October 19, 2005
From the desk of Jane Galt:Off to War
If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend that everyone--for or against the Iraq War--see the Discovery Times documentary series "Off to War". The series follows Arkansas National Guardsmen and their families during their deployment to Iraq, and it's absolutely extraordinary. I'd say it's pretty clear that the filmmakers are against the war, and I suspect that they spiked a lot of pro-war comments from the soldiers and their wives in order to build an uncomplicated story arc about disillusionment that is, at best, only partially true.
Nonetheless, I highly recommend it. The stories of the soldiers and their families are deeply compelling. And no matter how adamantly you are in favour of the war, it behooves you to take a look at the sacrifices that our soldiers are making in order to prosecute it.
Posted by Jane Galt at October 19, 2005 2:49 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksThanks for the tip, but I think I'll pass. I went through it for Vietnam and Desert Storm, and my son went through it a couple of months ago (for Iraq; he's already had two 6-month shipboard tours). So I am initmately familiar with it.
That said, I'm glad that they're showing the process on TV. Too many people are simply clueless with respect to the effort that goes into deploying singly or in a unit.
As my wife was briefed before I returned from one of my deployments, the briefer said, "Now remember, ladies, HE'S the one who thinks he's had a hard deployment."
Echo Rex's comment. I am finally after many years getting used to the complete ignorance of civilians when it comes to military life. Most clueless are market fundamentalists who refuse to understand military personnel issues, or who talk about "compensation" when they mean pay and allownaces. I am glad someone is finally doing something about it. The fimmakers can go ahead and be anti-war; if they are at all honest they cannot possibly hate war than military members and their families.
The fimmakers can go ahead and be anti-war; if they are at all honest they cannot possibly hate war than military members and their families.
If.
ok jim.
you keep up your talk of "market fundamentalists".
and i'll keep writing you off as a good for nothing socialist, and unrepresentative of the military if you did indeed serve.
My best friend is a Marine and has been on several deployments overseas and to Iraq and he actually is trying to go back. It's his job, that is what he does for a living, and he does not want to do his job here. He feels away games are much better for the country when it comes to war.
With that said, I think we need to look at things differntly when we compare National Guard troops as opposed to actice military. Clearly going to war impacts National Guard troops considerably more than active military. When I hear those troops complaining about the inconvenience of leaving their family and jobs I feel bad, but I take it with a grain of salt. You do understand that when you join the Guard you might have to go off to war, don't you? The government is not writing you checks and paying for school expecting nothing in return. And you can't make a decision whether the war is right or wrong based on that inconvenience.
You smug faced crowds with kindling eye,
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know,
The Hell where youth and laughter go.
Just to let you know, my husband and I are one of the families featured in the Off to War series. I can tell you, that Craig nor Brent ever told us their thoughts on the war or whether they were Democrat or Republican. To this day, I still don't know. They would ask us questions, i.e., what are your feelings about ... or tell me what you are going through... and what you see are our actual answers. We were never coerced into stating any opinion except our own.
On another note, for Peter, I know, and so does my husband, that when you join the military, you can be called up at any time. However, when you take the complaining "with a grain of salt", I can tell you that my am proud of the service my husband did in Iraq because it was his job. But, my opinion is that this "war in Iraq" has nothing to do with protecting the U.S. I was all for us going in in 2003 and showing Iraq that you don't mess with the U.S. and threaten to use WMDs, but when we got over there, there was nothing but apparently a dictator full of hot air. What's the reason for being there now and sending more troops? It seems the media has forgotten the reason Congress allowed us to go in in the first place, now the spin is aren't we all proud b/c we've helped them to become democratic and able to vote. Do you think Congress would have okayed deployment for the ability to vote??? My problem isn't really even with the reason to be there, its with the "upper management" of the military. Most of the time my husband was there, there was too little of everything, men, trucks, equipment, etc. So, please don't tell us about your "grain of salt" when my husband and everyone else's husband, child, loved one, was gone for 6 months in country and 1 year in Iraq and now having to deal with his nightmares and attempting to return to our normal life. Your grain of salt doesn't mean much to me unless you've endured the same for 18 months.
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