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It's relevant to the macho point of Jack Nicholson's character talking a bunch of shit about how he defends us. The Guantanamo base is irrelevant except, as pr

It's relevant to the macho point of Jack Nicholson's character talking a bunch of shit about how he defends us. The Guantanamo base is irrelevant except, as previously noted, a convenient location to do torture. Regarding the larger relationship.. bro, it's not the 1960s. Nobody is even trying to put nukes in Cuba and we could have easily established normal relations at any point in the last 50 years. The only reason that they are "enemies" is because we can't let go of a grudge going on 75 years that is completely irrelevant in today's world.

cindyllm 5mo ago
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rayiner 5mo ago
>> And guantanamo bay is on the south side of Cuba, not even between Cuba and the US > It's relevant to the macho point of Jack Nicholson's character talking a bunch of shit about how he defends us. The Guantanamo base is irrelevant You think a naval base on Cuba is “irrelevant” because it’s on the south side of the island and not the north side?
- nixon_why69 5mo ago
  You think Cuba represents a naval threat to the mainland US? I had higher expectations for you based on your other comments.
  - rayiner 5mo ago
    Soviet-allied Cuba was a military threat to the U.S. in 1986 which is when the movie is set. Don’t forget the movie was written before the fall of the Soviet Union. And even when it came out in 1992, it wasn’t clear to audiences that the cold war was really over. Is Cuba a military threat today? No. But that’s because we have had a navel base there for more than a century, and the Soviet Union is long gone.
ethbr1 5mo ago
You're missing the forest for the trees. The scene between Colonel Jessup, Lt Jg Kaffee, and Lance Corporal Dawson and PFC Downey is about the nature of contradictory duties. Everyone in that scene has a sworn duty to the United States as active duty military. However, their duties sometimes conflict with each other (Jessup and Kaffee), and are even sometimes self-conflicting (Dawson and Downey). Bad doesn't always come with a sticker labeling itself, and there's trauma inflicted even in peacetime in the maintenance of military strength (in broken bodies, training deaths, and emotional trauma). To hold ones nose and pretend there isn't constant violence, even absent declared war, being perpetrated to militarily protect the US and Europe is to be ignorant, willfully or otherwise, of the foundation peace is built on. Jessup is a tale of the distinction between the reality of war and the higher ideals and laws of war.
- nixon_why69 5mo ago
  I understand and respect what you're saying here, but the fly in the ointment is that this posting (gitmo) was always bullshit and never actually mattered. Jessup is missing the forest for the trees far more than I ever could because it's not my job. He's getting kids killed for a bullshit assignment while being a Colonel. How do you think an Afghanistan or Iraq veteran would regard the Cuba assignment?
  - ethbr1 4mo ago
    You're missing the forest, because Jessup and the entire enlisted structure would have been rotated to their next posting in 2-3 years max. And since Jessup seems to have been base commander for a while already, likely less than that. The goal of the military (as a whole) is to make people substitutable per their rank and MOS. Allowing good order and discipline to break down (as an officer, NCO, or enlisted) just because of current post is anathema to that.

cindyllm 5mo ago

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rayiner 5mo ago

>> And guantanamo bay is on the south side of Cuba, not even between Cuba and the US > It's relevant to the macho point of Jack Nicholson's character talking a bunch of shit about how he defends us. The Guantanamo base is irrelevant You think a naval base on Cuba is “irrelevant” because it’s on the south side of the island and not the north side?

nixon_why69 5mo ago
You think Cuba represents a naval threat to the mainland US? I had higher expectations for you based on your other comments.
- rayiner 5mo ago
  Soviet-allied Cuba was a military threat to the U.S. in 1986 which is when the movie is set. Don’t forget the movie was written before the fall of the Soviet Union. And even when it came out in 1992, it wasn’t clear to audiences that the cold war was really over. Is Cuba a military threat today? No. But that’s because we have had a navel base there for more than a century, and the Soviet Union is long gone.

ethbr1 5mo ago

You're missing the forest for the trees. The scene between Colonel Jessup, Lt Jg Kaffee, and Lance Corporal Dawson and PFC Downey is about the nature of contradictory duties. Everyone in that scene has a sworn duty to the United States as active duty military. However, their duties sometimes conflict with each other (Jessup and Kaffee), and are even sometimes self-conflicting (Dawson and Downey). Bad doesn't always come with a sticker labeling itself, and there's trauma inflicted even in peacetime in the maintenance of military strength (in broken bodies, training deaths, and emotional trauma). To hold ones nose and pretend there isn't constant violence, even absent declared war, being perpetrated to militarily protect the US and Europe is to be ignorant, willfully or otherwise, of the foundation peace is built on. Jessup is a tale of the distinction between the reality of war and the higher ideals and laws of war.

nixon_why69 5mo ago
I understand and respect what you're saying here, but the fly in the ointment is that this posting (gitmo) was always bullshit and never actually mattered. Jessup is missing the forest for the trees far more than I ever could because it's not my job. He's getting kids killed for a bullshit assignment while being a Colonel. How do you think an Afghanistan or Iraq veteran would regard the Cuba assignment?
- ethbr1 4mo ago
  You're missing the forest, because Jessup and the entire enlisted structure would have been rotated to their next posting in 2-3 years max. And since Jessup seems to have been base commander for a while already, likely less than that. The goal of the military (as a whole) is to make people substitutable per their rank and MOS. Allowing good order and discipline to break down (as an officer, NCO, or enlisted) just because of current post is anathema to that.