Comments on: Who got served? Four soldiers’ stories

By: Marleyfan

Marleyfan — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:37:53 +0000

What a strong post!

By: lisa t.

lisa t. — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:02:41 +0000

I come from a family of veterans– dad: vietnam; step-dad: korea AND vietnam; grandpa: WWII. When my step-brother decided to enlist (in 1990, the “desert storm” era) and then was sent to Kuwait, my mom went outside and tied a gigantic yellow ribbon around the birch tree in the front yard.

My step-brother and I were born in the same year and have grown up together. During his deployment (I was a college sophomore with a well-worn pair of birkenstocks and some long, colorful skirts), we wrote back and forth constantly. I clearly remember a line from one of his letters: I can’t believe that I might have to shoot at a guy who maybe I would have gotten to know as a pal in a different situation. He described “t-rats,” and cleaning his weapon, and the strange quiet of the desert when they were out on patrol. I’m not sure if it’s despite or because of his service, but my brother is vehemently against the war in Iraq.

Anyway, although I don’t personally have the sense of “loyalty to country” that many of the comments discuss (and which Literacy tries to deconstruct), I understand it. It’s in my blood. Maybe that’s what the four stories have in common– a type of heritage that includes life- and family-sacrificing dedication to the USA, no matter how irrational it appears…

By: ruben mancillas

ruben mancillas — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:57:18 +0000

The idea of a “volunteer” army is one I would want to question. I remember reading that Private Lynch claimed to want to become a schoolteacher but that the Army was a better option for a poor young person in West Virginia. Sure, she made a choice but if we gut funding for community colleges, to offer only one obvious example, then what exactly are the range of choices for our potential soldiers?

On the other hand, I admit to feeling a real disconnect to what I want to define as military thinking. It is (too) easy for me in my comfortable liberal way to offer that I support the troops even while I think some of their decisions misguided. It’s part of that who to blame/what’s the matter with Kansas thinking in that this is the very demographic that votes to gut their economic opportunities in favor of some vague identification with “values” or the pro-military propaganda of the Republicans.

I remember hearing a Iraq war veteran interviewed saying how he is disgusted with those who say that they support the troops but not the mission. He explained that as a soldier he considered himself part of the mission so if you were against the mission you were against him. I was suprised at my outrage as I shouted at the TV, “OK, screw you then, if that’s the way you want it I’m against the mission and you.” I initially blamed his twisted logic but clearly there was something else going on there on my end.

Thanks for this thought provoking post.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:10:49 +0000

NY Times blog item on Army recruitment.

By: Literacy

Literacy — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:01:06 +0000

Needless to say, I have been anxious about the way this post would be perceived, so I want to respond, especially to Dave’s comments: I was concerned that it would come across as though I was mocking the soldiers I write about here. That was not my intent at all. Although I do feel frustration towards the first two examples in particular, I still sort of admire their commitment to what they feel is right even though I don’t think it’s “right” (whatever that means). In the case of Tammy Duckworth, her patriotism actually baffles me. I feel outraged for her, at the system that deems that she hasn’t given enough yet and now has to get along without her husband when her willingness to give so much is what made her as needy as she is, yet they keep taking from her. And my feelings about the young guy in #4 were not that I thought he’s stupid–just so incredibly misguided that it ripped me up to hear him try to psych himself up for the certain monstrosities ahead. Why am I appalled? For the first two reasons you articulate, specifically. Not the third. I don’t think he’s doing something “wrong,” morally or however you want to put it–I just feel enraged that he could get sold such a bill of goods that even this late in the game he still thinks it’s a great idea to go to Iraq. He told me that his sister had agreed to let a recruiter come to the house but the recruiter ended up convincing him instead. What kind of propaganda must they be spouting to make anyone–even someone with what privileged people like us must see as the fewest possible options–think this sounds reasonable? And, on a bigger picture, too big to tackle, why are so many people in the situation where this IS the best option and why can’t we as a country offer something better?

No, I don’t blame him OR Tammy Duckworth. I just feel heartsick that these stories exist and that these choices seem to make sense to someone somewhere. Not to me.