Soldiers in Service

I’m in a conundrum.  I was sent a chain e-mail from a friend recently, containing a link to The Gratitude Campaign (www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php).   I was about to forward the e-mail with the following message:

I trust that you all know how much against the war I am, though I don’t believe I’m qualified to question or judge the motivation of someone who chooses to become a soldier in an all-voluntary military.  The fact of the matter is that they’ve chosen to fight for something, whether it’s us, a cause or themselves.  It’s quite a path to choose and I find myself wanting to thank these people for their service.  Accordingly, if you’re so inclined to do the same, then you can choose to spread the message. 

Then I thought about it some more...

I reflected further and had a problem with advancing any aspect of this war, whether it's the underlying principal or the fact that someone would choose a career of supporting a decision to go to war.  I mean, why else would a person volunteer to be a soldier if they weren't prepared to be at war.  Can I truly support such a decision? What then am I thanking them for?  My dad was a soldier and fought for something other than our own freedom.  He was DRAFTED.  These present-day soldiers ASKED to be part of war; part of killing; part of a tool that promotes hatred.  Does a person who truly believes in world peace support a military? 

But -- some may say -- what of the argument that as the power we are, we have a world duty to protect others? Would we then not need a military force (which of course begs the question of whether we've not actually made more enemies out of this war then friends -- but that's a debate for another day, though keep in mind that many believe that Bush is making more, not less, enemies that our sons and daughters, or grandsons and daughters, will have to fight in the future).  Can we not achieve the same result without military force?  Do we NEED these volunteers?  Do we WANT these volunteers?  Have they done us, our kids and our grandkids a service?  Did we ask them to put their lives and the future of their own families in jeopardy for something we believe in?

Yet on the other hand, who am I to question a soldier's belief that this is indeed the best way to win peace, even if it's painfully obvious that the approach is a miserable failure?  For that matter, what do the soldier's really think?  Do they WANT to go to war with each deployment?  Ever see pics in the NYT or on CNN of a family CELEBRATING a mom or dad's departure for duty?

So I'm stuck with deciding what to do and I don't have an answer.  Perhaps the next time I see a soldier, I'll stop and ask her.

Neal

Comments

[Lorenzo]

War is atrocious. I don't find it glorious. But as Plato said, "Only the dead have seen the end of war". In other words, it will forever live with us as a human race. War, as an extension of a government's policy, short of self defense, is morally wrong. That would be, for instance, a war for cheaper oil. The problem today is that the definition of self defense has been muddied by this so-called Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war. But then again, as it has been said, the first casualty of war is the truth. War is the great relativist.

A soldier's ultimate job is to do his duty regardless of whether he stumbles onto it (National Guard guy looking for a few extra bucks a month but who now is sweeping mines in Iraq) or whether he volunteers to fight for his country against REAL enemies (not the imaginary ones that Bush/Cheney seem to retrofit every few months). I guess that in a way, with the former, one can say that they have been "drafted" into combat since it was not their original intention to fight. For the latter, well, that's what they signed up for.

But this special appreciation does not respond to the mere fact that someone's doing his duty. Heck, I do my duty as a father and doctor but I don't expect, nor deserve, greetings at the airport. The special appreciation for a soldier stems from the fact that in the course of doing their duty they can DIE because the people they are working against (i.e. the enemy) have the goal of seeing that that happens as often and effectively as possible.

There are some things worth dying for. Even in the wild, nature has given some animals the instinct to fight to the death to defend their offspring. Bhutto though it worthwhile to risk her life for a cause. Gandhi was ready to die to overcome the yoke of imperialism ("they can kill me, but even then, they will have my body but not my obedience"). The thing is that in this world, not all fights are against the "civilized" British empire. Would Gandhi have lasted a week against Hitler, Pol Pot, or Stalin?

Thus, unfortunately war becomes necessary when as a country, we must defend virtuous national ineterests. The key work here is "defend". Could we have negotiated with Hitler? With Japan? How does a country neutralize naked aggression?

The reason why a good "grunt" is a young one is not only because the physical attributes of youth. It's also because the young are more prone to obey and follow the orders. You need that if you are to have discipline. As a young soldier, you must "buy" into the fight. The young are better at doing that than the old.

But we must appreciate the young, which are old enough to know that when you buy into the fight, you can die.

If you risk your life for others, in pursuit of a great cause, you deserve our gratitude and admiration. The soldiers acceptance of that duty ought to be divorced from the often sinister political reasons for war.

So yes, thanks are due to these young men and women.

[Laura]

As a college student, I am faced with losing friends to the Army, National Gaurd, Marines, etc. and i've sat down with some of them and asked as to why they are choosing to go off and fight for our country. With one of my friends who lives across the hall from me in my dorm, he expressed to me that school has a high tuition, and if it means that he has to fight for a couple years and then doesn't have to worry about loans and the debt that he has already put his parents in, then he is game to go to the Marines in August. As an American, I am free of worrying, and instead know that people are out there making this happen for me. I have an oppurtunity to go to college and get an education, and then I look at my friend, who doesn't have the same oppurtunity but he is making the best of the situation to be able to succeed in life.

Yes, my grandfather did fight in a war and was drafted to do so, but that is how times were in the 1950's. If the people who are now soldiers were not volunteering for war, Bush would've just brought back the draft, so instead of looking at the soldiers as putting themself in a dangerous situation and questioning if you are supposed to be supporting them, look at it as they are replacing those who do not want to fight and those who are in college getting an education or with their families at home.

All soldiers deserve the support of America, because that is the reason they are there.. is for us to be living in a safe environment that we are in.

So I will end this with a large Thank You to all the men and women in battle.