While watching Before You Enlist: The Real Deal on Joining the Military on Free Speech TV (available on Dish Network), I couldn't help but think of my brother in Egypt. He joined the National Guard this year against my family's objections. We exchanged letters while he was in training, and I worried even more. He acts like going to war will be a video game. Recruiters even use video games at events to help the cause. Former recuiters also have said they are told to do whatever it takes to make their numbers.
The best advice from this film was that potential recruits should talk to veterans, around town, in the VA hospitals, on the street and get the real story of serving in war. You can find a VA hospital near you here.
Today, on Veteran's Day, I feel it's more important than ever to speak up and question why we are putting these men and women whom we respect so much into harm's way.
Are we in Iraq to perpetuate unrest so corporations can profit and steal from the Iraqi people and the American taxpayers? It seems that way when BlackWater independent contractors (or mercenaries) can kill without fear of retribution. My America doesn't stand for that. My America is based on the rule of law. The Constitution. Not profiteering. Not torture. As the network news extolls the heroes of the World Wars, where everyone had to serve and sacrifice during the war, they omit the veterans who would say don't to volunteer. Not now when America stands on the precipe of fascism where corporate interests rule, and the people dare not speak. Lest they be swept away, totured until they no longer know who they are.
1 comment:
Shhh...
"Tell my sister not to weep for me, and sob with drooping head,
When the troops come marching home again with glad and gallant tread,
But to look upon them proudly, with a calm and steadfast eye,
For her brother was a soldier too, and not afraid to die...."
--Caroline Norton, Bingen on the Rhine
I also remember the games we played together. And cry. For the pain I've caused you.
I'm far too old to think war is a video game -- but I was able to draw on my video game experiences throughout training. Hell, if the rest of the SWAT class had been familiar with Rainbow 6 we could have jumped right to the practical exercise.
Why are we put in harm's way? That's where we're needed.
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