Thank You for Your Service - NO!

I cringe when I hear people say "thank you for your service". It has become as worn and trite as "have a good day".

It has also given hawkish politicians the means (read soldiers) to throw us into conflicts that waste our boys lives for no good purpose. The military option is our first choice although understanding a culture and its history plainly dictate a different approach. What has become of Iraq? What happened in Vietnam? Remember, how the fall of Vietnam would result in the spread of communism? Politicians called it "the domino effect". It fell but today Vietnam has a thriving economy with businesses from around the world investing in it. President Obama just returned from that country where he agreed to help it protect itself from being bullied by larger countries, specifically China, its communist neighbor. Iraq is now the longest running military effort in our history. After invading and "winning", our plan to "let freedom ring" was foisted on a people who had a history of religious turmoil. That turmoil gave rise to ISIS' invasion.

After years of these failed policies you would think we would stop to analyze these situations before we commit our troops but our first reaction to any perceived injustice is force. America cannot be great unless we think again.