background is visible on the sides a bit again as well. Always thought the forums look great (light or dark) framed against that a bit.

Out of all the cool space age tests they do on gear in places like Natick Labs and the Arsenals we have around the country...the real tests should be a group of Soldiers from different units out in the back 40 and on the ranges seeing how it really holds up.

For now, or for the foreseeable future?

Awesome to read the stories behind the family history associated with that one special gun in many individual collections here.

Sure...but bored people with disposable income need some new fad for their ARs. [emoji4] Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk. OhShoot very much likes to know when we're using Tapatalk.

Can't remember if it was mefloquine, but the pills we had for malaria in Afghanistan when I was there in early 2002 were awesome. Made rack time something to look forward to with those crazy dreams. We only had them for a month or two before they switched them out for something else, so I suppose I won't have any long term effects.