the truth, as a soldier sees it (with a few "judicious" ommissions)

[poloplayer1]

here is a link to a letter written by an American grunt
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1543658-3,00.html
it is moving and still can't do justice to what they have to endure because of war that is "officialy" over (we don't hear to much anymore of the fact that the war has "ended.") But really this is what our soldiers see, what they have to do for a government that does not seem to care anymore. make note of these: farmer, Ramadi, EOD tech ("bomb squad,") police, bank heist, VIP's, and news (e.g. bill o'reilly.)

i haven't looked into it much just yet but here are my 1st impressions:
farmer- ironic isn't it "have you seen any forgien fighters?" well of course he has, i mean his country was only just
invaded by the "greatest superpower on earth."

Ramadi- funny isn't it how a city with more stories and action is completely forgotten by the media.

EOD tech- i like how he makes note of the fact that the men with by far one of the most dangerous jobs, probably in the world, and definwtely the scariest, gets paid less than a trash collector, thank our government for that one.

police- just as bad as the insurgents (rebels, freedom fighters etc.) torturng in an endless cycle of violence, but in a FEW cases understandable do to human emotions if. think of it this way, if you just watched a man brutally kill your family would you want revenge?

bank hiest- i have no idea what to say to this one

VIP's- not all but definetely most are people with political agendas, or doing something else to get special recognition as an "expert" on the iraq war.

news- it is inevitable, news orginizations are biased in some sort of matter even SOTT, but still they should try to keep it to a minimum and to a page called an editorial.

 

[anart]

Hi poloplayer - you know, there was a time in my life when I was 'against the military' and really had no compassion for people who spent their lives training to, and eventually successfully, killing other people. That time passed once I realized how people who joined the military are, for the most part, real people who just want to make a difference. The past three plus years has made me ache for those normal people who joined the military only to be used, abused, lied to and generally discarded by the people who run this country. I've cried for them - a lot - for the normal military people because they have been horribly used and abandoned, so I really do get where you're coming from in most of your post.

I suppose my only question to you right now is how do you think that SotT is biased? You state that SotT is biased, but you don't give examples of that, and I know that the people who actually run the site (no, I'm not a person who runs the site, only a moderator here) work really hard to avoid any bias at all - to present the objective facts and what is actually happening as opposed to what we think is happening, or what we would like to be happening. So, could you give us some examples of this bias, as you see it?

 

[poloplayer1]

thank you for catching that. it was a misuse of words in the sense that when biased is used in todays terms it usually means for most people that someone doesn't take in all the facts and is narrow minded. i didn't mean it that way, i meant it the the sense that it is an inclination (definition from dictionary.com) towards certain issues and avoiding others. i meant it in the way that SOTT doen't often take in the good the government has done in certain areas. i could shoot down that arguement myself with the fact that there is not much of it to report and that there is always more help to be given and when it is given it is not always given effectively. However i'm sure there is a better word for what i would like to say but for now that word escapes my vocabulary.

 

[anart]

That makes sense, thanks for the clarification - and it's true that SotT tends to focus on the hardest to look at facts of what is going on, but that is actually the point of what they try to do. Basically, they are sending out wake up calls - trying, by putting forth real news from all over the world about how our world is coming apart at the seams, to stir some people out of the sleep that the main stream media induces.

If normal everyday Americans actually knew what was going on, every single day, I have no doubt they would be horrified and would do anything in their own power to stop it - so these news pages are brutal, but factual -they're brutal because people need shocks to wake them up and if people don't wake up, nothing will ever change.

It's a screaming alarm clock to the people who come across the site - and that's probably why the more positive things that happen aren't covered - if that makes any sense. There are positive things that happen of course, but if you're trying to wake someone up, and you've been pounding on their bedroom door for hours and hours, sometimes the only thing that works is a bullhorn, or so it seems at the moment.

