Perspective
So I'm part of this HBO documentary entitled Alive Day Memories in which the good folks at HBO, as well as James Gandolfini, try to bring some of our points of view to the blink box. This is so you as Americans and those of you around the rest of the world can have some inkling of what it is like to fight and die for something. It airs September 9th at 10:30 p.m. on the east coast of the USA. Wherever you are and whomever you may be affiliated with, it doesn't matter -- you should watch this documentary. I've seen it a few times and after the first time it burned into my memory. You'll want to show your friends, loved ones and associates because our perspectives on things are quite different from what is popular in the media.
Think of that for a second...popular in the media doesn't mean what is the truth but rather what people want to see over and over again. You don't see too many accounts of men and women in the field, or at least I have not. That may be because I sit and listen to these people talk and know they want to say more but cannot. From what I understand it's gotten worse since I left. They all must say the party line, that kind of thing. There are blogs and videos and all kinds of sites started by the soldiers, marines and sailors themselves, and you should look at them. But that's still the sanitized versions of their perspectives on reality. The news and the media don't give you truth no, they entertain and inform about things their viewers may want to know. However this documentary isn't what military men and women would talk about; the politics or the best way to shoot someone from 500 meters or how the navy is. No, we went and we all went because we had to go and then we got hurt and are now dumped back in the world. Our perspectives have changed. Mine has especially....
I went from being G.I. Jon to being a broken mess. Being a soldier is a job, true, but I had to come to that conclusion as I matured. Think about it this way. I went from being a high school student to a well-trained weapon from my country. To do something like that, to commit yourself to becoming that, you must believe in it with every fiber of your existence and become that which you aspire to. I did. Then I got hurt. It wasn't heroic, wasn't legendary, didn't save lives nor did I fall atop a pile of my slain enemies. No. I got killed by rolling over a bomb, laid there by cowards who knew they could not win in a stand-up fight with the U.S. military. When a soldier is taken out like that, when I was taken out like that, it broke me. Who I was, what I did, what my future was, and my self-worth were all put in this mirror of the mind. Everyone has it: the image of who you are in your head. Mine shattered that day almost three years ago. All the facets of who I was that were tied up to being a soldier were scattered around my mind, and the man I was lay broken, bleeding, screaming in rage and frustration at a universe so cruel as to deny him a proper warrior's death. But I lived, I survived, I have adapted and now I thrive. I am more than the sum of my parts, though I do require some assembly.
Being in the military for any length of time affects your perspective on things, then being forced to change your life as a result of a wound and then medically discharged from the military changes your views still more. I can honestly say I don't think like a soldier anymore. I still have the reflexes and skills of a soldier, and I hone them from time to time. Now I think like a businessman, a salesman, a statesman and, if you believe what my friends say about me, a Tyrant, with a capital T. I have new goals in life and a new outlook. Though I am still the bright and shiny optimist as ever to the bitter end of my life or to the end of days, whichever comes first. I believe I can change the world, make humanity mature just a bit and in the process, make enough money to get what I want...
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the volunteer army is an amazing and rare resource.
we have a duty to use you wisely.
i believe we have failed our part of the bargain!
d
Mr. Bartlett, it sounds like you have recognized that this is YOUR country. You have given so much and you now must go forward changing this nation once and for all. God knows that not enough of my generation has done enough. For that I am sorry.
This is Vietnam all over again. The chicken hawks and war profiteers and corrupt regimes have done it to us before.
The common thread I find is still a silver lining. Of all those I have met along the way, regardless of rank or prior social stature, the military is the last best hope we have to transfer the honor and idealism found there, into the society at large.
I maintain that it will be former soldiers and sailors and airmen that come to run our government as elected officials and we will be much better for it.
Take up the mantle Mr. Bartlett. Run for office. We need you now more than ever.
With your optimism and idealism intact, you are never a broken man. You are a SOLDIER. Nobody can ever take that away from you.
Non sibi.
Oh, Jonathan, my heart goes out to you.
To you and your generation who were some how not taught to think things through, to consider consequences, to sort through the loud messages for the truth that was hidden.
You were taught to desire toys and gadgets and glory, but you were not taught their cost.
