I'm stupid

[miriam_e]

I suspect that I am a bit stupid. I've in the past said some intolerant things about the military. Yesterday I read the anguish felt by a sibling of someone sent to fight in Iraq. I felt through her writing what it must feel like and it was awful.

I had realised, intellectually, before that these people sent to fight there had to follow orders. They had no real choice in the matter. It is well-nigh impossible to buck the system; that is how it is set up. But somehow I rationalised that once sent to an unjust war that we washed our hands of them; that they somehow deserved to reap what they sowed. But that's plain stupid! They're caught up in a system that works hard to remove responsibility for their actions. How can anyone justify thinking that they suddenly do bear the responsibility for decisions taken by others far away from their realm of influence?

I know there is some proportion of soldiers who really get a hard-on at the prospect of shooting up a bunch of "towel-heads" or "pinkos" or "wogs" or "slants" or whoever are the hate target of the day, but even their families don't deserve the fear and anguish. And we should be protecting bullet heads from themselves instead of inflicting them upon a hapless population. A sane military should have nothing to do with such mentality. Even these, frankly repellent, people don't deserve to be killed or maimed. They are broken and need to be fixed, not broken more.

We all know where the responsibility lies. It is in the so-called "leaders". The political and military "leaders". Our current crop is the most irresponsible I've seen.

Comments

[dances-withcats.livejournal.com]

That's a really important realization, and one it took me some extraordinary circumstances to figure out, too.

My little brother was in the Army during Operation Desert Fuck, er, I mean Operation Desert STORRMMMMM!!!111oneoneone!!! I was back home being a peace activist, while he was trying to get out as a conscientious objector--his point of view was that he'd joined the Army to defend his country, not extend US hegemony over sovereign nation, and his religious views (at the time) also forbade fighting in wars. He didn't manage to get out as a C.O., but he came up with another way to get out (and not earn a dishonorable discharge, in spite of himself). I had other friends in the Army Reserve who got activated for O.D.S., too, and I knew a lot of guys who didn't believe the propaganda the govermnent was shoveling out about that war, either.

The ultimate responsibility does lie with the leaders. They are the ones who tell the soldiers to go out there and kill, bomb, etc. Some soldiers will stand up and say "no," in spite of the HUGE risks (including possible life in prison), but most will feel they can't disobey, even if they believe what they're being ordered to do is wrong. I can't imagine the kind of horror and brokenness that inflicts on the men and women in that trap. They come home wounded in ways that you never see--until they start drinking, doing drugs, hurting themselves or their family....and so on.

leaders

[jenna2.livejournal.com]

hey Mims,
speaking as former military You are taught to not think but obey and then as you go up in rank the powers that be try and reverse that by making you responsible for your actions. according to the UCMJ articles you can indeed refuse any unlawful order however that's the trick trying to figure out if the order given is lawful or not. so by the time you figure it oops to late your in the can rotting away. I say let those people duke it out on there own. That part of the world has been doing themselves in since at least 1099. I know thats a simplistic few but hey from simple minds
Jenna

Re: leaders

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Hiya Jenna!! How are you? I didn't know you'd been in the military.
Nice to hear from you. How are you and Bunny? How's the house?

On the middle east, I'm not sure what the right move would have been. I'm not sure that leaving them to fight it out among themseves would be the right thing to do, but sending soldiers in from our countries to confirm every muslim's belief that we are deep evil was definitely not the right thing to do.

I actually think the west should have been leaning on the rich assholes who run the middle east to share their obscene levels of wealth with their people. And we should have been building schools for the kids in the middle east. It would have been cheaper than a war and they would have loved us instead of hating us... nobody would have died.

This divide between the rich and poor is why the moslem fundamentalists have got such a grip on thing. The poverty is so deep and good schooling so rare... Religious intolerance thrives in a feudal society.

And I think this is why USA is in great danger these days: it is turning into a feudal society. Already USA has the worst poverty in the industrialised nations and the lowest social mobility. If you are born poor in USA you now are more than likely stuck there for the rest of your life. It wasn't so long ago in USA that you could do well no matter what your level of wealth at birth. Not any more, and it is getting worse. In Australia we are following that example and making life harder for those at the bottom and ridiculously better for those on top too.

Iraq and Iran have been trying to drag themselves out of the past. They are the wrong ones to be attacking, as far as I can see. It just makes them hate us, and who can blame them?

Re: leaders

[jenna2.livejournal.com]

Hi Mims,
There is that saying, The get richer the poor get poorer and The middle class teeters a bit more.
And you right about building the schools and such
But then leaders are suposed to lead and thats what they are doing just leading us down the drain. Power begets power such a heady thing it is. Very hard to resist the alure of it all.
jenna

Grunts in Iraq

[revbob2.livejournal.com]

A friend at work whose office is catty-corner across from my cube is in the reserve and got his orders to go over there. He had his going-away lunch the day before mine. He's a quality engineer, and a darn good test engineer, but his MOS -- the one he thinks they want to use -- is truck driver.

Some folks over there let him know the situation. The trucks go in convoys. *Every* convoy is attacked. We're worried for him.

They sure aren't telling us that on the news.

Re: Grunts in Iraq

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Oh damn. Poor bastard. :(
Wow. Talk about waste!
I've always thought that weaponry is an incredible waste. I mean you have all this money and skill and time tied up in objects which are either stockpiled somewhere, sitting unused, or else destroyed. Doesn't sound very smart does it. But the human waste is incalculable. Losing a good engineer so that trucks can be driven... as part of an illegal invasion and occupation of another country. That is just wrong on so many levels.