Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for May 26, 2013

Back then, we used “axes”…

Yes, something to think about…

“Few things can be more detrimental to a society than the removal of it’s challenges.” ~ Dessler

Philosophical question: Does war, death and sacrifice make a country better? — or can it be great without these things?

Your dad grew up in the wrong decade for the draft, Luann. By the time he was eligible for the draft, there was no reason to draft him because there was no war to draft him to fight in!

She could I knew a few women you wouldn’t expect to see in the military…excelling.

brought to you, by…..“Axe master” odorant… cuz if you’re not the lead singer, then you have to be an Axe man…and by…Ritchie’s mom…. the band’s chief agent and head roadie….and by…. Wyld Stallyns…. A division of Wayne Enterprises, Inc….and by….Ritchie’s Garage… where dreams first start….

How would he have been in a war? He was probably born in the early to mid 1960s. He wouldn’t have been in Kuwait because at least Brad would have known about that.

God bless all of our current and former military members this Memorial Day weekend.

Looks like Luann is getting comfy with her dad.

All who serve give some, this weekend we remember the some who gave all. Good Bless.

Luann, are you really so uninformed about history and about your dad’s background? And why is Frank so defensive?

Boy do you need a history class. Viet Nam had been at war for decades by the time the USA got involved.

We did not start Vietnam. We were trying to help a people remain free of Communism. Ask the million boat people who fled after Hanoi broke the Paris Peace Agreement two years after that war ended. And the size of our military comes nowhere near that of North Korea, China, Russia, and likely several other countries. The US Army today is less than half of just the number of troops in Vietnam during the height of that war.

We did not start Vietnam. We were trying to help a people remain free of Communism. Ask the million boat people who fled after Hanoi broke the Paris Peace Agreement two years after that war ended. And the size of our military comes nowhere near that of North Korea, China, Russia, and likely several other countries. The US Army today is less than half of just the number of troops in Vietnam during the height of that war.

How did Luann suddenly grow taller than her father in panel 2?

It is true that necessity is the mother of invention, and war creates the greatest necessity. As long as humanity has the most fundamental instincts of fear, greed, self interest, lust for power, revenge, intolerance, reproduction, and self preservation there will be war. Esoteric ideas like peace often fall second to fundamental instincts.

off-topic, but I’m a little worried – just last week I bought the shirt he’s wearing today.

oh – Night-guant49? You say “missed the draft” – I presume that means if they were still actively drafting young men when you reached the right age, you would’ve been a candidate.

“Never had to register” doesn’t make any sense, however. Selective Service Law has remained since Vietnam – register within a month of your 18th birthday.

Luann, take that as a hint! Your father doesn’t feel like discussing the subject right now! If he feels like sharing it with you he will!

Him and his buds went out and got bombed after they lost. Happy now?

Memorial Day is to honor and remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Veteran’s Day is to honor our military past and present.

Actually, We’re ALL in a “War” Right Now.

Think about it……,

Sometimes you go to war to help defend an ally. This was the case with Vietnam. This was the case with WWII. This was the case with Korea. Sometimes war is a necessary evil.

Perhaps you should have served. Travel overseas will change your perspective and make you realize how much we have in this country, and not take it for granted.

I’ve been in combat many times and would trade all for the ability to be in a battle of the bands.

Thirty years from now, when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you, ‘What did you do in the great World War II,’ you won’t have to say, ‘Well, I shoveled s—- in Louisiana.’

My own family has never been involved in a war. I am thankful for those who fought (willing or not) for our country, but my own dad (born 1912) and my 3 sons (born 1960-63) were never of draft age during a war. My own worst war was my divorce (and he’s dead and gone now, so no more problems.

Fact check: Canada fought as part of the coalition in Iraq and Afghanistan. China has the largest standing army in the world. Memorial Day is to honor fallen veteran’s, it is not Veteran’s Day.

The American Army is an army of liberation, not of conquest. Our service members have bled and died in defense of freedom for all mankind. Those of you who disagree should thank a service member for fighting to defend your right to disagree.

Can we get back to Brad and Tony now….please?

Unlike you, N-G, I WAS old enough to register for the draft; however, MY draft lottery number was 321, so I would have been drafted the day after some maniac nuked DC; therefore, the chances of my being drafter were slim and none (and none was on annual leave that year).OTOH, I ALSO recognize something else, something that many people of my generation apparently either forgot, or were never taught; that being, a nation has only THREE THINGS to present to the World Community as a factor of their reliability:1. Commercial, or Trade Agreements – CONTRACTS.2. Political Agreements – ALLIANCES.3. Military Agreements – TREATIES.The United States, for better or for worse, formed the SouthEast Asia Treaty Organization in the early Fifties, to “stem the tide of Communist aggression and expansion in SouthEast Asia.” It was done at the behest of John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, CIA Director and Secretary of State (or vice versa), and composed of the US, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, and (I think) Burma and the Philippines. It was ALSO a Mutual-Defense treaty – basically the same arrangement as NATO, only directed at not only the Soviet Union, but at the Peoples Republic of China. Whether or not we should have formed that organization is another debate, for another forum; the bottom line is that we DID, and having done so, we had NO CHOICE but to honor that commitment, or else lose ALL CREDIBILITY before the international community.Would YOU trust someone who doesn’t keep their WORD? Would you ever BELIEVE them again? With YOUR life?Yeah, I didn’t think so…

Yup; you’re wrong.And If you REALLY believe Humans are SO BAD, then you must REALLY think badly of yourself, troll.So just go hide in your psych ward until Nurse Ratchett comes along with her wet pack.