 

[poloplayer1]

in response to your comment of once being against the military but now see that most are people who just want to make a difference. i agree and would like to add. the writer of the letter makes note of the fact that most grunts are right out of high school. i myself can safely assume with the fact of having two cousins and several friends in the military that they are the ones deemed 'not intelligent' by our societies way of schooling children to adults, yet later in the letter the writer says that you would never know that these kids were riht out of high school because of their excellent use of team work, discipline, and essentially knowledge of the enemy. maybe if we tweaked our learning system we could use these skills that these men and women obviosly have and put thm to use in helping society instead of having them go fight a war that has never had a true cause that was public information and has far to many casualties. the government takes advantage of these people, an example is my cousin in the marines: he was supposed to go to hawaii for many months of advanced training yet fresh out basic training he's sent to iraq, that was an outright lie to him. they got his hopes up of going to hawaii, he never had enough money to take many trips especially there. then in a second they were crushed with a call to a tour in iraq (tour-another word to brighten up a bleak picture, you think tour you often think museum, cave , etc. something nice. not going to go kill enemies of the state in a battle). the government also makes joing so easy, again lowering standards for acceptance. the pay is gaurenteed, the friendship last a lifetime, an army of one, one of the few the proud the marines, accelerate your life navy (catchy slogans too).

 

[Mark]

i meant it the the sense that it is an inclination (definition from dictionary.com) towards certain issues and avoiding others. i meant it in the way that SOTT doen't often take in the good the government has done in certain areas. i could shoot down that arguement myself with the fact that there is not much of it to report and that there is always more help to be given and when it is given it is not always given effectively. However i'm sure there is a better word for what i would like to say but for now that word escapes my vocabulary.

Governments use the rosey picture of 'do-gooders' to keep people asleep in their cozy dream world, their 'personal reality,' which as we see has nearly nothing to do with objective reality. This is undoubtedly one reason that SoTT has the focus that it does. Otherwise SoTT would only add to the overall problem of subjective reality, which of course is completely opposite of what needs to happen if we're to help shift objective reality to something better, less entropic. If it doesn't happen it sure looks like the term mankind is a word that might soon be used in the past tense.

As for the military, I'm still puzzled by anyone who thinks they can somehow do something good by voluntarily killing other people, destroying societies, forcing foreign ideals on others, etc. Not that I don't have compassion for them. I just don't understand except to think it's from something missing inside them, lack of experience at whatever level maybe. Hard to say.

 

[Rhansen]

As for the military, I'm still puzzled by anyone who thinks they can somehow do something good by voluntarily killing other people, destroying societies, forcing foreign ideals on others, etc.

I believe that most kids just don't think it through. I know when I joined the army in the late 80's it was, in part, to have some job security. The job market here was lousy at the time and the prospect of getting the training of your choice and money for schooling, while being paid to do it, was attractive. Sometimes family members recommend military service. Many of my buddies enlisted for similar reasons.
It didn't take long for most to realize that the military was not for them, myself included. I had several bad experiences with the military and after the 90-91 Gulf War, when they were offering early outs and Bush Sr. was talking about sending troops to Somalia (he was saying they would be home by Christmas - yea right), I couldn't get out fast enough - and I wasn't the only one.
I am positive there are some that join the military in order to kill and exert control over others but there are more people, in my experience, that join for other reasons, only serve one term and then get on with life.

 

[Nienna]

As for the military, I'm still puzzled by anyone who thinks they can somehow do something good by voluntarily killing other people, destroying societies, forcing foreign ideals on others, etc. Not that I don't have compassion for them. I just don't understand except to think it's from something missing inside them, lack of experience at whatever level maybe. Hard to say.

This is just an observation of mine and I'm not saying this is the case in all of the situations where people sign up in the military. My sister-in-law's sons have been heavy into the video games, as are most kids. And, of course, these games were all of the ones that were killing everything in sight.

When her 3 sons were of an age to join, 2 of them were ready to go. One of them has asthma and was told he couldn't enlist because of it. The other was finally talked out of it by his mother. But he wanted to go over there to kill. That was his main objective. Now, this young man is a very nice kid. He didn't do well in school and was having a hard time finding a place in life and I'm sure that this also had a part in his decision. But the fact is he really did want to go over there and do some killing. Was the playing of these video games to be partly to blame? I don't know. I used to think that this had nothing to do with kids and violence because I knew it didn't affect me this way and I was projecting myself onto other people. Now, I'm not so sure that the video games don't contribute to this type of reaction, of kids wanting to join the army to want to kill something.