I can feel compassion for you, but I cannot thank you. It's a volunteer army, you made the choice.
I hope you teach your children better than you were taught.
Scoop,
I appreciate your general themes.
But my jaw dropped with your double-talk re compassion, thanks, and choices... which so much as BLAMES Mr. Bartlett -- his naivete leading to his injury.
For shame.
Its Mr. Bartlett here, God I love being old enough to stick by that.... Anyway, You sir, blaming us youngins for our Naive enthusiasm and the 18 year old's ability to pretend invincibility
FOR SHAME!:-)
By the way, 4 points for actually typing For Shame Dude man ReasonIsMyReligion. Good show!
Wow. Thank you. See you Fri nite, 10:30pm.
I'm still stuck on how an IED fatality is any warrior's idea of a warrior's death. To this here humble civilian, every IED death -- or injury -- is a symptom of ineffective tactics.
This nation is in your debt.
Its not, read that bit again. It says I was denied a proper soldier's death. A warrior deserves a warrior. I am and was a warrior at heart. We deserve to die in the heat of battle against other Warriors. Sounds silly to you, but Im not here to bash your superstitions or your beliefs, ya?
We aren't meant for this kind of pussyfooting around. The Army is a broadsword, ineffective in a fencing match, unless you strike your opponenet down all at once. The Marines are a large heavy Mace; Very good for breaking anything wide open, not something you win hearts an minds with. This is war that should have been settled the same way the Brits' handled it when they started this mess in the first place during the age of colonialism if Im not incredibly mistaken. If I am, well you know how the education system is in this country, making all us young folk so silly as to join the army Right? *mind you Im kidding, I've had some of you people tell me such...*
You served your country honorably, unfortunately your country and government did not serve you honorably. Good luck to you in whatever the future holds. And also, Thank you for your service and the major sacrafice you made. Coming from a long Military family, It never ceases to amaze me, how much the military shapes you. When our son graduated from the Marines, I was dumfounded at the transformation. Yet, even though he did two tours of the gulf, and had to have his knee nearly replaced, a good many of his training lessons and other things remain with him every day. But he too questions and wonders aloud. Since he was three all he talked about was being a soldier, and he did it. I think it was an eye opener for him.
I hope and pray all our soldiers will come home soon, however, with this guy in office it's not going to happen very soon.
Why do your friends describe you as a Tyrant?
Because I, like every other American and most westerners period, like things done my way and NOW! All a Tyrant is is someone whom gets there way, has always gotten there way, and usually through very bloody means. I used to be quite an angry young man, got into lots of fights, full of rage, that sort of business. Furthermore, my first and middle name is Jon Wayne. Thats right, i am the DUKE! My family and family friends started calling me El Dueche *the duke in Spanish, I don't know Spanish though...*
Its not a bad thing. I am a Tyrant. Most great men and women in history have been Tyrants in one form a fashion; they were master of their surroundings and imposed their will onto the universe with such strength that it was done. Wow. its just that easy ;-)
The only cheerleaders for war are people who have never been in it or had relatives injured or die in it.
Chickenhawks we call them, and they thrive on regular people's naievete.
Remember soldier-Chickenhawk In Chief Bush was a male cheerleader at his priviliged college while the real men were on the field playing football.
Sound familiar?????
The guys who returned from ww2 and wanted to build rather than destroy helped build much of the infrastructure in this country we enjoy today.
Get as much education as you can stand while you are young. This country needs producers.
I intend to do a great many things to this country, this planet and our species. I wonder if history will remember me as fondly as HBO's documentary. Rest assured. Everyday is an Education, if your but willing to pay attention. And I do...
Thank you for being so brave. My heart goes out to you. I hope you are able to able to have a happy rest of your life. Where there is life there is hope, and I hope you never give up, and are able to enjoy life.
At this point in your life, politics are probably meaningless to you. None of us need to subject you or any other wounded soldiers to our own view of things.
In the meantime, to everyone reading these blogs and comments, what do I get out this? As a past serviceperson, I believe that War sometimes needs to be waged, but invading a country that has not and is not going to attack your country is criminal.
Jonathan,
I am glad you survived, and glad you are posting here on huffingtonpost.
