The following was written in response to a young friend and former student who instead of joining the military became a law enforcement officer. He recently expressed that his "#1 regret" was not having joined the military. This my response.
Honestly, ******, don't let it be. I honestly believe I did more good individually in my second job
(teaching). It's easy to get caught up
in the rah rah spirit. We had ROTC kids who couldn't wait to go into the
military, but having no idea what that really meant. Some are dead.
The way
we're using some those kids today isn't anything like your grandpa in WWII or
even my Cold war experience, where we felt we were fighting a "moral"
war (if that isn't too contradictory).
In WWII we were
fighting against governments bent on world domination. Their aggression was
focused outward as stated political policy. In the Cold War we always knew who
the "bad guys" were - the Soviet Union. Even in Korea, we knew the South Koreans
wouldn't and couldn't survive without our help, but they wanted that help. The way we're using the military now is not a
lot different from your job as a Sherriff's deputy. Unfortunately, we're dealing
with a totally different type of problem.
There are times when I see an amputee or traumatic
brain injured veteran when I ask myself "For what?" and the answer I keep hearing is "To fight people whom the politicians
tell us we should fight, in a place
where tribal chiefs have ruled for years." Yes they are , by western standards, harsh to
women, and they may have sheltered Osama Bin Ladin, but as a group, the Taliban
were
no threat to the USA. Are we doing this to convince people who have
fought tribal battles for years that they should be like us? One thing that I
feel down deep inside is that if there had been no First Gulf War, there would
have been no 9/11. Saddam Hussein was a militaristic bastard and cruel to his
own minorities, but by the same token, it focused their anger on him, instead of
us, for what they viewed as an invasion of their (Islamic) territory.
The issue of
religion as an aggravating factor isn't new either. We resisted entering WWII
for 2 years after Hitler invaded Poland in part because the Germans, after all,
were "like us." That included
being a nation whose vast majority of population were professing Christians. After
Dec 7th, 1941, it was easy to get all but one member of Congress to agree to
declare war on Japan, because they attacked us, yes, although the Germans had
been sinking ships and killing Americans in the Atlantic for several years, but
also because they weren't co-religionists. We look like that to many Afghans.
To them we are invaders who threaten their way of life and in many cases
denigrate their beliefs.
Prior to the First Gulf War, the only direct Taliban
contact with the US had been as a supplier of arms to help defend against the Soviets. The British Empire in 1839-42 and again in 1878-80 fought in
Afghanistan, supposedly winning both times, yet eventually realizing that they
would never truly reach political control of people who fought as described in the
following quote, " The British officer John Masters recorded in his
autobiography that Afghan women in the North-West Frontier Province of British
India during the Second Anglo-Afghan War would castrate non-Muslim soldiers who
were captured, like British and Sikhs. They also used an execution method
involving urine; Pathan women urinated into prisoner's mouths. Captured British
soldiers were spread out and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a
stick, or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent
swallowing. Pathan women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of
the man until he drowned in the urine, taking turns one at a time." Hard to deal with a mindset like that!
The Soviets from 1979-1989 tried to
"control" the Afghans, essentially attempting to remold them as a
semi-Soviet Socialist Republic buffer state. Aided by covert US aid (billions of dollars
and Stinger and Red-eye shoulder launch missiles) to the Mujahideen, hard liners
like the Taliban, whom many were, the Afghans
eventually resisted long enough for Russia to tire and withdraw. Oddly enough
while we supplied material and money, China supplied training to the
rebels.
This isn't your grandad's or my wars, and it isn't Korea either.
If Viet Nam taught us anything, maybe that lesson should be that all the man power,
material and political will can't control a nation forever if the indigenous
population really sees you as the enemy, and not their saviors.
Despite all the
hype, medals and political saber rattling , in many cases from persons who
never served, even a "just" war sucks. A war without clear
justification or with unreachable objectives, such as getting the Afghans to be
a democracy and 'like us' , is far worse. I believe that in Afghanistan, as in
Viet Nam, the US will finally "declare victory" and leave. I'm not so
sure that like the Vietnamese, we will regain any sort of "normal" relations
with them soon, if ever unfortunately.
In my heart I'm thankful you stayed here and
do what you do, because it does far more good here at home.
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