No, this does not make me proud. It fills me with sadness. Sadness that such acts are necessary in this world. Sadness me to know that a man was placed in harm's way for a war perpetuated by cowardice and selfishness and was forced to defend himself. Sadness that 20 men's lives have been snuffed out because of this, and people rejoice. Sadness that almost 2000 American soldiers will never again see their homes. Sadness that almost 30000 Iraqis will never again open their eyes. Sadness that we have been tricked by the lies of a government who would send men across the sea to die in order to achieve their desires. And sadness that the enemy that we fight has been fed even worse lies by the dictatorship that controlled Iraq for so many years. No, this is not something to be proud of. This should be a wake-up call to just how evil war is. It is death and destruction, nothing but an ending of life. And for what? For pride. For greed. For abused egos. For deceit and deception that has had the highest cost. There is no glory in war. Oh, I will support the troops, but I cannot support the deaths of thousands in order to remove one man from a country, which in the long run, would not even matter. And mostly, I cannot support it because we were told that Saddam Hussein posed an extremely grave threat, and that turned out to be completely and utterly false. Thousands of men are dead for a lie.
And another thing. This website calls Brian Chontosh a "real" American. No. He is simply an American, just like everyone who lives within this country. He has simply had the misfortune to be thrust into a situation that most people in America have never been thrust into, a situation in which he had to fight for his life and the lives of those around him. If training someone and then throwing him against a multitude of enemies makes him a "real" American, then I am sorry to say that there are millions of "false" Americans living here who are not a part of this exclusive club. I do not doubt that Brian Chontosh is a good man, but he is no more American than you or I.
And finally, one phrase did stand out to me. "But that's probably not how he would tell it. He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Ooo-rah, and drive on." This is perhaps the most honesty written on that site. That is exactly what he did. We can call it valor or heroism or bravery, but the fact remains that he did what war forced him to do. There is no glamour in war. War is death, destruction, blood, pain, and suffering. It is hell. Heroism does not exist upon the battlefield. Any soldier who believes that quickly discards such an idea when he is shooting another man in the face, or disemboweling another with a knife. How dare we thrust our soldiers into harm's way and then laud them for heroism as they are forced to fight for their lives? As General Douglas MacArthur once said, "The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." Truth. The soldier indeed bears the brunt of war, and in this case, the soldier was Brian Chontosh. He did what he had to do, and I could never fault him for that. He was a man trapped in extreme circumstances, and he acted swiftly and decisively in order to save himself and the lives of others. But it is because of the actions of others that he had to, and I cannot forgive that.
This website is propaganda of the worst kind, for it would have you believe that as long as Americans do not die, war is good, and that is something far, far worse than the negativity that the media perpetuates, for it is negativity enshrouded in a positive light, and yet that postivity is presented in such a way as to negate the negativity from our minds, and so put us at ease with thoughts of pride, while we fail to recognize that beliefs such as this will only serve to perpetuate more suffering and grief for as long as the human race continues to exist.
This man has written a tribute to death, masked as a tribute to America, and though I have tried, that is something far more sinister than I can put into words.
And another thing. This website calls Brian Chontosh a "real" American. No. He is simply an American, just like everyone who lives within this country. He has simply had the misfortune to be thrust into a situation that most people in America have never been thrust into, a situation in which he had to fight for his life and the lives of those around him. If training someone and then throwing him against a multitude of enemies makes him a "real" American, then I am sorry to say that there are millions of "false" Americans living here who are not a part of this exclusive club. I do not doubt that Brian Chontosh is a good man, but he is no more American than you or I.
And finally, one phrase did stand out to me. "But that's probably not how he would tell it. He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Ooo-rah, and drive on." This is perhaps the most honesty written on that site. That is exactly what he did. We can call it valor or heroism or bravery, but the fact remains that he did what war forced him to do. There is no glamour in war. War is death, destruction, blood, pain, and suffering. It is hell. Heroism does not exist upon the battlefield. Any soldier who believes that quickly discards such an idea when he is shooting another man in the face, or disemboweling another with a knife. How dare we thrust our soldiers into harm's way and then laud them for heroism as they are forced to fight for their lives? As General Douglas MacArthur once said, "The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." Truth. The soldier indeed bears the brunt of war, and in this case, the soldier was Brian Chontosh. He did what he had to do, and I could never fault him for that. He was a man trapped in extreme circumstances, and he acted swiftly and decisively in order to save himself and the lives of others. But it is because of the actions of others that he had to, and I cannot forgive that.
This website is propaganda of the worst kind, for it would have you believe that as long as Americans do not die, war is good, and that is something far, far worse than the negativity that the media perpetuates, for it is negativity enshrouded in a positive light, and yet that postivity is presented in such a way as to negate the negativity from our minds, and so put us at ease with thoughts of pride, while we fail to recognize that beliefs such as this will only serve to perpetuate more suffering and grief for as long as the human race continues to exist.
This man has written a tribute to death, masked as a tribute to America, and though I have tried, that is something far more sinister than I can put into words.
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