The other day after a particularly good visit with my psychiatrist at our local VA facility, I returned home on a positive note. When I got home I found my two sons in an inquisitive mindset, loaded with questions about war. Knowing I am fourth generation Army, they both wondered what I thought about their ending this family tradition. Both explained they were not at all motivated to follow the family history of serving in the Army and that they were both against supporting the Iraq war. Concerned, they hoped I would be in agreement with the idea that this tradition going back a hundred years would now end and they didn’t want to disappoint me, or the rest of our immediate family. I must say that I didn’t have to give this conundrum much thought, after hearing their thoughts on the pros and cons on winning or losing in Iraq, I thoughtfully agreed with the idea of our families’ military tradition ending here and now.
I have to wonder how many more family’s like mine have come to a similar conclusion. My brother, a highly decorated Cavalry officer in Vietnam, has also been confronted by his son, similar questions, same result. We have had two of our four next generation relatives in the military quit by refusing to reenlist; the other two have stated they intend to do the same. I am hearing similar stories all around our little local community, my barbers son came home for good last week.
Will this be the Bush legacy, to drive many good military people away from their calling? Around here I hear many young folks saying things like what a waste it was to lose 58,000 Americans in Vietnam and they now see the Iraq war in the same way. Within my family they know a soldier simply responds to orders and that the cause being fought for is determined by the politicians not the military. So they have a healthy respect for the individual war fighter, and they find no fault within the military. Still I’m told it is a waste to have so many maimed and killed for a cause that has no real meaning.
The argument goes, we are fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here, we (my military family members), all agree on how short sighted and dangerous such a mindset is. Iraq had nothing to do with the attack on 9-11, was not a home for terrorist, and had no means of obtaining WMD. So what would a win in Iraq bring to the US? Not much more than the mess we see on the six o’clock news is our answer. After the debacle in Iraq is over we will still be confronted with the same geopolitical mess that existed prior to going into Iraq. Al Qaeda and the rest of the terrorist types have not been hurt at all, in fact they have made significant gains in training and recruitment. After Iraq they will be more emboldened, better trained and supported and we will still have to confront them somewhere and at some point in time. After Bush will we have as good a military force to deal with this as we do now? Maybe not.
My families worry is that Bush still has another 22 months to screw things up even worse than they are now. That the quality of leaders within the military will wane do to attrition. That the populace will continue to believe what the whitehouse tells them. That America will put the blame of failing on the military. Most importantly, that many families like ours will completely give up their military traditions and the military will suffer as a consequence.
I have to wonder, can anything be done to improve on this situation short of throwing in the towel?