Quote:
Originally posted by NeonPi
I agree that it is commendable when people from other countries volunteer to serve for another country (ie. Americans who volunteered for the British Royal Air Force before the US entered WWII). I have a friend that enlisted with the US Army to serve in Iraq, and I support his choice.
Rudey, I wasn't meaning to be insulting. It is just that some of your postings/reactions to posts seem so angry, it is hard to get to the points you do raise - that's all. (I think we all can empathsize when it is obvious that someone has responded but hasn't read your post completely - it's happened to me a few times on GC myself.)
...and now back to the regularly scheduled programme...er, thread 
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See while people may personally commend the actions of these indivuals who serve in other militaries... it is the issue of government recognition.
For example would you say that a citizen who fought in for another country, in a conflict that the Canadian government or military didn't offical participate in, be eligible for the same benifits as veterans who did? If you want to attach qualifiers to this, then you run into more ethical or political problems.. such as which conflict do you recognize? which countries do you recognize as acceptable? do you reduce all veterans benifits to compensate for the increased demand? do you grant benifits to foreign veterans who have then immigrated to Canada? do you give the same recognition to these foreign veterans as Canadians who volunteered for their country? do you then have to recognize foreign veterans who served with hostile countries?
It's a complex issue and one that I see debated almost annually at the Legion, and one with a lot of invested emotions and ethics attached.
Keep in mind though that change does happen sometimes, as in the case of the Merchant Marine - they now have some recognition and many benifits - but not all. Arguements in that cse revolved around the designation of the Merchant Marine as non-military or non-combatant personnel... many veterans who did serve felt it wrong to recognize them on the same level of those who volunteered to fight...
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