{"id":11821,"date":"2015-11-29T15:33:27","date_gmt":"2015-11-29T15:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11821"},"modified":"2015-11-29T15:33:27","modified_gmt":"2015-11-29T15:33:27","slug":"boots-on-the-ground-means-human-beings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11821","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Boots on the ground,&#8217; means human beings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/boot_on_the_ground_by_DVIDSHUB_via_flickr-spotlight.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11822\" src=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/boot_on_the_ground_by_DVIDSHUB_via_flickr-spotlight-300x149.jpg\" alt=\"Hundreds of coalition forces servicemen and women met aboard Camp Leatherneck, Helmand province, for a September 11 memorial service. During the service, Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan, commanding general of Regional Command Southwest and II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) gave a speech reflecting on not only the lives lost 10-years before, but also on the heroes who have fought for the freedoms America stands for.\" width=\"300\" height=\"149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/boot_on_the_ground_by_DVIDSHUB_via_flickr-spotlight-300x149.jpg 300w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/boot_on_the_ground_by_DVIDSHUB_via_flickr-spotlight.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Is it me or is anyone else out there growing increasingly annoyed at a euphemism that&#8217;s getting a lot of use these days by the political class?<\/p>\n<p>I refer to the term &#8220;boots on the ground.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ohio Gov. John Kasich this morning used the term repeatedly in discussing the crisis in Syria and whether the United States should send troops into the fight.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s put &#8220;boots on the ground,&#8221; said the GOP presidential candidate.<\/p>\n<p><em>Boots on the ground!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I happen to like Gov. Kasich, but for crying out loud, we aren&#8217;t talking about footwear. We&#8217;re talking about the individuals whose feet slip into that gear and who would be put in harm&#8217;s way were we to order them into battle.<\/p>\n<p>And yet politicians on both sides of the divide seemingly find it easier to talk about &#8220;boots on the ground&#8221; rather than what those boots symbolize. They symbolize young men and women with families, with real-world stories, with dreams and aspirations.<\/p>\n<p>I am just weary of this game of verbal dodge ball that politicians keep playing.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re going to support sending young Americans into battle, then call it what it is &#8212; and do not disguise it with rhetorical nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is it me or is anyone else out there growing increasingly annoyed at a euphemism that&#8217;s getting a lot of use these days by the political class? I refer to the term &#8220;boots on the ground.&#8221; Ohio Gov. John Kasich this morning used the term repeatedly in discussing the crisis in Syria and whether the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11821\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;Boots on the ground,&#8217; means human beings<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12,13,14],"tags":[706,2537,4489,5168],"class_list":["post-11821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-news","category-military-news","category-national-news","category-political-news","tag-boots-on-the-ground","tag-john-kasich","tag-syria","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11823,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11821\/revisions\/11823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}