A Public Response to a Private's Gesture

[Stuckinthebush]

A Public Response to a Private’s Gesture

On December 23rd I was trucking my family from South Carolina back to Alabama to enjoy Christmas at home. We had driven through Columbia and were on our way to Augusta, Georgia. I was driving while my wife rested and the kids were napping. As I was driving at or under the speed limit in the right lane, I noticed a car slowly pass me on the left. I absently look over to my left and saw that there was a uniform hanging in the back seat – it looked to be an army uniform with a single chevron on the sleeve. At about the time that my mind registered that the person driving must be a private, I noticed an arm reach across the front seat with a middle finger protruding from a fist. Simultaneously, I noticed the face of a young man screaming something at me while shaking that fist with the protruding middle finger.

I’m sure I looked like an innocent child as I gazed at this soldier, because for the life of me, I could not understand what I had done to incur the wrath of this fine young private. I had been driving in the right lane going at or below the speed limit for some time, and I know I had not cut anyone off recently. His anger could not have been directed at my usual offensive driving manner. It suddenly occurred to me that my wife had a Howard Dean sticker on the bumper, and perhaps, that sticker offended this soldier. A little grin crept on my face as I proceeded to pass the soldier a few miles down the road as he was now driving slowly in the right lane. I wanted to pass him and give him a smile, or perhaps a peace sign, but he refused to look in my direction. This was probably for the best, so I drove on home.

I am assuming that this young man was upset that I would show public support for a man who he has heard is an anti-military peacenik. Surely, this image was gained from the objective sources of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. This man must have been deeply hurt that an American would openly support a man who wanted to see him dead. I am sure that had I been at a gas pump when he saw the sticker, I would have been face to face with an angry menace. And who could blame him? I must be one of those anti-military types who support Saddam Hussein, that world-renowned terrorist responsible for the September 11th bombing of the Twin Towers in New York.

I want to say to this Private that he is being completely fooled by those sources he trusts. They are the ones who don’t care for him, and Democrats like Howard Dean are the ones who want to see him safe. This young man is misguided in his concept of patriotism, and he is sadly fooled into thinking that he must kill Iraqis to make America safer. He does not know or care to acknowledge that he and the other fine soldiers went to Iraq at the whim of a dangerous president who was, at best, acting on faulty intelligence, or at worst, starting a war for personal and/or political reasons. How do you tell a young man that he is cannon fodder for a buffoon?

I can tell him this: I will fight for him and the other soldiers by giving money, time, sweat, and tears to make sure that Mr. Bush is defeated in 2004. I will support him by making sure that a Democrat gets into office – a Democrat who gives a damn about him and his family. I will make sure that a Democratic administration will make it to the White House so our place in the international community will be restored and the impact of this foolish war will be lessened. I will fight for him and his brothers in arms because they are dying for a lie. This soldier can brandish that middle finger all he wants if it makes him feel better; I will still fight for his life and the lives of many soldiers living in Iraq. I will fight for him by fighting for a Democrat to replace this dangerous administration in 2004. I know that all of you will fight for him too.

[acmavm]

1. This kid is like a lot of mixed up kids who are in the military. For some

reason,they see war and killing as glamorous. Up until the first time they are in a real bind, and then I have no doubt that they are praying as hard and fast as they can to whatever deity they believe in to get them out of there fast. So many kids are brainwashed and they have a crazy opinion of war. The only justifiable reason for any nation to go to war is in it's own self-defense. Not bullshit "self-defense" that was cooked up in the sick minds of some crazy bastards who have the delusional idea that they were meant to rule the world. So it's very, very sad that so many of these kids think they are on a mission "from God" as it were. I wish morality, the humanities, and critical thinking were taught in all school system.

[tabasco]

2. Too bad.

Most people in the military are not ignoramuses. If this really was a military private accosting you, I apologize on behalf of all military personnel.

[Stuckinthebush]

3. I know

He was just a young kid who has been brainwashed by the right wing.

I'm sure if he had a chance to talk to the seasoned veterans serving in Iraq, he would get an earful.

[karlschneider]

5. Having spent a few years in the military, I respectfully disagree.

The vast majority of people in the military are indeed ignoramuses. I worked with both the bottom of the enlisted ranks and with up to Lt. Generals. Some of the dumbest shits I have ever encountered in my 61 years were wearing gold and silver oak leaves on their lapels. One bird colonel (who was actually a good friend and who I happened to like a lot on a personal level) frequently attended the Greyhound races in Colo. Springs, got staggeringly drunk and would wander out onto the track while a race was in progress. He thought it would be fun to catch the mechanical rabbit.
I am not making this up.

One Chief Master Sergeant I knew (who was a bigot in practically every way possible) left the office one day and found his car had a flat tire. He came back in asking for help. He didn't know how to change a flat.

When Robert Kennedy was assassinated, I happened to be in a 'day room' and of the 30 or so people watching TV, only one person even knew who he was.

