Civilian in Time of War by Guest Commentator
After the trade center was destroyed, my partner and I seriously considered joining the military. Didn't though. At the time he had a family and I was fresh married and
trying to start a family. Plus, we were too old. Then, the crazy stuff happening after the massive push back and deposition of the Taliban in the fall of 2001 seemed crazy.
Right up to the declaration of "Shock and Awe" in March 2003. I didn't like the Patriot Act. Just from a patriotic point of view It seemed like we were doing exactly what the extremists wanted when we voluntarily curtailed our own liberty. Plus, I was alert and reading (via the internet...not the main news outlets) and knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. (Yeah. You could read about the fake yellowcake well before March 2003.) Still, I kept hoping George Bush 'knew something we didn't' and I
stood up for my president. But when his own guys told him, "sorry, no WMD" I really lost faith in his whole administration.
When I was a kid, I was naturally assuming I would be going to Viet Nam. That war was going on the whole time I was cognizant as a kid and as the Seventies hit, it looked like it was going to keep on keeping on. So, it was just there ahead of me...waiting for me. But, I caught a major break. Nixon finagled us out of that one just in time for the November elections. Funny how that works. Anyway, they ended
the draft by the time I hit eighteen.
Still, me and my best friend talked seriously about joining up after high school. However, his dad convinced us not to. "Not unless you can go in as an officer. For that you need a college degree". Thanks Rob Hendren! (R.I.P.) Told us we were just cannon fodder as 'grunts'...even though there was no war on. Ok. So we figured other things to do. It was good times. Everybody was damn war weary as I recall. The military was really slacking in its prestige. Gulf of Tonkin, My Lai etc., had taken a toll.
We DID have the good old Cold War still hanging over us. You just took it as a given that one day things could go whack and Russia would start lighting up the cruise missiles. That's how we lived as civilians each and every day. Not in fear really. No, more like an existential dread. It seemed like madness too. You read about the
stockpiling of absolutely fantastic levels of nuclear weapons, missiles etc., They would tell you "We have enough nukes to blow up the world five hundred times!" Stuff like that. Made you actually think, (if you had a gamblers bent) that the odds were something would screw up just based on the quantity of stuff sitting around.
Then, miracles seem to happen. Gorbachov came to power...then Boris Yeltsin. Russia
changed. The wall came down. My god! It was over! halleleuhah! It was really like a new day back there in 89 and 90 (at least for people old enough to appreciate it).
Sure, we had a couple pissant wars in there. Grenada, Panama. But they looked pretty
minor. Darfur and by the time the Balkans came along...I was just, well, I just couldn't seem to get interested. Hell. They just didn't seem to compare to Viet Nam and the crazy pressure dread of the Cold War.
The first Gulf War felt different though. Got to admit that. Still, got to say, I thought that one was hoked up. Felt queasy about it. Since when do we send Americans in to die for a King (of Kuwait)? Plus, I was aware that we kind of hokey doked Saddam with his meeting with April Glaspie before he invaded. He was OUR boy in Iraq. Come on! I wondered if I was maybe wrong and not patriotic. I remember very
well though, sitting with an Army Captain in a Country Western Bar in Louisville
(he was dating one of my female friends) They had a little bar room ceremony. The Lee Greenwood song "Proud to be an American" was played and some drunk boys got an American flag and marched it around the room. Everybody stood up...Except for me and
the Captain. That made me feel ok.
So, now, here we are 2010 starting to fade out and we are STILL at war. Seven years now...or is it Nine? I see a lot of good people caught up in this war. Good kids.
I am tired of it.
Talked to the father of one of my child's school mates. He is an Army Psychiatrist. You don't want to hear his news. These young guys and gals are over there and because of the internet and cell phones, they get to hear pretty immediately about the problems back home. Wife is having a tough time? They know about it right now and there is nothing they can do about it. Sometimes they hear their wife is leaving them. After all, many are pretty much newly wed when they are shipped overseas and the relationships aren't that great. Those guys (or gals) can take it hard. So I am
tired of it.
