Muse – Speaking for the Soldier

There is a lot of talk about the soldiers going on around OD and many other places. This is well and good, but I find that I’m not one who will make assumptions of the men and women who are out there fighting. One of the most popular bits is this little offering here: The Average Military Man.

It is an emotional appeal that reverberates with the patriot in us all. But it is also a large assumption of the mass multitude of soldiers in today’s US Army. Personally, it’s more of a metaphoric jaunt on a composite of past and present to me. There is, I’m sure, no one person in the military that can lay claim to these virtues in total. That’s why it irks me every time I see it.

What no one ever seems to take into account is that it is possible that US soldiers whoa re currently out there fighting might have even a glimmer of thought that the war they’re fighting is not a good or just one. Personally, I feel I can guarantee you that there are some who might think this. So I’ll make a mention for men and women who might be out there despite the doubts they have.

Why would they be out there if they think it is wrong? Loyalty and duty, likely. They submitted themselves to the US military and, when called, they act. Is that right or wrong? Who is to say, really. Some might scoff at such a set of priorities, where personal opinion is put below loyalty to an organization, but that is as much their human prerogative as the allegedly skewed priorities of the ‘reluctant warrior’.

I would also protest the patriotic appeal of the above link. Many who enter military service don’t do so out of devotion to country(though they may be devoted to their country nonetheless). Often they enter into the military for the educational perks, never thinking they will have to face real combat. That they get to play with cool gear and learn valuable physical skills are a perk.

I’m sure many who are currently in Iraq are of this type, who were blindsided by this push to war. Or perhaps not, more watching in consternation as the inevitability of war was brought to them, unable to evade due to their term of service. Now they are there, fighting and perhaps dying, despite hoping to never face such horrors.

Mind you, I won’t deny that, of course, there are likely many others in the military who adhere to the patriotic, sentimental points of the link above. And those who are the patriotic ideal that so many pro-war folks tout with pride and swelled chest.

The military is not an entity of like minded zealots or automations, nor a killbot factory at the beck and call of corrupt administrations. Well, not entirely. There are Americans of all types, shapes, sizes and political ideologies amongst their ranks. I won’t argue numbers. It doesn’t matter. What it comes down to is this.

When you show respect to the troops, show it to all of them. Not your patriotic ideal or underdog. I don’t speak for any one ‘faction’ of thought amongst the troops. Every one, whether they fight on the front lines, drive the heavy ordinance or man the supply depot are respected by me, simply because they are people in danger. Right or wrong by justification of administration, they are Americans just like you and I, flaws and all.

Don’t speak for them. Just remember them. No matter your affiliation.