DT – To my Anonymous Noter

I don’t mind rude and hostile. It isn’t my failing that someone would choose to be so rather than focused and relevant. It shows up the person who is rude, displaying their failings for the world to see. So I encourage the rude to be who they are.

But all such things aside, I know well that Iraqi translators can be a problem. I’ve never been in the military, but I like to think I have something of a tactical mind. A lifetime of fiction and videogames centered around war and conflict tend to lend a little of that. Considering the nature of those who fight against the US there, such dirty tricks are to be expected.

If local translators are an issue, military translators would be fine. Personally, I think it would be a damn good idea if classes on various foreign languages were provided to the military service in general, to get common soldiers up to speed on local languages. That way the talent is on the inside and ‘incorruptible’. THe military spends enough on planes and the like which we don’t necessarily need to fight a war like this and are of questionable improvement upon current tech, that they could likely fund some general opt-in classes for groundpounders and officers. Or if not, it would be a good idea to push for such classes in public education.

Do I know how underpaid the US Army is? The military establishment itself? They get quite a lot of money. The soldiers themselves? Likely so, though I’ve never done a full analysis of the various benefits that go along with the raw pay, hazard pay and so forth so I couldn’t comment on how well or not it pays to be a soldiers. Of course, I’m sure quite a few soldiers don’t quite grasp it until they’re in it with allegations of recruiters who tell fibs to get recruits in.

So, to my anonymous poster, regardless of your final assertion, I won’t be shutting up. Nor joining, simply because I don’t take to being an unquestioning cog in the machine, which is a requirement to being a soldier. No disrespect to those who do join, because it’s a simple matter of fact that the military dislikes questions.

This is my diary, in a space I pay for just like various others do here. You have absolutely no right to walk into ‘my house’ and tell me I have no right to speak. You are, however, well within your rights to disagree with me. Though it would help your cause more to be a little less confrontational and a little more constructive when it comes to asserting your obviously strong opinions.

Have a nice day.