Peace, or War?

 Sunday morning I went out for my usual cup of coffee, at my favorite roaster, and passed by this display.  This is typical of what one can see in parks across this country.  Freedom of speech and opinion, which many of our fine young men voluntarily die to protect.  These same young men volunteer to serve in order to protect fellow citizens of the world that either cannot protect themselves from tyranny, or need assistance in doing so.   This particular display effects me on so many levels.

 

As retired military I have deep personal opinions concerning war and peace.  I hesitate calling them convictions, because the term offers little wiggle room if you want to change.  Kind of like saying you quit smoking.  It is only true if, at the time of your death, you have never lit up again.  Until that happens, you have stopped smoking.

 

I guess I have to agree with their moniker, after all, don't all veteran's want peace?  For that matter, I think all soldiers would prefer peace to dying alone on a foreign battle field.  I remember we had a banner in one of my offices that read, "PLEASE, put us out of a job!"  Maybe we felt a bit stronger about it because we were planning various conflicts to end all conflict, which was as insane as thinking, "Someone has to do it, might as well be me." 

 

Having said this, I have to admit I managed to be in a position that placed me away from the physical conflict.  Being in the Intelligence field, however, you could never escape the importance, or the horrors, of it.  Nuclear deterrence can have a different effect on one's global view.  All you have to do is look at the effects of radiation on the human body, or imagine a miles wide crater with even more miles of thermal and blast damage, then imagine the heat of the sun creating a vacuum that sucks all of that damage back to the detonation site and up into the mushroom cloud so it can drop as radioactive ash across most of the world.  But, it did away with the Berlin Wall and saw the collapse of the Soviet Union, so deterrence must be good for something even if its just psychological, right?  I'm very glad to be retired from it. 



 

 

 Peace -- War, you decide.  I was a bit thick this morning, as I couldn't figure out what a "peace war" was.  I really don't think this is a question most Americans would have a problem answering.  Convincing the lunatic fringe in the rest of the world is the biggest problem.  I think Americans would just as soon let the rest of the world blow themselves to hell and back, if keeps us out of conflicts.  Realistically?  We can't survive without each other.  We need each other.  When we look at the Syrias, Libyas, and Egypts of the world, one has to think, "There, but for the grace of God..." 

Doesn't the whole issue of what "war" is require more clarification, maybe even a better definition?  When was the last time we had a war?  Korea?  Vietnam?  I think those were considered "police action" by the United Nations.  Kind of the same thing we've been doing in Southern Asia and the Middle East.  By the way, if nations were "united" why do we have war, or police actions?  Isn't the very fact we find ourselves in these situations evidence of the United Nations' total lack of effectiveness?  Maybe if we had a Untied Nations with some balls, we would have peace.  I thought that was the whole concept behind their existence, or maybe I'm wrong. 

 

I didn't enlarge the photo above, or below, out of respect for those that lost their lives. 

 

I found it interesting that the non-American dead, shown above, are neatly printed in a nice, large font.  The names of American soldiers, below, are smaller and scrawled by hand.  I want to think they took the extra time for their fellow soldiers, and not that they deserved a less neat "tombstone."  Also interesting was the sign denoting it as an "Iraq War Memorial."  Most of the names I saw were late of Afghanistan.  One would think they would update their sign to reflect current conflicts.  Why don't they just make it another Vietnam War Memorial?  

 

I would have liked to know if they asked the soldier if they could use their name.  Maybe they asked the family, though sometimes what the family feels is tainted by the loss of the loved one and may not reflect the soldier's desire.  I know I would have minded.  But, then, I'm a patriot that believes we need to do a job until there is no more reason to do it.  I don't think this kind of display makes people give a tinker's damn one way or the other.  This kind of display has been put up many times and I never see anyone, take even as much time as I gave it, walk around and look. 

 

 

I would have liked to ask the questions, but no one was there at the booth.  It was raining, after all.  Maybe they weren't veteran's of conflicts requiring them to follow orders and tough it out in a monsoon, in some forgotten foxhole full of water, in some backwater jungle.  Maybe they never had to walk a flight line in sub-zero temperatures and have to huddle next to a landing gear on some ancient B-52 in order to get out of the bone chilling breeze.  Perhaps they just forgot.  Maybe their cause just isn't as import to them as they would have us believe.  Or, more likely, maybe they're just tired of the killing, remembering their dead comrades, and the insanity of battles that just don't seem to change anything.  I would have liked to ask all these questions though.  It would have been nice to know, and give you some answers.

 

What is better than war?  Peace.  I don't think peace will happen until there is worldwide tolerance and understanding, agreements to disagree, and all people are able to determine their own peaceful, national destiny without tyrannical rulers that have no concept of human rights.  Until that time comes, I believe there is the need to protect the helpless, the thousands of children being tortured and killed, like in Syria.  Do children die in the conflicts?  Without a doubt.  We all wish there wasn't collateral damage.  We all wish we could just take out the bad guys.  We all wish the people could stand up for themselves and move away from the target area to give us a clear shot.  We all wish they had as much respect for their own people to keep them out of harms way, instead of moving the targets into populated areas.  There are civilized rules against using the civilian population as shields, though they would blame us for their own immoral conduct as they shroud a missile launcher with a Red Cross tent, or make chemical weapons in a baby food factory, 

 

Now that I have, once again, probably pissed someone off, I must remind everyone, this is all just my opinion, and everybody has one.  It may not seem like it from my comments, but I give kudos and thanks to this organization for taking the time to try to make a difference in the world.  Whether this is the right way to do it, a waste of time and effort, or counterproductive, I leave that opinion up to you.  Regardless, I feel all those, civilian and military, that die in the horror of war, deserve to be honored by our remembrance of their sacrifice and this is one organization's way of doing that. 

 

Your constructive comments and rebuttal are always welcomed, either below in the comments area, or by emailing me at the address above.