A Soldier's Dad
This e-letter arrived the other day. It's from the father of a soldier. He agreed to let me blog this if I did not publish his family's name:
"As you may recall I had written to you last summer in response to a previous article you had written regarding the strain of the Iraq war affecting the American psyche. My son graduated from Westpoint and is now a lieutenant currently deployed at a Forward Operating Base somewhere in Iraq as a Military Intelligence Officer. The few messages I receive from him paint a very disturbing picture of the war effort. Needless to say, as a loyal officer he does not and will not detail much. But I can only infer from him that this war has been too costly not just financially but in human life.
Indeed, it is unquestionable that only a small minority of Americans are sacificing for this war President Bush decided was just, and he now refuses to listen to the American electorate.
Sadly I feel the deaths and injuries of American service men and women has been in vain, causing too much misery for too few to justify the continuation of the current American policy.
I fear for my son's life, though I know he is performing his duty well in Iraq because he is a loyal officer. But his sacrifice for this war seems intolerable to me.
I hope to join an anti-war march because I recall the conflict in Vietnam and the division it caused in the United States when I was my son's age."
Comments
Wonder if you would publish any letters that failed to adhere to your opinion. No. Such letters would not pass your litmus test. There is no doubt that very few are paying a price for the many. However, there is also no doubt that our memories are conveniently short and we are foolhardy to think that ending the battle on their turf will not mean a continuation of it on ours. When that happens, I wonder whether your litmus test will change.
Posted by: Bill | February 24, 2007 8:59 AM
It is normal to worry about your son in Iraq but your predisposition to be anti-war is probably coloring what you infer from his communications. Being a "loyal officer" doesn't mean you don't tell your father how you feel about your situation. I am at one of those FOBs in Iraq and I don't pretend to know how this is going to turn out. I just do my job as best I can, like generations of soldiers before us, and I am sure your son is doing the same. Joining the anti-war march won't help your son or any other soldier, current or future. The only thing we will see on the news is the tired old message that "I support the troops, but I don't support the war." It rings very hollow to soldiers in the fight. The message of the election did get through. Things take time.
Posted by: Joe Burke | February 25, 2007 5:16 AM
I would be most interested in the son's honest reaction to his thoughts being used in this manner. By far, the number of soldiers in the war zone with whom I correspond who believe in what they are doing, outnumber those who are preared to cut and run.
Posted by: COL E.C. Murphy (Ret) | February 25, 2007 10:52 AM
For the War or Anti-War or in the Middle, everyone must face the following facts:
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC).
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control.
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.
The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.
This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.
For more details see:
http://www.rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com
Posted by: Ken Larson | February 25, 2007 7:29 PM