Incoming mortars and outgoing helos rung in the New Year for my team and I last night.
Standing on top of our CHU smoking a Monte Cristo from the duty-free while watching the Phalanx intercept the first of four inbound mortars. I caught a glimpse of a full moon between the clouds and tried really hard to avoid another of those 'peaceful, almost spiritual' moments that have punctuated my time in the other places that I've spent the Holidays this past decade.
The insanity of Kuwait City International Airport during the buildup in 2003; the stillness of the crowd outside the Grand Mosque in Riyadh right before a thief had his hand cut off; watching the sun come up over the mountains in Afghanistan in 2006; 400 feet above the desert floor at midnight, hanging out the back door of a Chinook leaving Bucca this past June. In the past, those moments had somewhat calmed me or at least given me a moments respite from whatever else was going on so I could attempt to put some perspective on the situation.
But last night, in the quiet between the first and second mortar, the glimpse I got of the full moon didn't remind me of the beauty that was left in the world. I didn't get a small dose of reason or have a momentary feeling of calm clarity. What I felt last night was one of the darkest feelings of my life. Not neccesarily of despair or fear, but of acquiescence. The realization that this conflict is never going to end in our favor, if it even ends at all.
Regardless of all the great speeches our glorious leader makes, the policies that our country has adopted over the last 50 years have been so short-sighted and misguided that we will never manage to defeat any enemy that has any dedication to their cause. Our policy of 'helping' nations that we are at war with is needlessly and ignorantly putting lives in danger when we should be focusing on stopping attacks on our own soil.
And damn the media and the college proffessors who don't like our tactics. War is not about mutual respect or caring about feelings. It is about protecting what is 'good' and what we love. I understand that America has its problems but if by and large you don't think that America is worth fighting for, you don't deserve to reap the benefits of being one of its citizens.
Our 'leaders' have the naive notion that we are simply at odds with a select few charismatic leaders that are organizing downtrodden and repressed people in low-income areas. It is GROSSLY irresponsible for any of us to view this conflict that way. Do some research; our most recent attempted terror attack was carried out by a spoiled rich-kid whose was educated at a nice college in the UK. And he is the rule as opposed to the exception.
What we are reallly fighting is a society that has been bred in war and hatred and strife and turmoil since its very inception. The best defense we have in Iraq right now is that the Sunni and Shia are usually too busy killing each other to come after us. Except for on the holidays.
Educate yourselves as to the origins of the cultures that hate us. www.thereligionofpeace.com There are links on that website to dozens more that detail the history of Islam and the Muslim culture. As a younger man I always assumed that the more I learned about this culture and it's religion, the more I would understand what was surely a misunderstood group of people. Now I understand them perfectly well.
Standing on top of our CHU smoking a Monte Cristo from the duty-free while watching the Phalanx intercept the first of four inbound mortars. I caught a glimpse of a full moon between the clouds and tried really hard to avoid another of those 'peaceful, almost spiritual' moments that have punctuated my time in the other places that I've spent the Holidays this past decade.
The insanity of Kuwait City International Airport during the buildup in 2003; the stillness of the crowd outside the Grand Mosque in Riyadh right before a thief had his hand cut off; watching the sun come up over the mountains in Afghanistan in 2006; 400 feet above the desert floor at midnight, hanging out the back door of a Chinook leaving Bucca this past June. In the past, those moments had somewhat calmed me or at least given me a moments respite from whatever else was going on so I could attempt to put some perspective on the situation.
But last night, in the quiet between the first and second mortar, the glimpse I got of the full moon didn't remind me of the beauty that was left in the world. I didn't get a small dose of reason or have a momentary feeling of calm clarity. What I felt last night was one of the darkest feelings of my life. Not neccesarily of despair or fear, but of acquiescence. The realization that this conflict is never going to end in our favor, if it even ends at all.
Regardless of all the great speeches our glorious leader makes, the policies that our country has adopted over the last 50 years have been so short-sighted and misguided that we will never manage to defeat any enemy that has any dedication to their cause. Our policy of 'helping' nations that we are at war with is needlessly and ignorantly putting lives in danger when we should be focusing on stopping attacks on our own soil.
And damn the media and the college proffessors who don't like our tactics. War is not about mutual respect or caring about feelings. It is about protecting what is 'good' and what we love. I understand that America has its problems but if by and large you don't think that America is worth fighting for, you don't deserve to reap the benefits of being one of its citizens.
Our 'leaders' have the naive notion that we are simply at odds with a select few charismatic leaders that are organizing downtrodden and repressed people in low-income areas. It is GROSSLY irresponsible for any of us to view this conflict that way. Do some research; our most recent attempted terror attack was carried out by a spoiled rich-kid whose was educated at a nice college in the UK. And he is the rule as opposed to the exception.
What we are reallly fighting is a society that has been bred in war and hatred and strife and turmoil since its very inception. The best defense we have in Iraq right now is that the Sunni and Shia are usually too busy killing each other to come after us. Except for on the holidays.
Educate yourselves as to the origins of the cultures that hate us. www.thereligionofpeace.com There are links on that website to dozens more that detail the history of Islam and the Muslim culture. As a younger man I always assumed that the more I learned about this culture and it's religion, the more I would understand what was surely a misunderstood group of people. Now I understand them perfectly well.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
i hope the beautiful girls on this site give you at least a little bit of distraction from the chaos around you...thank you for your courage in being over in that part of the world right now. (sadly) i agree with a lot of what you have to say, and i'm sure i don't even know the half of it. your perspective is a good read, i'll definitely be coming back here when i've got some more time to process.