Admit it. You go through your entire day without once thinking about our young men and women fighting and often dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. As they are not part of the fabric of our everyday lives, they are invisible. They don't exist. They don't count.
As we wake in the mornings, roll out of our warm beds, get kids ready for school, head to the office, plan our weekends and fall asleep in front of our televisions, countless American troops are exposed to the elements, barely sleeping in half-hour spurts lying on the cold dirt while wedged behind irregular rock walls, on the lookout for IEDs, land mines, snipers and guerrillas, and more and more wondering, "What's the point?"
A friend of mine who just back from a second tour in Iraq recently told me, "I honestly don't think anyone cares about us. The media has now decided that Iraq doesn't even exist. Politicians from both sides of the aisle use us as cheap expendable pawns. What am I supposed to tell my children I'm fighting for?"
For the folks I speak with from the military, it really has come down to, "Let us go big or let us come home." They are horrified with the thought that they are fighting and dying for nothing. Absolutely nothing.
They want a president and Congress who can clearly define a mission -- any mission -- and then give them the troops, tools and moral certitude needed to complete that mission. What they don't want, and fear is happening across the board, is to have politicians back home make battlefield decisions based on the 2010 and 2012 elections. They look upon such selfish partisan interests as a betrayal of their sacrifice. They are heroically putting their lives on the line and need it to mean more than a passing political advantage for one party over the other.
My friend back from Iraq says that as the president and Congress waffle, hedge and backtrack on battlefield decisions, those we are fighting against in Iraq and Afghanistan sense an advantage. They don't believe the will of the U.S. government or its citizens is behind the U.S. troops they confront. They believe they can continue to pick off our troops one or 10 at a time, wait them out and then watch them head home with nothing to show for their pain and effort.
Since World War II, it can be argued that we have sent our young men and women into harm's way for politically expedient or not completely thought-out reasons. Too often of late, the decision to send our young to war has been made by those who never served, who sought continuous deferments or who never left the safety of the United States while serving.
For instance, when discussing former President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq, director Oliver Stone -- a decorated combat veteran who has earned his point of view -- said:
If Bush had spent three months in combat, he would take a whole different view of war. He wouldn't be so light. And that includes Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They're tough guys, but combat softens you, if anything. It makes you more aware of human frailty and vulnerability. It doesn't make you a coward, but it does teach you. If any of those guys had seen combat, I don't think we would have had this gratuitous decision to go to Iraq, which has cost us greatly.
While Mr. Stone may think differently now that Barack Obama is in the White House, his point is still well taken. Military service or combat experience is not a prerequisite for the Oval Office or Congress. That said, understanding the true horror and cost of war is invaluable to the decision-making process.
This is not a partisan issue. With regard to Iraq, many I know from the military strongly feel that their bosses got rolled or big-footed by Mr. Rumsfeld, by his nonmilitary advisers with PhDs and by Dick Cheney's office. Many feel the same mistakes and lack of respect for their service and their very lives is being replicated by the Obama administration when it comes to Afghanistan.
As you read this from the comfort of your home or office, an American soldier is literally freezing in the mountains of Afghanistan, sitting in the sights of the enemy or about to get blown up. For what?
These young men and women are not invisible. They are not political pawns. They are our sons, our daughters, our neighbors and our friends.
More than that, they are our saviors. Shouldn't they matter?
Douglas MacKinnon, a novelist, is a former White House and Pentagon official who also served as press secretary to former Sen. Bob Dole.
Nick Turse: 2014 or Bust: The Pentagon's Building Boom in Afghanistan Indicates a Long War Ahead
While the US officially insists that it is not setting up permanent bases in Afghanistan, the scale and permanency of the construction underway at Bagram seems to suggest, at the least, a very long stay.
I wonder how long the concern for Soldiers and their families last.
During the Viet Nam war, every day at dinner time on the 6:00 news we got a report of the body count which made the horrors of war all too real and was a part of our daily lives right there in our dining rooms and living rooms. We thought about the soldiers every day.
The absence of the draft contributes to forgetfulness of the soldiers because not everyone has a child that could be called upon at a moment's notice to be whisked away to combat and possible death or dismemberment so parents don't have to live with that constant worry and they can forget about the soldiers.
The absence of the draft removes personal attachment to the soldiers as many families have no one who has volunteered to serve in the military so it all seems very removed from their daily lives.
Support Our Troops. Bring Them Home Now!
I think about the 100s of thousand innocent residents of those countries that have been killed and the millions that have become refugees.
I also think about the war profiteers and banksters and streeters that were busy wrecking the economy while the troops were over in the middle east getting killed and maimed.
