In class the other day Mr. Crotty spoke about the soldier at the stars game whos seats were changed with better ones, as a soldier's are at every home game. We discussed the idea that we do not know the man, we do not know whether or not he even fought in Iraq, or whether or not he is worthy of getting the seats. We asked ourselves why do we glorify our soldiers today when we do not fully understand anything about them at all.
One way or another it got me thinking about the idea of whether or not soldiers who die in wars die honorably, like we so often deem as the reason they join the army. To be concise, we have concluded that some soldiers join the army, marines, navy...etc, because they will be fighting for something for which they are willing to die. Because they are willing to die for this thing, they enter with the comfort that they will have died honorably, and for a noble cause.
I agree that dying to defend a cause is highly honorable, even more honorable than abiding by the honor code at Greenhill. Even more honorable I believe than taking a job with a lower salary over a higher paying job that has potential to force someone outside their moral comfort zone.
The question that arose within me, is whether or not soldiers who fought and died in the civil war died and were treated with honor. And not just the civil war, plenty of wars have been fought where casualties were so high that proper treatment of the disposed bodies was simply impossible. In The Iliad, an entire day was given where both sides could collect the dead. But what did they do with them? What happened to the thousands of soldiers who died at Gettysburg? Today they are given the respect of a memorial, but the dead were not all necessarily buried in Gettysburg. Often times, I would assume, people were so badly wounded they were unrecognizable. I can only imagine an instance where a living soldier walked past the body of his best friend, recognizing him not by his eyes and features but by the nuances of his uniform or the uniqueness of his body. Or the times where a man was wounded so badly, he was unidentifiable. To me, all these questions bring light to a prophecy that all soldiers do not join the military because they want to die honorably. Often times people join the military because they have no other option. Or because they believe if they dont they could get involved in immoral and unethical activities. I feel like ive crossed paths in this post and then digressed, crossing back over the path i already laid. My main point, I suppose, is that war is often so glorified by so many people that we are forgetting that it is a profession, granted a very different one and risky one, but it is one after all. It provides simpler more practical outlets other than spiritual or ethical escape. Lastly, I want to know what you all think: Say a man has murdered someone. Hes gotten away with it because of the circumstances of his life, maybe he lives in a neighborhood where death by murder is not uncommon. The man, weary of an imminent retaliation, decides to join the military. He does, and after a tour of Iraq, he returns home to find a family member waiting with tickets to a Dallas Stars game. He goes, and lucky for him gets selected as the soldier who gets to move to better seats. Not having known the story, we look to the person next to us, stand up, and applaud. The man, a murderer turned soldier, stands up and waves to the 20,000 people saluting his duty to America. American flags are waved all over the jumbo-tron. Is the man a hero, or should he be in jail where by American law he belongs?
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7 comments:
This post has a lot to comment on, and I want to start with your ideas about how war casualties has changed since the Civil War. I believe that we have become more conscious of the lives we lose during war. While a death in the army has always been sad, it was universally accepted as a toll for a war. I feel like today, we, as Americans, take casualties much more seriously, therefore giving these soldiers more respect. Frankly, I think this is a good change in our culture because we have become more mindful about deaths.
Your ending statement about a soldier possibly having a dark past is possible, however, we are simply showing our gratitude for him fighting for our country. Like I said, we have become more mindful about the casualties we have endure, and because of this, we have become more respectful towards those in the armed services.
Although highly unlikely that the soldier would even be able to enlist with such a criminal background, we must consider what his choices are. He can either keep living on the streets maybe taking more lives; he can be found guilty and go to jail; or he can join the military. Most likely he would want to join the military knowing that if he was to die, he would at least have a more honorable death than at the hands of someone on the streets. But most likely he would be denied entrance into the military because every soldier goes through an FBI Background check before they are able to serve.
I really liked your post Brad. You spoke really passionately about the subject, and I that's something the a lot of people avoid in their blogs. As Michael said, there is a ton to comment on. First off, I wanted to point out one thing that you said, "Often times people join the military because they have no other option." I think that's something that people really overlook. For community service day, I went to USO (hangout at the airport with soldiers either on their way to or from Iraq). A lot of the younger men that I talked to were either high school dropouts or college wasn't in their futures, so they enlisted. Although we have to respect them for joining the army, we can't necessarily say they joined the army for noble causes, thus you are completely right to say they shouldn't be glorified.
Next I want to talk about the scenario you proposed at the end of your post. Regarding your final sentence (Is the man a hero, or should he be in jail where by American law he belongs?), if he was tried for murder, than he definitely is not a hero. However, no matter how passionate you feel about knowing the story behind a soldier before you applaud him, I challenge you to find me someone who wouldn't cheer for a soldier.
I admire the courage you have in writing such an article. In today's time it is very difficult and controversial to question the intentions of a soldier. Your post brings up great points that really question the morals and ethics of our society. At the same time, I feel uncomfortable just thinking about the following topic. Soldiers are willing to die protecting the country I live in and what right do I have in questioning their intentions and actions. I am not on the front line or even in uniform for that matter. Does putting on a uniform free this man from a crime? I hate to say it, but it kind of does.
Frankly I think your murderer turned soldier deserves the applause for serving. Maybe after the game he needs to go to prison, but during the game he should get applause because he fought when you and i didn't. Frankly though, I think for certain crimes criminals should be given the option to either go to jail or join the military for a tour or two. Those sorts could actually do some good for our country fighting instead of sucking up our money eating and sleeping.
However willing one is to die for a particular cause, I refuse to believe that anyone can enter into comfort about dying. Regardless, I agree that some soldiers join the army for that reason whether they truly feel confotable or not in death. For that we should applaud them. Even if they did have a criminal recod in the past, joining the army is a huge step in the right direction
I think we can all agree that it is pretty evident that Americans are much more conscious of the amount of casualties suffered by our troops. I think there is a very clear reason for this. Consider WWII, the casualties suffered by American forces were in the hundreds of thousands, but as a country we understood it. We realized that it was necessary and had to be tolerated in order to stop our nation's enemies. Presently in Iraq, the majority of our country does not support the cause of our war and therefore will not tolerate immense casualty figures. The same kind of attitude was evident during Vietnam. Just a thought.
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