Obviously this was many years ago, but currently one of my neighbor kids who just got back from Iraq (Army) is trying to tell me how they saved the world by getting rid of Saddam. He used to be a nice kid, not all that bright, but not formerly a brainwashed idiot.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. I can remember much the same.

I spent 4 years in the marines. In the air wing, which was considered the brainier side of the mob. The grunts were regarded as witless knuckle draggers. The pilots were all officers and I still hate to fly because most of those morons later became airline pilots.

The glorification of the military requires that "our boys" all be depicted as tender hearted but courageous and insightful young heroes.

If the average enlisted marines and "Officers and Gentlemen" that I served with are any indication of the present crop, than our glorious troops are the same young, ill educated, easily brainwashed, adolescent minded (no matter the age), robots, that are the stuff that armies have always been filled with to do the dirty work the masters tell them to do without question or conscience.

[tabasco]

8. Sounds like you were in the wrong place.

I was in the Army infantry. The young soldiers and officers I worked with were generally good people. There were some jerks, but no more than the general population. Maybe the air wing considered the infantry "witless knuckle draggers", as you would call us. Perhaps you should have gotten to know some of those "witless knuckle draggers". Those I knew were damn good people, of all colors and backgrounds, who helped me out tremedously.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. I didn't say they were "bad" people.

For the most part, the marines at the time, whether infantry grunts or allegedly smarter (they usually scored higher on the tests - qualifying them for the air wing), were made up of rather insecure adolescents in search of "manhood". They were generally products of lower or lower middle class families facing the draft with little prospect of decent employment or higher education. BTW - I include myself in this generality. They were easy prey to the military mentality of machoism, a sort of primitive patriotism, and groupthink.
Inhibitions that prevent violence were overridden by the use of fear of punishment or humiliation. There was constant pressure to conform to standards that most people would find repulsive. Blind obedience was the goal that would allow a normal person to commit heinous acts in the name of discipline or "teamwork". People were de-humanized as "enemies", "communists", "gooks", "slants", "slopes", or the most de-humanized of all, "targets". Compassion, pity, mercy, sympathy, were derided as "weakness".

Some of the best men I ever met were in the marines. Also, some of the worst. Most bought into the brainwashing, some didn't. Some questioned the whole concept of becoming killers of unknown people for unknown reasons dreamt up by unknown politicians, most didn't.

For the most part they weren't "bad" people. They were victims of a system that said that killing was acceptable because it fell under the vague notion of "patriotism" or "defending your country".

Personally, I resented the hell out of being reduced to a mindless, conscienceless, dehumanized machine, that would kill on command. Which is exactly what soldiers throughout history have been expected to do.

It's not the individual soldiers that I'm against, or hold in contempt, but the system that produces and glorifies them as something that they aren't. I've worked with a lot of Vietnam Vets as a counselor. Boys, who were coerced into doing terrible things, who became very troubled men as a result.

Face it. We were cannon-fodder used to protect "vital American interests". Oil, money, corporations, and cynical politicians who were willing to send us to kill and die for their own gain. We were tools to be used at their whim.

Perhaps you can convince yourself that Bush, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the smarmy crew really give a damn when they get tears in their eyes and look constipated, and talk about "sacrifice" and "our troops" and the "nobility of service" and "giving their all for their country" and how "painful and difficult" it is to send them into harms way. All I see is a bunch of scared adolescents being sent to do and experience horrendous things so that the rich and powerful can retain their power and wealth.

When I see "our heroes" smilingly cheering turkeyboy what I see are victims of a system that doesn't give a rip about them. Some of whom may well be maimed or corpses all too soon.

[tabasco]

7. Your experience is vastly different from mine.

I worked with some of the finest people I have ever known during my Army service.

[Columbia]

9. Ditto

Some of the finest and also regretably the worst people I've ever met were during my military service.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. To borrow a phrase from Dylan: "Only a pawn in their game."

And, as a PFC, a very small and very expendable pawn for the glory and protection of Halliburton and Exxon.

[Bossy Monkey]

11. I know you know Fort Jackson is here

The main Army training base, that is. I live nearby and run into the young recruits a lot at buffet-type restaurants. They nearly all seem like extremely nice young men and women (although a lot use the first major cash they've seen in their lives to buy very, very noisy motorcycles, which is a little less than endearing). Still, I don't think I'd get into any political discussions with them, at least not with any high expectations. On the other hand, I look like an old hippie, so maybe the fact that none of them have ever bugged me about it reflects a little better on Columbia, the fort and the Army. Regardless, sorry this happened to you and your family. Hope the Drs. D of Alabama had a very merry Christmas.

[Stuckinthebush]

12. Ahhhh...I forgot about Fort Jackson

By the way, I gave a mental hello to you as I scooted through town.

We had a nice Christmas -- thanks! I'm sure it was a tough one for your family being the first with your mother gone.

Watch out for those gesturing privates around town!

JD