Living in Chicago and attending an ultra-liberal seminary, I don't often come in contact with returning soldiers, but my first instinct for what, if anything, to say to them about their service would be, "I'm sorry you had to go through that."
This came up in discussion with my obnoxious uncle last Thanksgiving -- I knew for a fact that I couldn't, in good faith, thank a soldier for serving in Iraq, not even for his "willingness" to serve. But what to say, then? I have a friend, or now more of an acquaintance, who joined the Air Force as a civil engineer in 2002 -- he wants to go to Iraq. What to say to him? I don't know. (If I end up getting involved in church life again, though, I know it's going to come up.)
What I said to my cousin Timmy when he got back was "I'm so glad you made it back okay." I don't know if that works for someone you don't know. But I'm a New Yorker, so I'm not sure if you should be bothering someone you don't know.
"Welcome home" always works if you can't bear the thought of saying "thank you" but you still want to be polite.
I am damned tired of tearing up when I read the paper in the morning. Today, it was a couple of young Marines' families who came out here for a memorial service at the Kanehe base. The futility of it hurts.
Many of his posts are friends-only so you won't be able to read them, but this is the LiveJournal of a friend and fraternity brother of mine who is a medic in Iraq. He enlisted right after graduating from UNC a couple of years ago and is a hell of a writer.
"During Vietnam, soldiers were blamed for the policy decisions of elected officials."
I was around then. There was a draft. Hard choices were being forced on a lot of people, but after umpteen years of a fully militarized society, we were aware that they were individual choices. It was a complicated time.
Appears the right has completely won that propaganda war, and has written that history.
Oh. I just remembered. This post and these comments are probably written by filthy old hippies who hated soldiers.
Attention US Military Personnel
7. What we were taught was if you think an order is unlawful, disobey it. You'll find out at your Court Martial if you were right. Implied threat, yes, but the only way to handle a situation were a lawful order can still get you killed.
A guy I knew in my first year of high school, before I transferred to a different high school, was killed in Iraq last year. He was legitimately one of the best people I knew, with the most to contribute to society. Driving around the town while visiting my parents, there were signs on a few businesses saying "We Miss You M*** C***" - or "RIP M*** C*** - An American Hero" - or "RIP M*** C*** - Sacrificed His Life Defending America".
I put a lot of thought into what I would put on a sign if I owned a business. Hopefully there would be enough room for
"M*** C*** - A Brave Hero
His Needless Death
Makes America Weaker"
Using both "Brave" and "Hero" right next to each other is kind of dumb-looking, though. Other suggestions would be appreciated.
Bob McM, I think you're kidding about the Making Light post's author, but just in case you're not: I am pretty sure that Jim Mcdonald is a verteran; I am certain that he is an EMT and volunteers to do further EMT training and community emergency medical training. He's one of the good guys who really walks the walk.
If the EOD Officer is ready for it, a suitable reply for him might be "Thank you. Help bring all the rest of them home." And if he's really really ready for it, add "Now" at the end. Support for change has to start somewhere.
9: Ned, you don't have to have a business, and you don't have to do it in your old town. You can put that sign up wherever you are.
"Bob McM, I think you're kidding about the Making Light post's author"
Of course, I was. I didn't participate in the "spitting" contest in the previous thread, but during the Vietnam era very serious thought was given to what "support our troops" meant. And if a goal was saving life and limb of very young men, how that could be accomplished.
Umm, watch "Americanization of Emily" or "Born on the 4th of July" The valorization and enoblement of war, or even individual acts of heroism, creates a force, an emotional pull in 16 yr old boys that is very hard to resist. There were efforts to reach the individual soldier with songs like "Universal Soldier" and "I ain't Marching Anymore".
If calling GI's "babykillers" caused 90 guys to feel bad and ten to not enlist, and saved 5 lives is it worth it? Probably not, in certain circles of pretty people. But war is hell.
Incidentally, not much of this is my experience at all. My world was Ron Kovic's, the early part before the convention. Sort of.
Hi Bob, glad to hear it about Jim McD.
About the only thing I can think of doing when we hear "During Vietnam, soldiers were blamed for the policy decisions of elected officials" or similar is to interrupt and say, "No, that's a lie." We're all about the pushback, right?
I was just a gleam in Dad's eye at the time (and shortly thereafter a pain in Mom's belly), but I learned a lot about the period and the protests and the lengths the other side went to (and of course is once again going to) from an old boss who'd been in groups infiltrated by FBI provocateurs. That the Pentagon is once again spying on Quakers surprises me not at all, but does make me sad and angry in nearly equal measure. Not ready to make nice, indeed.
ps Kovic before which convention? 1976?
"ps Kovic before which convention? 1976?"
1972? Basically my world was just thoughtless blue collar, where you lost limbs in a lot of jobs, and didn't much care about the morality of Vietnam, it was just shit that rained down on you like all the other shit. You got drafted, you went, hopefully you came back intact, and then stayed loaded for five years. Wasn't any patriotism or protest, I didn't know any officers or non-coms.
I was a little younger and got a lucky number, but lived with guys older than me, most of whom had been in Vietnam.
Yeah. I worked a coupla summers and a coupla winters in oil-field construction-type jobs. My best foreman ever was a guy named "Nubby," but it was just a thumb in his case. And he was going to night school, working on a degree in marketing so that riding herd on welders and pipefitters wasn't his long-term future.
I think those are the guys that might be turning on Bush now. If something's worth doing, like a war, it's worth doing all the way. But if it's not worth doing all the way, then wtf are we doing it at all for? I hope it's finally starting to wear thin.