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LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117601: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:39:59 PM

At least not domestically. Our borders are very much safe from any foreign invasion.

Oh really when?
desdendelle Hooded Crow from Land of Milk and Honey (Sergeant) Relationship Status: Hiding
Hooded Crow
#117602: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:40:24 PM

@whermacht: I'd like to remind you that most soldiers a) never see combat and b) aren't even combatants that are sent into the field. I'm one example — I spent my military service in an office moving paperwork hither and to.

On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#117603: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:41:17 PM

It's still over two centuries in the past. It isn't even one of the famous wars like the Revolutionary or Civil War so I think the point stands.

[up]Whether or not most soldiers see combat is irrelevant when there's a possibility you'll be one of them.

edited 28th Mar '16 1:42:10 PM by Kostya

Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#117604: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:42:50 PM

Addendum @ Tobias: I'm not sure anyone seriously believes China or North Korea could mount an invasion force here. Even if it came to war, it would be missiles first and that's the sort of thing our professional military is indeed best suited to deal with.

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#117605: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:44:10 PM

(Max Fisher, Vox) I did my best to understand Donald Trump's foreign policy. Here's what I came up with.

Simply put, Trump would pretty much destroy America's relationships across the world and probably cause World War 3, all in the name of a little more greenback.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117606: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:44:21 PM

You'd be very surprised at how many people genuinely believe the US can be invaded by foreign powers. Or terrorists. And not like one or two dudes coming in on bad passports but a proper invasion.

Oh really when?
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#117607: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:45:03 PM

[up][up][up]Right. Anyone who thinks that a part-time soldier with a firearm locked up in his home is going to repel the sort of invasion that a modern military power would mount is crazy. Or has not seen Red Dawn. Those kids all die.

[up] Well, as Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid." You can only try to keep their stupid from contaminating the political system, which we have, to date, abjectly failed at.

edited 28th Mar '16 1:46:43 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117608: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:46:10 PM

Yeah, everyone seems to forget that the Wolverines are all massacred pretty much immediately once the Soviets bring in their professionals.

Oh really when?
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#117609: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:50:38 PM

You'd be very surprised at how many people genuinely believe the US can be invaded by foreign powers. Or terrorists.
Because they see it on the screen, so it must be possible.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#117610: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:51:11 PM

Besides, what would anyone gain from a territorial invasion of the United States? They'd face an entire continent full of hundreds of millions of unremittingly hostile people, massively impractical supply lines, no civil institutions of their own... it would be an absolute disaster.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#117611: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:51:44 PM

The gun nuts that are panicking about said invasion are a bigger threat to safety than China has ever been.

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#117612: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:52:23 PM

You'd be very surprised at how many people genuinely believe the US can be invaded by foreign powers. Or terrorists. And not like one or two dudes coming in on bad passports but a proper invasion.

Nothing new. There were numerous Invasion Scares during The British Empire (and even an American Attack).

And if this carries on, what is the likelihood of the National Guard defending the RNC?

Keep Rolling On
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117613: Mar 28th 2016 at 1:54:24 PM

Depends on how the local police respond.

Didn't someone post an article a while back about how they just ordered some five million worth in equipment and weaponry recently?

Oh really when?
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#117614: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:00:08 PM

[up][up]The Governor of the state would have to decide both that there was a likely threat of them being needed and that it be one the police be unlikely able to handle (and the police here are increasingly militarized themselves). It is rare that the Guard is called in pre-emptively, more commonly they're called in after the fact to keep a bad situation from getting worse.

Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#117615: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:00:09 PM

The United States is on a completely separate continent from it's enemies, which are all in Asia. The only real threat to the US would be if all of Europe combined tried to attack it, and even then they would still take a pounding and have no real reason to do it or any benefit from doing it. The only enemy on the same continent as the US is Cuba, and their military is too weak to do anything and hostilities are beginning to cease between them and the US.

CassidyTheDevil Since: Jan, 2013
#117616: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:01:54 PM

Even with the US's purely volunteer military, the nation still has the most powerful military in the world by far. Nothing can threaten the United States in regards to warfare.

Hmmm...I'm not worried about an invasion, but is there not reason to worry about insanity?

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117617: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:03:56 PM

Insanity like?

Oh really when?
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#117618: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:08:10 PM

Insanity in regards to what? How does mandatory military service stop that?

CassidyTheDevil Since: Jan, 2013
#117619: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:12:59 PM

Like, mass hysteria. A population full of discontented people who don't like the establishment along with a radical segment who support violence, if the rift isn't closed, isn't very conducive to order. In other words, it leads to a lot of people dying. Is that unlikely?

Not talking about the military.

GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#117620: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:13:12 PM

Donald Trump could become the next President of the United States. That is something you should rightfully be worried about.

Wizard Needs Food Badly
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#117621: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:13:38 PM

I live right near Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, and I've formerly worked in tourist spots, during the summer of 2012, aka, the 200th anniversary of 1812. You would not believe how furious many of the American tourists got at the mere mention of the war. I think I've mentioned this before, but it's really weird how many people simultaneously believe the US is eternal and unconquerable while being at the same time on the verge of collapsing into total anarchy.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117622: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:14:02 PM

[up][up][up]Could you elaborate a bit? You're still not making perfect sense.

edited 28th Mar '16 2:14:55 PM by LeGarcon

Oh really when?
CassidyTheDevil Since: Jan, 2013
#117623: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:18:17 PM

Like, political upheaval because of unrest. There's lots of obvious examples of that, so I'm not sure how more elaboration I can do.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#117624: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:19:39 PM

Not really. It'd get put down pretty much immediately.

Worry more about lynch mobs and right wing insurgents than any sort of successful coup.

They'll never take the White House but they'll turn the South into downtown Belfast.

Oh really when?
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#117625: Mar 28th 2016 at 2:21:54 PM

He's basically talking about large scale armed revolt (and not just an isolated enclave like Waco or Y'all Queda).

Which would be tricky for the military depending on how justifiable or not their grevience was. Ordering troops to shoot on your own citizens is never pretty, nor conducive to discipline.


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