The Tragedy Of Young Americans Who Join The Military Without Full Disclosure!

The political firestorm over Bowe Bergdahl being exchanged for five Taliban leaders at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp is unrelenting, and it is far from clear what the facts are, but yet, the right wing is in full swing on the attack, as they always are when it involves anything having to do with the policies and actions of the Barack Obama Administration!

Bergdahl may have been a deserter, and may have to face action by the US Army, if that is so, but that is far from clear at this point, and despite that, any move to bring troops home who are prisoners of war should be hailed, but not of course, when Barack Obama is the President, god forbid!

Ronald Reagan dealt with terrorists and evil forces in the Iran Contra scandal, and Israel has returned a thousand prisoners to the Palestinians for just one Israeli, live or dead, on the principle that they will do everything necessary to bring back their military forces, who are imprisoned or dead.

What is obviously overlooked, however, in this whole controversy is the reality and the truth that our young men and women are being propagandized, lied to, manipulated, at a naive age, when they think of the military, any branch, as “fun”, “adventure”, “a chance to do travel”, “the only possible way to get an education”, and as a way to “grow up”, when the military is very serious business, and recruiters lie through their teeth to get vulnerable, insecure, naive, ill informed young kids to commit to something they often have no conception of the seriousness involved, often something their own parents wish they did not do, but have no control over what an 18-19 year old does.

We see how many soldiers are not only harmed physically by being in the military and in a war zone, but psychologically, as they have trouble coping with what they see, what they participate in, what they witness, which stuns their image of themselves and the world around them.

At a time when only one half of one percent of the American people have been in the military, since the draft ended in 1973, most Americans do not appreciate the sacrifices, the turmoil created, the difficult times these troops have, engaged in unending wars with no purpose, unlike the Second World War, which was something everyone could understand.

It is also ironic how many, who have never served in war, are so quick to judge and condemn those who have, with Dick Cheney, the former Vice President and a draft dodger to boot, in the lead, but with most members of Congress and their offspring not having served, but very willing to send “cannon fodder” to fight wars for the oil and weapons industries, and make obscene profits at the expense of our young men and women!

As someone who did not serve in the military, the author has full respect for the sacrifices of the military, but has never supported the lies and deceit used by recruiters to convince young people, who have no direction, to sign up for something they are not mature enough to understand the full implications of, when they sign on the dotted line!

5 comments on “The Tragedy Of Young Americans Who Join The Military Without Full Disclosure!

  1. Engineer Of Knowledge June 4, 2014 3:59 pm

    Professor,
    12 years ago I became a published poet. I among a collection of other writers were published in a book called, “Echoes and Visions” which was sold through Barns & Nobel’s. Here is one of my poems that was published in that book.

    How History Repeats Itself
     
    Half a league, half a league, half a league onward,
    Lord Tennyson once said.
    Good men obeyed with honor and glory,
    Never the less were still dead.
     
    Cannon to the right of them, cannon to the left,
    Still some say, “Stay the course.”
    But it’s not their ass on the line,
    They’re not on the horse.
     
    You will hear comments like, “These people volunteered,
    They knew the possibility of family strife.”
    This still does not give someone permission,
    To squander a soldier’s life.
     
    Those that are leading now,
    Dodged duty in their South Asian War.
    Bravely sacrificing other parents children,
    Those war mongering whores.
     
    The incompetence of the leadership
    Peter Principle says downward it cascades.
    Like Royal appointments in Victorian England,
    That ordered the Charge of the Light Brigade.
     
    To make someone the leader of a country,
    Simply based on their last name.
    Europe has lots of bad examples of this,
    Some were even insane.
     
    They tell you how important this task is,
    Terrorist are just going to foster.
    But you don’t see their daughters on the front line.
    You’ll not find their names on a roster.
     
    The real solution is not getting done.
    Quietly, everyone knows this is the truth.
    We will just bury our dead with honor,
    We will keep sacrificing our youth.

  2. Engineer Of Knowledge June 4, 2014 4:25 pm

    This one that was published at the same time was about how we as a nation lost our way, as many were beating the drums of war based on what I knew as a fact of trumped up charges and facts. As the Wing Nut Republicans were slinging bull to the lemmings of the population, and as they unquestioningly and willingly bought those obviously blatant lies, the screaming voice in my head driven by the thought that Bush & Cheney could draft my oldest daughter who had just graduated college; just had to challenge us as a Nation of who we had become. We needed to be brought back on track of once we were.

    Sing Me Songs
     
    Sing me songs of our days past glory,
    To contemplate how we came this far.
    Sing me songs of our country’s origins,
    To confirm whom we say we are.
     
    Sing me songs of simple beauties,
    Like the sky before the beginning of night.
    Sing me songs of nightingales calling,
    As children catch fire flies by star light.
     
    Sing me songs of children playing,
    Life where no tears of sorrow are shed.
    Sing me songs where there is no illness,
    With all tucked safely at night in bed.
     
    Sing me songs of frosty fall mornings,
    When you need a sweater and it reveals your breath.
    Sing me songs of the tree’s leaves falling,
    And all the birds have empty nests.
     
    Sing me songs of a warm hearth glowing,
    Where love grows and happiness thrives.
    Sing me songs of the generations caring,
    To make sure the family survives.
     
    Sing me songs of geese flying in formation,
    Filling the sky with calls for the South.
    Sing me songs of this traditional pageant,
    As they perform this play just over our house.
     
    Sing me songs with prayers for peace,
    Working together or we all will loose.
    Sing me songs with tolerance for others,
    The direction and success is for all to choose.
     

  3. Ronald June 4, 2014 9:26 pm

    Engineer, what beautiful poetry! You are so talented and brilliant, it almost scares me! LOL Thanks for this, and I agree with your sentiments.

    The perfect person to send to war would have been Liz Cheney, since she is the female version of her dad, a despicable woman who had plans to run for President, I believe, but Wyoming stopped her, keeping Mike Enzi, who is not as whacko as Cheney and his daughter, and by the way, his wife Lynne Cheney! What a terrible family they are, and so corrupt to boot!

  4. Engineer Of Knowledge June 4, 2014 9:41 pm

    Thank you for your kind words Professor. Needless to say, thus posting really spoke to me on so many levels.

  5. Paul Doyle June 5, 2014 8:03 pm

    EOK,
    Thanks for sharing.
    Professor, I can imagine if Bergdahl had died while a captive, the “howling at the moon” moonbats on the right would be condemning Obama for not taking any action.

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