I'm watching the news last night, they were showing a photograph of a six year old girl standing at the head of her father's coffin as it was being lowered into the ground. Her father was home from Iraq. It was touching, especially the utter look of confusion on the girl's face. There was some minister stating the usual platitudes of this man who fought and died from a sense of duty and patriotism.
As they cut from this story a commercial for Eastwood's new movie "Flags of Our Fathers" was there on the screen. Eastwood is sitting in a chair saying the premise of the movie is the sacrifice for their country by the Marines on Iwo Jima.
I just went off into the reality of combat again. Somebody owes the truth to that little girl. Not that the sacrifice of her father and for those guys on Iwo was not valid but that the idea they did it for their country is bull shit.
You see, an individual may enlist out of patriotism (and most do) but when the shit hits the fan and your asshole puckers all the patriotism and ideals go away except one, the person next to you. Your ideals shrink real fast and everything gets real personal..
That is why what a kid with their leg blown off wants more than anything is the return to his unit, his buddies. They don't really want to return, but the thought of their buddies still there and "in the shit" and them not, is unacceptable.
Ask yourself this of any combat veteran of any conflict. I defy you to find one who lost a buddy or stood shoulder to shoulder with someone and faced death together, they will tell you nothing other than their buddies sacrifice for them or that the reason why they stayed put and were willing to die was for that buddy.
Warriors are sent to battle because of flags and nations and even an honorable idea but they fight and die for the one who stands beside them, not the concept. I believe that little girl could grasp that better and closer rather than some grand words.
These same factors caused me several years ago to repropose an old model. I call it the "Braveheart Style". It proposes, if the leader is not willing to get out front and lead the charge then everyone gets to stay home,
| | Posted by wingfire at 5:14 PM - | |
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Thank you for an excellent post, it is eye-opening and thought-provoking.
My father died when I was nine and my memory of him has faded. I’m over fifty and I can’t remember having any recollection of him. My mother explained to me many years later how he died. Seems my dad was celebrating with one of his buddies and they had some women in the car when they were broadsided on his side by an eighteen-wheeler. My mom was at home with her newborn of seven days and six other children me included.
Do you think the media was using the opportunity to score points in using the segway from the little girl to the movie?
Every man and woman that serves our country has their own reasons and I would suspect that they are honorable. I think that a lot of times the media uses still lives (pictures) of eventful times and sells the idea of whatever the scenes seem to portray.
I can’t comment on combat experiences because I was not in combat. Although having been in the military 21 years there were instances that were adrenaline driven and not patriotic.
We should have our leaders on the battlefield. That would give them a birds eye view of how war should be fought. I don’t support war but sometimes one has to defend the turf
Many years ago I learned of Ira Hayes,and I felt very ashamed of my country! How is it we can live in a country made up of people from all walks of life,but leave out the people that really has the most right to be called an American! To me that is one of the most outrageous wrongs we have ever committed. How can it be that a man joins our military to fight for this country,A country that he was born in and his family called their home for 2000 years ,but cant be be called an American Citizen????
you're comments and thoughts are as always poignant and centered.
I'll go a little farther on the thinking, they say that men go to war, that is a misnomer, the facts are that boys go to war. they cone back as men but........
wingfire
it does seem like a good idea doesn't it? I have always been disappointed that no one who might to be able to affect this and other ideas has ever asked for my opinion.
wingfire
would never be able to comment on your personal experiences, but yes I think we all deserve the truth. I believe it is often necessary to believe in some things even though they might not be true, but that should be my choice. I do think that at a early age we are begun on a spiral on the nature of the truth in order that we are prepared for the ever increasing amount of bullshit and still assume our place as an "productive adult". The whole system that we devised depends on it.
My comments were not questioning the reasons why someone chooses to serve but rather why they fight and die. It is my experience and the result of many insights by others with that experience, is that when you decide to put your life on the line with the knowledge that it might be required. That decision swings on the personal and second maybe patriotism.
Learned along time ago to always listen to the chief. Your comments always serve to help in further need to look at my thinking.
wingfire
you'reabsolutely correct, the fact that so often even the disenfranchised have stepped forward, it is a real paradox. Take the contribution of the Navajo codetalkers. The Tuskogee Airmen; and while their families were interred in camps the most decorated unit in the US Army was a unit made up of Japaneses
Americans. go figure
wingfire
One of the many issues in the U.S. military is the recruitment process - - young men (primarily) with still-developing brains are plied with emotional pitches about "patriotism" and tempted with the many benefits of military service (if you live over it). Without full neurological capacity and a tendency to make decisions on impulse and with great emotion, they are tasked with making the life-altering decision to join the military for a number of years (long-range thinking is also not fully in their repertoire). Once IN the military, they're asked to make snap decisions that are life-and-death for themselves, their fellow soldiers, and civilians.
Not only should the leaders be out front, but mature adults only should be recruited into the military. We'd have a smaller force that would be resistant to being deployed unnecessarily, wouldn't we?
Some take the oath as just words; some take as their word, and some take it as a way of life. Some feel the oath is beneath them; only for common folk.
My last CO was the real deal. He came up through the ranks to his first star.
To be led by a coward, gold bricking, slacker is gut wrenching.
Keep the home fires burning so we have a guiding light.
youv'e hit upon one of the real dirty secrets of this war, and really all wars. it is just the fact that after Vietnam and now are we coming to the facts. Killing another human being is not natural, no matter the justification, how noble or deserved. when you stop shaking and have time to "look at", well let's just say it never really leaves you and it can really fuck you up.
If it doesn't tear at you at least a little then just like the police, that individual should be removed.
I have a great deal of compassion for those men and women serving in this mess. While they are affecting their lives for the rest of it, if they are lucky enough to leave with one while the president of Haliburton made over 200 million dollars last year.
I would like to convey to anyone out there who believes that violence and killing can solve our problems, those who supported this war and have profitted from it. I would like to express this respectfully as not to offend, but I just can't find the words or desire, so FUCK YOU.
wingfire
The warriors I have been around really did not need an oath. They seemed to have no choice, yes they took oaths very seriously, but they were not motivated by any influence other than who they were.
Our squadron's motto was "loyalty above all else except honor". There were no question when it came to each other because the loyalty was for our country, but each other was always a matter of honor.
Fighter pilots are a little different. We all wanted to be there and had all worked real hard to be there. One of the key factors that makes a good fighter driver is agressiveness.
We used to say rather than "keep the light burning"......keep the wick lit at both ends.
wingfire
You are absolutely correct. Few men and women die in combat for their country; they die to protect the person next to them. The young marine who threw himself on a live grenade, sacrificing himself, did it, not for his country, not for freedom for either himself or the Iraqis, not for some exalted cause, but to protect his five buddies who were close by.
this represents the paradox that all combat veterans face. expressed well by Dickens, "it was the best of times, it was the worse of times"
wingfire.