One Mother's Perspective
Of The
Military
From J.F.
9-10-3
- Hi Jeff -
-
- Here is a letter from a friend of mine who recently
visited her son at Ft. Hood, Texas, just prior to his being shipped out
to Iraq. I feel it provides an interesting "mother's perspective" on the
whole issue. She has told me I can share this letter, so feel free to
post it if you choose...
-
- __________
-
- Here is what was weird about being in Texas at Fort
Hood with my son last week (just before he shipped out to Iraq): almost
every civilian we met, off the base, that found out my son was
Iraq-bound got very excited, like it was a good thing.....they were
almost envious.....they didn't question what the heck we're doing there
at all.....they just pumped my son�s hand and slapped him on the back
like he was a hero....oh, brother!
-
- There's such a thing as misguided patriotism and
misguided courage, don't you think? On the base, well, there was
absolutely no grey area at all.....you could feel the bizarre, almost
happy energy that everything was geared up for war.....it really made my
stomach flip-flop. It was surreal. Ft. Hood is the biggest military base
in the world, and everywhere I went there was a happy electricity that
there's "a war on".....the worst thing was the PX --- it was selling war
trinkets like you would see souvenirs sold at Disneyland.....t-shirts,
gewgaws, little teddy bears dressed up in khaki soldier
uniforms....Jeff, you would have gotten sick....in the book section
there wasn't a single thing for sale that wasn't pro-military....or
about any other subject. Talk about brainwashing!
-
- There were lots of strange rules on the base too, that
made no sense. For example, I couldn't have lunch with my son in the
base cafeteria because I had on a dress without sleeves...(it was over
100 degrees outside). Yet in my son's barracks, there was one soldier
who was allowed to keep a gigantic pet snake, (the biggest snake I've
ever seen in my life!) and there were broken beer bottles and empty
six-packs everywhere---the soldiers are allowed (encouraged?) to drink
on base. The whole message to the soldiers is �the more macho, the
better�.......and that includes the women soldiers, too!! Especially the
women soldiers!!
-
- Maybe individually there are more thoughtful people in
the military (like my son) who simply enlisted hoping to be of some
(also misguided) "service" to their country, and then hope to check-out
after their enlistment with some generous education funds and Vet
benefits.....but the whole atmosphere there is gung-ho, regardless of
right or wrong.
-
- I'm still scratching my head about what the heck my
son is doing in this mess....I have to respect that he wanted to make an
independent decision and strike out on his own.....but if only he'd
thought about it more, and if he only had an opportunity to really know
what he was getting into, not just hearing a recruiters false
promises.
-
- People should be given generous education monies for
"serving" our country in capacities that help real human
needs....working in food pantries, or nursing homes, or with Habitat for
Humanity building homes, or in schools...etc. Instead all the good
programs are getting their budgets slashed.... it's very
sad.....
|
The
Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans
l'anarchie"
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