(no subject)
It's hard times for the 101st Airborne Division.. You now, the division whose role in World War II was the basis for Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers (now appearing until the end of life in America as a television miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks). You know, one of the most decorated divisions in the US Army.
Three of the 101st's combat brigades have served three or more tours in Iraq; the Third Brigade and Fourth Brigades have both served tours in Afghanistan--the Third for seven months early on, and the Fourth just finished up a tour of fifteen months there. There is no end in sight for them, either. In World War II, the soldiers served "for the duration", but they knew there was an end in view--a point where they could know the war was over and done with. The draftees who served in Vietnam could also know, however bad it was, that their tours of duty were finite. Nowadays, members of the US military can count on being stop-lossed just when they think their enlistments are coming to an end--and with the current economy, even the relatively poor pay the military offers is more than a lot of their friends outside the service can count on. Thanks to current recruiting policies, honorable man and women can find themselves serving next to felons. Support services for members of the military and their families are constantly eroded, and now that it's time to really support our troops, those politicians and members of the media who have constantly derided their opponents for failing to support them are claiming reasonable pay and benefits for the military, and care and support for those wounded in body and mind is too expensive. And there is no end in sight.
One of the reasons that the Vietnam War turned into the three-ringed circus of hell we think of is that too many in the US government and military didn't have the patience and self-restraint needed for the slow, careful, non-glorious work of counter-insurgency. One of our problems in the Middle East now (indeed, with foreign relations generally, which is one of the reasons North Korea is so busy making happy with the misuse of applied physics) is that too many people in the US government, military, and media don't have the patience for the slow, careful, non-glorious work of counter-insurgency. Solutions that don't call for high explosives and the heavy use of automatic weapons are despised as weak and unrealistic, often by those who exposure to combat is, and always has been, mediated by the screens of the movie theater and the television. And for the people in the military, who have to execute the policies our government comes up with, there is no end in sight.
Eleven suicides, around one a week, from January through March, and now two more in May. You know those articles that talk about suicide clusters in high schools--when one student takes their life, others are somehow inspired to emulate their actions? This reminds me of that, except that what the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division have been used for is a lot worse than what most people have to deal with in high school. And for them, there is no end in sight.
When soldiers leave the theater of active combat, the struggle does not necessarily end for them--the pictures you see of joyous reunions are not necessarily the whole story; not everyone is able to pick up the threads of their lives and get down to living happily ever after without any pause or struggle at all. For too many, the road back to "normal life" is a hard one, and for some it runs into a dead end. And there is still no end in sight.
When I hear and read of people like Alberto Gonzales and Jay Bybee and John Yoo complaining about the toll Bush's wars have taken on their lives, all I can say is that it hasn't been hard enough. Those Bushistas who find that things now aren't to their liking, and that their stature in the public eye is not what they feel it ought to be (and that includes Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, among others) might want to consider the career of Edmund Ruffin.
For a division with troops serving in combat zones, shutting things down for three days to handle a problem is a sign of a catastrophe in progress. I can't explain very well what a big deal this is to people who have little experience with the military. It's a great big scary red flag.
Three of the 101st's combat brigades have served three or more tours in Iraq; the Third Brigade and Fourth Brigades have both served tours in Afghanistan--the Third for seven months early on, and the Fourth just finished up a tour of fifteen months there. There is no end in sight for them, either. In World War II, the soldiers served "for the duration", but they knew there was an end in view--a point where they could know the war was over and done with. The draftees who served in Vietnam could also know, however bad it was, that their tours of duty were finite. Nowadays, members of the US military can count on being stop-lossed just when they think their enlistments are coming to an end--and with the current economy, even the relatively poor pay the military offers is more than a lot of their friends outside the service can count on. Thanks to current recruiting policies, honorable man and women can find themselves serving next to felons. Support services for members of the military and their families are constantly eroded, and now that it's time to really support our troops, those politicians and members of the media who have constantly derided their opponents for failing to support them are claiming reasonable pay and benefits for the military, and care and support for those wounded in body and mind is too expensive. And there is no end in sight.
One of the reasons that the Vietnam War turned into the three-ringed circus of hell we think of is that too many in the US government and military didn't have the patience and self-restraint needed for the slow, careful, non-glorious work of counter-insurgency. One of our problems in the Middle East now (indeed, with foreign relations generally, which is one of the reasons North Korea is so busy making happy with the misuse of applied physics) is that too many people in the US government, military, and media don't have the patience for the slow, careful, non-glorious work of counter-insurgency. Solutions that don't call for high explosives and the heavy use of automatic weapons are despised as weak and unrealistic, often by those who exposure to combat is, and always has been, mediated by the screens of the movie theater and the television. And for the people in the military, who have to execute the policies our government comes up with, there is no end in sight.
Eleven suicides, around one a week, from January through March, and now two more in May. You know those articles that talk about suicide clusters in high schools--when one student takes their life, others are somehow inspired to emulate their actions? This reminds me of that, except that what the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division have been used for is a lot worse than what most people have to deal with in high school. And for them, there is no end in sight.
When soldiers leave the theater of active combat, the struggle does not necessarily end for them--the pictures you see of joyous reunions are not necessarily the whole story; not everyone is able to pick up the threads of their lives and get down to living happily ever after without any pause or struggle at all. For too many, the road back to "normal life" is a hard one, and for some it runs into a dead end. And there is still no end in sight.
When I hear and read of people like Alberto Gonzales and Jay Bybee and John Yoo complaining about the toll Bush's wars have taken on their lives, all I can say is that it hasn't been hard enough. Those Bushistas who find that things now aren't to their liking, and that their stature in the public eye is not what they feel it ought to be (and that includes Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz, among others) might want to consider the career of Edmund Ruffin.
For a division with troops serving in combat zones, shutting things down for three days to handle a problem is a sign of a catastrophe in progress. I can't explain very well what a big deal this is to people who have little experience with the military. It's a great big scary red flag.