amazing how learning that cutbacks are in the air has failed to cause me to buckle down and be useful. i suppose i’m more than prepared to get on with it and embrace whatever the next phase of my life is. and it explains why i’m sitting here with this ghostzilla window open, reading wonderful blogs. which brings me to the reason this is in the rant category:
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first, i recommend reading Jason‘s eloquent piece on the personal side of war, the side that is felt most by those who embraced a military career for the well-advertised job security and educational benefits of joining the armed services. and you know, i’d rather hear Jason’s take on the sense of dread combined with commitment to duty, than what i’ve read elsewhere, in comments, can’t remember where exactly, but there are folks who portray soldiers as ‘chomping at the bit’ wanting to go kill! kill! — i find that most disturbing. there’s some crazy shit that goes on in a ground war, the sort of thing that prompted Scott to write Not With My Daughter:
So to me, the questions are not “does Saddam need to go” or “will it be safer when he’s gone” or “should we do something about it?” Those are the all-too-easy questions of these so-called warbloggers. My questions are would I be willing to subject my own child to the infliction of violent death on the deductions of a group of politicians? Would I be willing to subject my own child to witnessing violent death on the assumptions of a group of rear-echelon intelligence officers? Would I be willing to offer my own child up to a violent death when there are no plans for an aftermath that would make that death meaningful?
finally, here’s Dru‘s take on the socioeconomic aspects of recruitment. let’s know who we’re sending, yes?
slightly off-topic: why is it that officially sanctioned expeditions into foreign lands to engage in mutual slaughter, is something that is just part of our nature?
I’m searching for a piece I heard on All Things Considered about the toils of war and how soldiers hoped to get shot or injured so they could come home during World War II and Vietnam.
In the meanwhile, there’s this one – learn from history
here’s another example of learning from history — remember this? In the first few days of the exercise, using surprise and unorthodox tactics, the wily 64-year-old Vietnam veteran sank most of the US expeditionary fleet in the Persian Gulf, bringing the US assault to a halt. .
to quote Ms. Muller, in your link: “With so much jingoism in the air, we need all the wisdom we can get. “
more experienced voices, in this case, Bush Sr, in 1998, in the Village Voice:
See, now this topic is one that really scares me. Sometimes when I’m thinking about it, I actually shake from the impending doom I feel. I’m off to read the links now, but wanted to say this before I get lost elsewhere.
the nature of man…
you dont see a lot of women out there setting up wars…
but
we do send our sons and husbands.
still I think men need war for some reason.