We Can be Anti-War and Pro-troop.
Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 01:54:56 PM PDT
That is if we want to be. First, let’s address the fallacy of the argument. Of course you can be pro-troop and anti-war. You can be anything you’d like to be. As a matter of fact, I’m anti-cold but pro-ice cream; anti-snoring but pro-sleep; and even anti-Sting but pro-The Police. To argue that any of these two ideas are mutually exclusive is just as ignorant and ridiculous as arguing that one cannot be anti-war and pro-troop.
Second, do we really want to be anti-war? I’m sure it’s safe for me to assume that we all here are against the war and occupation in Iraq, but here’s the rub: that is a stupid war that we should not be involved in. There is a difference between being anti-war and anti-stupid war. Like it or not, in the history of our nation our freedom and way of life has come under attack on multiple occasions. It’s more than likely will happen again one day, even if that day is decades or centuries from now. When another nation seeks to deprive us of those inalienable rights, we need a standing military in order to protect them.
That’s what I and my brothers and sisters in arms signed up to do. To support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We do this with a sacred yet unspoken promise from our civilian leadership, and that promise is this: We will volunteer to die for our country, if they promise to not send us to die over something not worth dying for. They don’t always hold their end of the bargain. But we go, because it is our duty. And to not go would mean my friends who are more to me than blood will not have me by their side, watching their back in combat. To not go would mean that the Soldiers I lead, that I have been trusted by their parents, spouses, friends and other loved ones to lead them out of harm, would have to fight without my leadership. For a friend or a subordinate to be hurt when I was not there to protect them, but could have been, would pretty much render me suicidal.
Some may think that when you get an order to go to war, a guy in a banana republic uniform comes out and says "WHO WANTS TO KILL?!?!"’ That's not how it works. It’s really mundane actually. The rumor mill churns for a few months. "Are we going or aren’t we?" Soldier’s talk about how much they don’t want to go, and what they are going to do to get out of it. Then the order comes down in the form of a memorandum with a by name list of every guy in the unit. One guy doesn’t want to get out of it. He wants to go so someone else somewhere else doesn’t have to. The majority of the rest will go because they don’t want their buddy to go by himself. Some will smoke pot or go AWOL to avoid it. And they are cowards, because while they will be sitting on their couch watching Wheel of Fortune, their friends will be getting shot at. When you are on the ground, combat isn’t about killing the enemy. It’s about keeping the enemy from killing you and your buddy. It’s survival. To argue that a Soldier is wrong for fighting is no different than arguing that you would not defend your family if someone threatened them. Of course you would, and that is why we fight.
Yeah, some Soldier’s do some fucked up things. Those that do deserve whatever comes to them. Throw them in the brig and throw away the key, I say. And when they die let them burn in hell upon the fire of a thousand suns for tarnishing the good and moral image of the American Soldier. But I know I for one will not commit acts that will be a violation of my conscience. And I will be here to train my Soldiers to do the same. I will be here because I took that oath.
So don’t support the troops if you don’t feel like it. With or without your support, I’ll be here if our freedoms become challenged by an enemy; foreign or domestic. I’ll be here doing what is right, and making sure my Soldiers do the same. I’ll be here, being pro-troop and anti-stupid war.
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