Perhaps you need to rethink what you were doing over there. You say you were bombed by cowards who knew they could not win in a stand-up fight. You had all the weapons and armor, they have almost nothing. It takes a lot of courage for them to stand up to the invaders when they are so outgunned. You have to admire the job they are doing. They are up against the United States military and are not backing down. The Iraqis didn't ask the United States to invade their country. They don't want to lose their country to us, and they are willing to die in large numbers to stop us. If anything the American soldiers except for you are the cowards because they are almost all afraid to speak to the American people about the truth of the situation. Shame on them. They are selling our country down the tubes by not being honest, and by letting themselves be used in a way that does nothing to protect America, just protect selected corporate interests and make America and the world a far more dangerous place. I look forward to discussing more truths with you here on huffingtonpost.
I found that phrase about the Iraqis being cowards because they would not stand up and get blown away by superior firepower a bit strange. If we are the brave ones shouldnt we leave our superior weapons at home and limit ourselves to the same weapons they have.
In fairness to Jonathan, he was probably just expressing the way those in the military are taught to feel about things. The more unjust the war, the more important it is to sow hatred among your troops.
Jonathan it appears to me that life is about soul development and this earth is one big and sometimes has the appearance of nasty an unfair schoolhouse.
It also appears that your experiences have given you the opportunity to have one big jump in soul development.
I don’t understand what you meant by being called a tyrant if you meant your friends now think of you as a traitor then you are in good company.
Consider it a badge of honor if one is called a traitor for opposing an illegal war based on greed and lies.
“laid there by cowards who knew they could not win in a stand-up fight with the U.S. military.” Cowards? Like trying to kick out foreign invaders that want to control your oil. This is strategy if we americans were invaded by a superior army then the best strategy would be to slowely bleed the foreign invader to death one soldier at a time.
The mere fact that the us army only guarded the oil ministry after we toppled the iraq governemnt says it all. You were fighting in a mercenary army for a corrupt us government jonathan. I almost did in vietnam until I went to the local library and did some reseearch and found that war to be an illegal war based on lies and false pretensess.
Jonathan, Thank you, not only for your service, but your honest insight. I don't know when, if ever, leadership will take the lives and the futures of soldiers into consideration before giving orders for war. I know for a fact that they are never prepared for the results. No soldier ever takes the job thinking about injury, death..yes
Jonathan,
Thank you for your service to our country.
Don't ever lose your optimism. Don't let anyone take away the part of you that remains a "warrior." Don't ever stand down from the good fight.
If there was ever a time that our country needs people like you to roll up your sleeves and continue the fight, it is now. People like you are a gift to this country.
It sounds like you are close to finding purpose behind your circumstances. I wish you the best in the discovery of life. Celebrate the moment. Forget the past. Embrace the future.
"I got killed by rolling over a bomb, laid there by cowards who knew they could not win in a stand-up fight with the U.S. military."
That is the nature of asymmetrical warfare; it is practiced by the relatively powerless *everywhere*, even the brave men and women who fought in the American Revolution: the British marched in formation in their proud Red Coats, while "we" hid in the firest and picked-them-off.
While I thank you for your national service, and sincerely regret your injury, when your own friends describe you as a "Tyrant with a capital 'T'", you sound like in the process of gaining "maturity," you lost some humanity.
You dont have to have alot of humanity to be a good man. All one needs is Honor and half a working brain how to think through one's own actions. My friends, well those whom havn't turned into waste'softime, call me a Tyrant in an affectionate way. Sounds weird, but hey, weirdness attracts weirdness.
Im not bashing their style of warfare. Ok? I realize the tactical implications of going against a far superior enemy. Don't deny a soldier the opportunity to bitch my friend, it makes us happy. All Im saying is that if an enemy claims to have GOD on their side, they would have a little balls. They don't, they send children and teenagers to do their dirty work. Our enemy has no Honor. They have no spines, they are not even willing to see if the 72 virgins bit is true or not. They are COWARDS. Get it?
after reading your essay, many points rise. not all of them favorable to the point of view you've expressed. but when one has given two legs to america's bad government (bush in particular), there is nothing anyone can or should say.
we are not all as blackhearted as anne coulter.
do what you can brother.
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