Power Station: I think our strong military (perhaps too strong?) is a reaction, maybe even a knee-jerk one. But we have a long history to justify it to some extent.
You see, in almost every major conflict, action, and war that the USA has been in since its infancy, we have been caught with our pants around our ankles, militarily speaking. Whether it was material shortage, or outmoded strategic and tactical doctrines, or excessive civilian oversight in the conduct of the fighting, we have begun by screwing the pooch, but then somehow, almost miraculously, pulling it out of the fire and saving the day, whether it was simply our own butts, or someone else’s. Korea, and then Vietnam, dispelled that mythical aura to some extent.
The current leaders of our military were children during the Korean War, and junior and mid-grade officers during the Vietnam War, and saw first hand the bloody price of unpreparedness, for failing to heed the lesson that history has taught every kingdom, every empire, since the dawn of recorded human history: Weakness Invites Agression.
They then made a solemn vow on those fields of bloodied corpses, to the ghosts of the men and women, military and civilian alike, regardless of race, color, religion or country of origin.
Some stayed in The Service to fulfill that vow, while others took off their uniforms and entered the political arena. Their approaches were different, but their goal was the same: Never Again.
If they have been overly zealous in executing that vow, well, look at the blood upon their hands, their heads, and ask yourself: what price this burden?
For it is a burden, one that may become lighter for a bit, as an absense of conflict allows those holding the reigns of power to confidently predict “an end to war in our time.”
But it is never long before someone with the will and charisma to motivate and organize a nation goes on a rampage of conquest and destruction; looting, pillaging, raping and “cleansing” the newly conquered lands for “living room.”
Other nations cluck their tongues, and worry that someone should do something about it. A few actually do, and are either criticized and attacked for not acting quick enough, or for acting at all. If the few say “your criticisms do not trouble me; I am morally correct in protecting the weak from the predations of the strong,” then they are again criticized as being arrogant in their display and use of power.
Bottom Line: Humanity is the ultimate cluster-fuck, with politics being the ultimate circle-jerk. Getting two people of the exact same color, religion and political persuasion to agree that the sky is blue is actually a miracle; getting a dozen or so different nations to agree on a course of military intervention in places like Somalia or Bosnia is damned near impossible. And the clock is ticking, have no doubt about it; with every second that passes, another life is lost, another atrocity committed, another ghost wanders the bloddy fields asking, “why, oh God, why?”
We Americans are blessed by either providence, foresight, or just sheer dumb-luck, with a doctrine that essentially says, “can’t we all just get along?”
And when someone else says, “Fuck you; we’re strong, and so we will take what we want, when we want, and wherever we want it,” we occasionally feel a little bit obliged to man up and say, “No, you won’t.”
If that’s wrong, man, then I don’t wanna be right.
So, in hindsight, maybe our military isn’t strong enough. We can’t put an end to war in our time, not as we are. We can’t be everywhere, for everybody. Because for one thing, we don’t want to do it; for another, you don’t want us to. We pick and choose our fights, trying to combat and destroy the larger evils (as we see them) so as to intimidate the smaller ones.
Since it’s our blood being spilled in so doing, I don’t think it the least bit arrogant for us to decide which evils we will fight. We have but one life to give, and we will do so in a manner and time of our choosing, not yours.
But if we could fight every evil, if we could be in every war to defend one side or another, then we would be foreclosing the political freedom we claim to cherish and revere so much. Both ours and yours.
If that’s wrong, man, then I don’t wanna be right, and the world truly is even more fucked up than I originally thought.
So are we proud of our miltary? To some extent, yes, even if we don’t constantly, consciously think about it in such terms. But knowing we have the political will to build a nigh unstoppable military machine, and the expertise to effectively employ it…well, the knowledge manifests itself in a thousand small ways every day.
And not always in the best of ways. I hope you’ll forgive us, we’re currently combatting one of the greater evils plaguing the human race. A bunch of religious zealots who want to turn the clock back to 800 A.D. for the entire human race chose to start the fight with the USA, supposedly on the theory that if they can beat and eliminate the biggest and the strongest, the lesser will soon follow.
Because, you see, we didn’t start this fight; we were fairly uninterested in the affairs of these zealots until they decided to attack us directly, on our home turf, last September.
We’re not even sure if we should be in this fight, or how best to go about fighting it.
But one thing we are sure of, as it was taught to us rather harshly in Vietnam: we stand behind our men and women in uniform. Whatever the political faults of the action, conflict or war, they serve, they sacrifice, they bleed and die far from home, in the name of love, in the name of country, in the name of duty.
And when they come home, in victory or defeat, whether under their own power or in flag-draped coffins, we will welcome them home as heroes, with all the pomp and circumstance we can find it in our hearts to muster.
And if that’s wrong, man, then I don’t wanna be right.
Because if we don’t, then the next time they are asked to respond to the drums of war, they might not come. We may only be fighting for our own lives at that time. But then again, we might be fighting for yours.