Military Recruiting and support for our troops
To slightly misquote a favorite author of mine, David Drake said in the book 'Hammers Slammers', .."that a nation that despises its military soon has a dispicable military".We don't have to look to far back in our History to see this self fulfilling prophesy. Our military in general, and the returning soldiers in specific, were vilified at home and abroad during the Vietnam war. And for what - following the orders of an elected Democatic president and performing their duty to their country.
I believe that something similar is in the offing today.
The self depreciating disappointment that MSM reporters try to display is barely sufficient to hide their glee at anything negative they can find to report about the military and our troops - even if they have to take the reporting out of context to do so. The focus of a quarter of a 'news' broadcasts time slot to report on a single casualty is indicitive. This is done not to point out any heroic action or (heavan forbid) military victory achieved as a result. Instead it is to point out the fact the casualty occured at all and to down play at all costs any military tactical or strategic goals that may have been accomplished in the process.
If you look at the 'kill ratio', our military is more lethal today than at anytime in its history. If this is supposed to be a war of attrition with the terrorists, guess whose side is suffering the most attrition (hint - it isn't US/Coalition forces). Yet this negative broadcasting is working hand in hand with anti-war protesters in their attempt to harass and shut-down military recruiting efforts.
The strategy is simple enough - even the left wing has learned that the majority of America is very sensitive to any overt disrespectful acts toward our soldiers. So instead they have begun to focus on the casualties as a means to discourage our young people from volunteering from service. This is done with the tacit approval, even encouragement of the administration on many campuses. By doing so, the hope is to make the military effort untenable by drying up the manpower supply needed to support it.
Who does this effort favor? Certainly not the US or our near or long term security, far from it. It does favor the EU as imagined by France and Germany. It favors China, Cuba, Brazil, Iran, Syria, Al Queda, and all the Jihadists in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Michelle Malkin follows some of the attacks here, showing a concerted effort to disrupt events where recruiters are allowed to be by law. The Santa Cruz Sentinal article she references is here.
I cannot help but think this is a concerted attack on our military capabilities. These attacks serve no one but our enemiesl Whose interest is served by a weakened US? No one but those who hope to profit our expense, be they here or abroad.
I do not support a draft, but that is what these tactics would drive the US to. I think it would be a severe blow to the morale and integrity of our current volunteer force to subject them to an influx of disgruntled and resentful draftees. Having said that, my father and many of his peers supported the idea of a requirement for national service for two years all young males. Yet at the same time (at the strong behest of my mother) neither would allow me to enlist when I graduated from High School, despite a strong desire to do so. Of course, at the time in question - Mid to late 70's) our military was reaching it nadir in terms of moral, self esteem, and internal discipline (thank you Walter Cronkite).
There is a part of me that thinks some time of required national service in return for college tuitition would be a positive thing, especially if a large portion of it was military based and possibly operated along lines like the Depression era CCC. Many of the national parks and other public works that we enjoy today are the products of this program. There is a backlog of projects and needed public works across the nation that would benefit from this type of program as would the young men/women that participate in it.
But would this help our military? Possibly, but the tie-in is weak. If you want to support our military and our troops you need to show this in you daily activities and in the schools and public institutions. Do not acquisce to the shrieking of a small minority that seeks to marginalize and isolate our military from its base of public support. Silence is assent - if we remain quiet about these attacks and attitudes in our schools and universities, then they will proliferate.
Despite what we may think (and their protestations to the contrary) our children are influenced as much by what we do as by what we don't do. Does this mean it may be your (or my) child going off to fight and defend the interests of this country? Yes, but I will not denigrate their effort or their sacrifice by saying no to my own while saying yes to others. One tradition mentioned by David Drake in his book, conerned pratice of the Roman Matrons with their young men - to go forth in Rome's military and "...return with your shield or on it. This practice declined and so did Rome...".
I feel the lessons are fairly clear. We need to support our military and our young men and womens' privilige/right to choose military service or a military career. Service to our nation is the highest tribute that any individual can pay his country and his fellow citizens; this selfless act should never be the subject of ridicule, attack, or other ostracization. If we fail in this, then we fail our selves. More importantly we fail all of those who have sacrificed that we might have the choice to say yes or no to military service. And to put bluntly, those who are attacking our military and military recruiting are not them.
I've got to end this here - the more I think about the spoiled little brats that attacked the recruiters the other day the more trouble I have containing my outrage and anger.
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