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Didn't Join the Military to Fight?

© Andrew Willis

I was watching CNN the other night. A rarity for me, as the ignorance and arrogance of their commentators and reporters is colossal, but I happened to see the subtext on the screen. A mother who had apparently lost a son in Iraq was being interviewed by the resident newshead of the hour. Okay, no problem. All's fair in war and journalism. The subtext shocked me and then her words and attitude surprised and angered me. Hell, I was downright irate.

She was angry that her son had died in action. Understandable, and absolutely the correct reaction to have. Unfortunately, her anger wasn't directed at the resident nutjobs in the Middle East, but rather at the military. Going on, she stated that her son had joined the army to get money for college, not to go into battle.

Excuse me? What does she think the military is for? Delivering the pizza to third world countries who can't order Domino's?

Being in the military isn't a regular job where we clock in at nine, clock out at five, go home and drink beer every night while sitting in the La-Z-Boy, watching bad TV and scratching ourselves in places that shouldn't be shown in public. You have to be in a union for that. We're defending our country, and the last I checked, that often takes violent action by courageous men who believe in the way of life that they're defending.

Look, our job ultimately is to kill people and break things at the behest of our Commander in Chief, whom we, as military members, have to have some faith in that he will be sending us in harm's way for a good reason. I'd say that the war in Iraq, as an extension of both the Gulf War in 1991 and the current poorly-named, but of utmost importance, War on Terror, is a just war, and therefore a good reason to send our young people, including myself, out to get shot at by the cannon fodder defending a warped and constraining way of life on the orders of insane Napoleonic wannabes.

The idea that anyone would join the military and not expect to see combat is ludicrous. When I was a recruiter, kids would ask me, "If I join, will I have to fight?" I tactfully refrained from calling them idiots, but I did explain that that's what we do. I no longer have to be so restrained.

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