Friday, July 25, 2008

Proud To Be a Vietnam Vet? Why? (Roger Young)

Roger Young has some random thoughts while considering the perplexing world of military rationalism:

“It is such twisted thinking that leads those who refuse to examine the content of their minds to bleat about the soldiers who "fight for our freedom." What nonsense. Shall we next be told that Sunset Boulevard hookers are peddling virtue?”

~Butler Shaffer

Why would someone be “proud” to be a Vietnam veteran? Certainly, one shouldn’t necessarily be ashamed, particularly if they were conscripted. But what is there to be proud of? The US government lost the war. It was a war that, by all historical perspective, should not have involved the intervention of the US government and its military. In other words, the operation was misguided and a failure. What is there to be proud of?

Why is a soldier who is killed or captured in war considered a hero? It would seem to me that the first objective, when striving to be a successful soldier, is not to be killed or captured. It is impossible to achieve your goal of destroying your enemy when you are dead or locked up under his control. Instead of a “hero,” shouldn’t you be considered a failure?

Why does a US soldier say he is fighting for freedom when he, as an enlisted individual, is not free?

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