I recall that in another thread that there was mention of kids being able to go online and interact with a game that is based on the Columbine shootings. I am still amazed and disgusted that things like these are available. And so we wonder why anyone wants to join the military. Maybe it's because they have been brainwashed into thinking this is the kind of thing they would like to do.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[poloplayer1]

As for the military, I'm still puzzled by anyone who thinks they can somehow do something good by voluntarily killing other people, destroying societies, forcing foreign ideals on others, etc. Not that I don't have compassion for them. I just don't understand except to think it's from something missing inside them, lack of experience at whatever level maybe. Hard to say.

you don't have to agree with me but here is an example of why someone would join the military: this has to do with my cousin. he's 19, no job, not going to college, low grades in school, and has a 1 and a half year old kid. Like Rhansen said the military offers a steady paycheck, job security and a chance to get more schooling. What kind of joob out there can let you learn, earn as much or more a year as another job and you can't get fired or layed off easily if you follow the rules.

 

[bw]

My sister is in the Australian army, though she's a musician so she probably won't be killing anyone (apparently musicians act as stretcher bearers in wartime). I know her well, and it seems to me that she joined the army because she really thinks she'll be part of something that does good. She has a strong desire to "do good in the world", it's just that she doesn't look any deeper than what the mainstream ideas are.... here, the mainstream media promotes "support the army...our country wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them", and is always reporting about how "our soldiers actually help people in other countries", type thing. Of course, I'm sure the job security and pay has something to do with it too - she gets paid for practising and playing music.

 

[Charles]

I've read this thread yesterday. When I came home I learned that the computer was going to be occupied for the rest of the evening. So I decided to watch Stanley Kubrik's "Full Metal Jacket" on television.

This was so appropriate.

The utter insanity of war, so well pictured in the second part of the movie, is well preceded by the first part, wherein the perversity is shown of the military training, wherein young people's souls are cracked, to end up as robotic killers.

Albert Camus once urged that men be neither victims nor executioners. This film also shows how in Vietnam, American soldiers were both.

Vietnam seems so long ago. It's amazing therefore that the movie is still so much "up to date". It seems as if ... not ... a single thing ... has changed.

 

[Mike]

I believe that most kids just don't think it through. I know when I joined the army in the late 80's it was, in part, to have some job security. The job market here was lousy at the time and the prospect of getting the training of your choice and money for schooling, while being paid to do it, was attractive. Sometimes family members recommend military service. Many of my buddies enlisted for similar reasons.

I think there are a number of factors a play in terms of why individuals choose to go into the military. As pointed out economics and job security plays a role, as well as family history or ties to the military. Pride in the American way of life and the freedoms that we supposedly have as compared to other countries is another factor. Probably the biggest factor is that they are ignorant of so many things, which as discussed in other threads has to do with education and how the whole system is set up to bascially control the masses or to produce a mass brainwashing affect.

As for the military, I'm still puzzled by anyone who thinks they can somehow do something good by voluntarily killing other people, destroying societies, forcing foreign ideals on others, etc. Not that I don't have compassion for them. I just don't understand except to think it's from something missing inside them, lack of experience at whatever level maybe. Hard to say.

As Rhansen pointed out a lot of people "don't think it through" or they are ignorant of history, themselves, propaganda and what makes up the US gov't, etc. So they buy into that they are serving something bigger than themselves (as mentioned by bw) or that they can make a living where doing so can be increasingly hard to come by, which ultimately feeds into the current system of war, etc. They see it as doing something right and an obligation to there country. They don't see, weren't taught, don't want to see how the US (gov't, corporations, the current capitalistic system, etc all tied together) feed off and plunder the rest of the world, because seeing it and really trying to understand it would force them to re-evalute and challenge just about everything they have been taught and accepted as truth. So they either brush the idea of killing another person under the rug until they face it up close and personal and/or justify that killing is or might be necessary to protect America and the world from 'evil' and to protect the parasitic system they are a part of whether they realize or understand it or not.