I am not a hawk
April 7th, 2009War is Hell. No, not from personal experience. I have never served my country, so can’t tell you. But being a political activist, martial artist, and gun nut, I’ve known, shot with, and worked out with a lot of folks who have. Plus coming originally from the Working Class, got plenty of friends and family as well.
I am not a hawk and am very much against rushing into war. For one, war is hell on peoples’ bodies. You’re out there serving your country then get a leg blown off. You can’t exactly grow one back.
For another, shell shock is real. Sure you got some homeless people who make up stories so you’d give them money, but you also have homeless people who can’t hold a job because they haven’t recovered emotionally from the scarring of war.
I’ve known brave men who have come back and can’t sleep in the same bed as their wives because they get violent flashbacks in their sleep. I’ve known brave men who come back and try to drink the images out of their head. I’ve known a brave soul who had to clean up the pieces of his best friend who got blown up by a grenade.
You don’t rush into war
It’s all easy for someone from the Upper Class to sit back and call people cowards who don’t rush into every chance at war we got. They won’t be rushing into battle any time soon, and neither will their kids.
I always support my troops, and especially the families of the troops. The families are here at home and soldiers simply don’t make that much. It’s not easy for a child to not have a father at home, and it’s not easy on the mother either. Imagine worrying every time you see the news when a soldier gets killed if that’s your husband they’ll be bringing home in a box. I can’t imagine what that will be like.
I have utmost respect for people who serve. I never did. Long story why and I’m not going to go into it right now.
That doesn’t mean I’m anti-war
I am by no means anti-war. I’m just for fighting the wars we’re supposed to fight. Afghanistan, yes. Iraq, no. Why wasn’t Bush impeached for lying about Iraq’s involvement in 9/11? Even worse in my book, Osama bin Laden’s still out there. Had we committed to ONE war, we’d have him by now. Instead, we spread ourselves too thin and let him get away. For all we know, he’s probably hiding in Pakistan now.
I’m not anti-violence either
I’ve trained for years self-defense simulations with or without weapons. I’ll tell you right now that I’d rather have a gun than a knife and a knife than being unarmed and if I’m unarmed, I hope I’m at least carrying a Maglite. If someone breaks into my house, they will die by a shotgun blast.
I’ve trained for that moment for years. I sincerely hope it never happens. Not because I’ll have remorse for that moron. I won’t. But I know I won’t be able to get that image out of my head.
But force is something you hope you never have to use. Same goes for war, except war is on a much higher scale.
There is no glory in war, folks. You can have all the medals in the world, but nothing will grow you back that leg or bring your best friend back from the dead.
As of now, Mrs. Z and I are supporting the families of the soldiers we know personally any way we can. Imagine having the money you had coming in suddenly be cut in half. Think you can get by? Think you can get by knowing your spouse is overseas in a war zone and can be ambushed and killed at any time? Or your son?
We need to start thinking clearly before sending our citizens to all these wars.
That’s pretty much how I feel. Some wars are necessary, most aren’t, and at any rate it’s nothing to be happy about. And you can support the troops without supporting the war itself
i’ve seen the physical and emotional damage that can occur among those who have fought and the way the ripples spread out. i am deeply grateful and forever indebted to those who have served. i think they should be well cared for for the rest of their lives. and if one is lost, their family should be well provided for. it’s the least that should be done for someone who gave their all.
Its sad to know that could happen. My younger brother in law is in the airforce but not over seas. He was about 8 years ago when we went over there for something. I dont rememmber what we went over seas for but he missed out on his daughters first year almot. She was 10 months old when he came home. She didnt know her daddy. it was sad.
Its so sad to think of the wives or parents that lose that child because they thought they were going to protect someone and they ended up losing there lives because of it or those husbands that have to explain to the children because of the mother being in the military instead.. So sad.
SME - Yeah, most aren’t, but some are. And agreed you can support the troops without liking a war.
Lime - Me too. And it’s sad how we treat our Vets in this country.
Tweety - Yeah, that is sad, but it’s unfortunately common. And for what?
Amen!
i donno… i just thing responding violence by violence is not the right thing. Even when its on an individual level, a person has to been tolerant enough to bear with the anger from his friends, neighbour and whoever.
BTW… missed coming here!! hope you’re doing great
Well said!
Well I’m a hawk, big time. But, my dear friend, this comment is for your missing post of Nancy Pelosi. You said that very well — better than anyone could. Where did it go? Sometimes I write a post then delete it. I hope you didn’t do that because it was great.
I missed the Pelosi post. I would love to read that.
I’m not sure what you are talking about when you say that Bush should have been impeached for lying about his involvement in 9/11. I also think it’s simplistic to say we should have just remained focused on one war and that it would have yielded up Bin Laden. Let’s see how the evil lord Bush looks after the holy one has had the reins for four years. The state of the world is too complex and dangerous for Romper Room politics.
Not saying Obama is any better. If anything, he’s too SOFT, and acting like a pussy European, which is possibly even worse. Look at the pirate situation for example. The way we allow near-retarded pirates in Somalia to push us around is pathetic.
The Pelosi post was a mispost. It contained factual errors so I had to pull it. It was very anti-Pelosi, but I didn’t have my facts straight. If anyone needs to go, it’s her.
Now as for bin Laden, no, it’s no guarantee. But the most effective thing we could have done was declare war on Afghanistan for holding bin Laden and going all in.
There was no reason to go in Iraq. We were stretching ourselves too thin and took resources from finding and killing bin Laden, which should have been our #1 priority after 9/11. We needed a very simple message - if you’re cool with us, we’re cool with you. But fuck with us, you die.