I think about it a lot.
There's nobody really big enough there to to "go big" against.
It would be like trying to swat flies with a sledgehammer.
Okay, so I'm not freezing in a foxhole somewhere in the mountains of Afghanistan, but to be blunt, that's what the military does - that's their JOB. An all-volunteer army is just that, VOLUNTEERS. What did they think they were signing up for at the recruiting office? Yes, I appreciate their sacrifice and the burden they carry and yes, I believe they should all be able to come home. But the truth of the matter is, militaries fight wars, that's what they do. The fact that the two wars we are engaged in were complete clusterf@#ks from day one doesn't mean I should be made to feel guilty because I'm not standing perpetually on a streetcorner waving a flag.
The reason that our nation's collective memory has faded is because that only a small number of US citizens serve in the military at any time. The vast majority of Americans have no idea or concept of what it means to serve anything or anyone other than themselves. Our nation has become a self indulgent, selfish group of individuals who believe they must persue what is best for them, everyone and everything else be damned. I still believe that universal military service was not a viable alternative for the United States, however the more I see of the total disconnect of the serving and the served gives me pause to reconsider. If drafted and forced to serve, I am starting to think that at the very least a part of our society would learn appreciation for the hardships endured by our troops.
Not true. I think about wanting them to not be there almost constantly.
"This is not a partisan issue."
LOL. That's hilarious! The GOP got us into these messes and they will do everything they can to make sure we stay. I don't need any lectures from republicans on this subject.
But they might have to shut down because they don't have the money to keep going. http://www.prweb.com/releases/charity/closure/prweb3052814.htm
Donate if you can. It's a very worthy cause.
The soldiers probably do express some version of "go big or go home." But that is because they are the true believers, and they have to be. Who could go into a war zone, perhaps to die or be severely wounded, unless they were a true believer in everything the US does. This is precisely why the country must not risk them unless it is absolutely necessary, because they are so vunerable to our call.
The government in Afghanistan is suspect. The Aflghan people are not sold on the idea of democracy itself (especially that woman as equal part). We have more to fear from terrorists in Pakistan than Afghanistan.
I cannot support your call for more war until we have some idea if our guys truly will be "dying for nothing."
Last I checked, those troops were cheering on GW Bush at bases and supported the war
Well they got the war they wanted so now they should just stop whining
Herein lays a crucial misconception to the soldiers themselves and their impossible task to be a hero. Heroes are human driven by the believe of a humanitarian mission to liberate and protect people with the inhumane act of violence. The sacrifice is their own humanity.
But hero has become an empty meaningless shell of a word, because anybody who looks out for their fellow citizen which is his duty is nowadays a hero. Their humanity was never in question. Nobody wants to know about the natural struggle of a soldier. If the price of their sacrifice and I mean all soldiers, the dead, the wounded and the survivors are so highly valued why are they treated so poorly and paid so little?
Nobody wants to see a physically and mentally destroyed person and say he fought for our gasoline or hear the rationalization of fighting for some other peoples' liberation. It does not make sense.
We are getting more troops in because these young people can't get jobs here in the US. There should be more coverage of these wars and of the killing going on, let the people of the US see what is going on. We have thousands of troops coming home that can't take care of themselves, we have troops that have been there 3,4,5 times, some of them not medically qualified to even go. Then we have representatives like Coburn(i think that is how you spell it) that are holding up benefits for veterans, can you believe that. Do you know that Congress can not pass a bill that will help veterans unless they know where the money is coming from, but funding these wars they can fund on make believe money this is crazy. If you care about these troops and veterans then do a little thing and send an e-mail, better yet a letter, or both to your Representatives and tell them they better take care of the veterans, the least we the people can make sure that they are taken care of.
They sure were gung ho for the wars back then when it was just Iraqis and Afghans being killed and maimed so whats changed since then ? - oh yeah lots of them are being killed and maimed......well tough luck, that's what happens in war - you know the thing they were cheering and urging on back in 2001 and 2003
We are raised to be patriotic and trust our government, and elders.
We don't learn until it is too late how to separate the jingoism from patriotism.
It is not the fault of the soldiers that they are naive. It is the fault of lying politicians, our media, and most of all our ignorant, stupid citizens whose line of thought is no longer than a bumper sticker.
The public is stupid. I saw it during Viet Nam. Thought the next generation would be smarter with the knowledge of how the public was duped then.
I was wrong, here comes the neo-cons. People are even more stupid.
Now comes a cheap way, single payer, to help save lives and money. The very people it would help fight it with all their might. People are just stupid.