The hype surrounding football these days makes heroes of players all too easily. But the Leyton Orient team of 1914/15 were exactly that. Clapton Orient, as they were then known, were the first Football League team to enlist en masse to serve King and country. All 41 players and staff signed up to fight, a move that inspired other teams to follow suit. And it was to the battlefields of northern France that they were posted. There they found themselves embroiled in one of the bloodiest military operations of all time.
The hype surrounding football these days makes heroes of players all too easily. But the Leyton Orient team of 1914/15 were exactly that.
Clapton Orient, as they were then known, were the first Football League team to enlist en masse to serve King and country. All 41 players and staff signed up to fight, a move that inspired other teams to follow suit.
And it was to the battlefields of northern France that they were posted. There they found themselves embroiled in one of the bloodiest military operations of all time.
Anymore than Tillman was hero. Patsies, stooges, believers of falshood, victims of a societal three-card trick perpetrated by the rich against the poor. Is selfless sacrifice for such base motives heroic ?
The issue with militaries is that they believe the troops at their disposal are to be disposed of. We now have the sneering disdain of cheney and bush that, because these soldiers volunteered, their lives can be wasted for political advantage. Their honest patriotism, abused by modern Goerrings with the univeral sneer;-
the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
.., is simply a tool in such hands. Heroism, bravery are moot, once they are inuniform, they are there to die and will be sent to places where they will die, uselessly and forgotten, to puff up a politician's chest for a minute or two.
Remember The Battle Disgrace of Pork Chop Hill
The Battle of Pork Chop Hill comprises a pair of related Korean War infantry fights during the spring and summer of 1953. These were fought while the U.S. and the Communist Chinese and Koreans negotiated an armistice. In the U.S., they were controversial because of the many soldiers killed for terrain of no strategic or tactical value.