Fifty Two years a civilian. Feels like Fifty Two years of War.
trying to start a family. Plus, we were too old. Then, the crazy stuff happening after the massive push back and deposition of the Taliban in the fall of 2001 seemed crazy.
Right up to the declaration of "Shock and Awe" in March 2003. I didn't like the Patriot Act. Just from a patriotic point of view It seemed like we were doing exactly what the extremists wanted when we voluntarily curtailed our own liberty. Plus, I was alert and reading (via the internet...not the main news outlets) and knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. (Yeah. You could read about the fake yellowcake well before March 2003.) Still, I kept hoping George Bush 'knew something we didn't' and I
stood up for my president. But when his own guys told him, "sorry, no WMD" I really lost faith in his whole administration.
When I was a kid, I was naturally assuming I would be going to Viet Nam. That war was going on the whole time I was cognizant as a kid and as the Seventies hit, it looked like it was going to keep on keeping on. So, it was just there ahead of me...waiting for me. But, I caught a major break. Nixon finagled us out of that one just in time for the November elections. Funny how that works. Anyway, they ended
the draft by the time I hit eighteen.
Still, me and my best friend talked seriously about joining up after high school. However, his dad convinced us not to. "Not unless you can go in as an officer. For that you need a college degree". Thanks Rob Hendren! (R.I.P.) Told us we were just cannon fodder as 'grunts'...even though there was no war on. Ok. So we figured other things to do. It was good times. Everybody was damn war weary as I recall. The military was really slacking in its prestige. Gulf of Tonkin, My Lai etc., had taken a toll.
We DID have the good old Cold War still hanging over us. You just took it as a given that one day things could go whack and Russia would start lighting up the cruise missiles. That's how we lived as civilians each and every day. Not in fear really. No, more like an existential dread. It seemed like madness too. You read about the
stockpiling of absolutely fantastic levels of nuclear weapons, missiles etc., They would tell you "We have enough nukes to blow up the world five hundred times!" Stuff like that. Made you actually think, (if you had a gamblers bent) that the odds were something would screw up just based on the quantity of stuff sitting around.
Then, miracles seem to happen. Gorbachov came to power...then Boris Yeltsin. Russia
changed. The wall came down. My god! It was over! halleleuhah! It was really like a new day back there in 89 and 90 (at least for people old enough to appreciate it).
Sure, we had a couple pissant wars in there. Grenada, Panama. But they looked pretty
minor. Darfur and by the time the Balkans came along...I was just, well, I just couldn't seem to get interested. Hell. They just didn't seem to compare to Viet Nam and the crazy pressure dread of the Cold War.
The first Gulf War felt different though. Got to admit that. Still, got to say, I thought that one was hoked up. Felt queasy about it. Since when do we send Americans in to die for a King (of Kuwait)? Plus, I was aware that we kind of hokey doked Saddam with his meeting with April Glaspie before he invaded. He was OUR boy in Iraq. Come on! I wondered if I was maybe wrong and not patriotic. I remember very
well though, sitting with an Army Captain in a Country Western Bar in Louisville
(he was dating one of my female friends) They had a little bar room ceremony. The Lee Greenwood song "Proud to be an American" was played and some drunk boys got an American flag and marched it around the room. Everybody stood up...Except for me and
the Captain. That made me feel ok.
So, now, here we are 2010 starting to fade out and we are STILL at war. Seven years now...or is it Nine? I see a lot of good people caught up in this war. Good kids.
I am tired of it.
Talked to the father of one of my child's school mates. He is an Army Psychiatrist. You don't want to hear his news. These young guys and gals are over there and because of the internet and cell phones, they get to hear pretty immediately about the problems back home. Wife is having a tough time? They know about it right now and there is nothing they can do about it. Sometimes they hear their wife is leaving them. After all, many are pretty much newly wed when they are shipped overseas and the relationships aren't that great. Those guys (or gals) can take it hard. So I am
tired of it.
Fifty Two years a civilian. Feels like Fifty Two years of War.
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