The cuckoo clock was invented in Bavaria,Germany.

At least Dad didn’t murder anyone in the name of American Capitalism.

Freedom is a precarious thing, easily lost. The world has never given up on slavery, despotism, and oppression. There are many voices even in the United States that, in the name of some illusory concept of safety or equality, want to destroy all freedom.

Our military members do not take an oath to defend the United States. They take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. In other words, we defend an idea — the idea that people have a right to be free, to choose their own government, the rights to worship, speak, write, and associate as they please. And we back those rights up with the right to own firearms.

Tyrants the world over want to control how you worship, what you say, what you print, and they want you rendered defenseless and helpless against their oppression.

Many nations have not had to go to war in a long time because the United States defends them and their liberties. If the United States fell, you can be sure that Canada, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, and all the rest would soon be at war with someone.

…no wars would be great. Knowing human nature, probably unachievable, though. So, Frank’s reply to his daughter should have been, “No, I have been VERY FORTUNATE to have not been in any conflict, unlike those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and unlike those who saw THEIR friends make the ultimate sacrifice.”

My dad was too young for WWI and too old for WWII.

Good try at remembering our men and women…

Some of you here that denigrate this great Country and its ideals need to do your own study & thinking for yourselves. Those who run down America are like the people who stand by and watch an innocent person getting badly beaten or killed. The same ones who said they “would rather be Red than dead” as we fought the Communist menace. The most important statement in this discussion was made by cjcampbell, – that “we fight for the ideas, rights, and the liberty of our United States Constitution”. We have in America today some 7.2 million solid Vietnamese citizens who fled tyranny. If our politicians had stayed the course in Vietnam and not sold that country out, there would be 71 million Vietnamese not now living in an un-free land. South Vietnam could have been another South Korea – free, vibrant and prosperous, but cowardly congressmen did not honor their commitment. History knows who they were. America is the most exceptional country in the history of the World! We have left our dead heroes buried in many foreign lands that are now free. Peace is not the answer. Peace is what Hitler and Stalin had when they ruled as dictators. Real peace for each of us comes only when we are truly free. Only Freedom is the real answer and we will not keep it without fighting the enemies of Liberty, as we have done for 237 years. Read your history, young people, and be proud of America. We are truly blessed.

It’s hard for me to believe that a 17 year old Luann would not know if her dad was or was not in the army. Do today’s families only do small talk – about food – TV shows – etc?

And now that same “Communist” Vietnam is our best capitalist trading partner in all of South East Asia. And in fact welcomes with open arms those very American Vietnam veterans that fought them during the war. Being so very capitalist (just as china has become) they also welcome our veterans money at the same time!

Further (with the possible exception of North Korea) there is now NO such a thing as Communism, either in its pure idealistic form, nor its dictatorial USSR form. Capitalism is now the basic form of international business, and as such not only has won over all other types of economic entities, (what was always basically an economic war) and now totally rules the world!!

And just exactly how much that will totally benefit humanity in the long run over time, still remains to be seen in the future, one way or the other!!

WOW! So many insights and opinions expressed here and to think this is only a comic strip! I have been both enlightened and disappointed by the preceding comments.

For me this Memorial Day is to remember my relatives and friends who endured the agonys of a war. My relatives who lived in France, my US relatives who served in Europe and the Phillipines, my classmates in Viet Nam. So much physcal and deep emotional pain. So many unable to speak of the horrors…and the dead. I miss them. That is the reason for this day…Do not forget.

I know this is off topic but Luann’s looking kinda smexy here. In fact, I think she’s always looked way better than Tiffany.

Are you not aware that the Japanese held territory in the Aleutians during WWII?

That’s OK – not all can serve…

A country can be great without fighting wars—just tell al quida, hitler, stalin, lenin, etc. all about it. God Bless the troops-from the founding to today! Keep the military strong-it’s the only way to prevent wars!

Yes, we defeated Iraq twice. Either timedid it invade us. Saddam was evil but Americans died to replace him with other evil people who are still killing each other.,Our current warfare in Afghanistan is not because of the terrorists who were there but because we played politics and let Osama go. When we finally leave, the taliban will go back to hanging women from goal posts even as rhey continue to kill any who desire personal freedom.

.better to write them off until they are ready to leave the darkness.if our sons and daughters have to die for our freedom, we will honor them.if they have to die because our politicians can’t tell the difference between them a d toy soldiers, we have dishonored their sacrifice

How could she get all the way to age 16 and not know if her own father ever served in the military?