A FEW GOOD MEN AND WOMEN

Here’s a subject that just GALLS me! This from Damian Cave’s June 3 New York Times article on high school parents and military recruiting:

“Two years into the war in Iraq, as the Army and Marines struggle to refill their ranks, parents have become boulders of opposition that recruiters cannot move.

Mothers and fathers around the country said they were terrified that their children would have to be killed - or kill - in a war that many see as unnecessary and without end.

Around the dinner table, many parents said, they are discouraging their children from serving.

At schools, they are insisting that recruiters be kept away, incensed at the access that they have to adolescents easily dazzled by incentive packages and flashy equipment.”

Oh, paahleeeze! I want to ask these parents whether they are so afraid that they have done such a piss-poor job of raising thinking, logical children that they believe that a military recruiter can convince their child to enlist against the child’s will? Well, then the hard sell of some universities will be more than they can handle and you should be on guard against all those liberal arts, lefty-leaning colleges that promote godlessness and socialism… or perhaps the righty-leaning, uberconservative colleges of the Bible belt? Surely they must oppose one or the other of those ideologies and surely they must be demanding that those recruiters be denied access to their precious and vulnerable children, eh???

One father said, "Because of the situation we're in now, I would not want my son to serve," he said. "It's the policy that I'm against, not the military." All of these parents fighting military recruiters on high school campuses claim that they are opposed to the war in Iraq… and the logic is then you should be opposed to the military? Are they also against the military saving the lives of tens of thousands after the most recent tsunamis? And they must be opposed to Guard units when they help after major disasters in the United States? Surely they also oppose the military that fly aircraft night and day 24/7 over the U.S. every day watching and guarding against those that would harm us? Harm the very children they think they are protecting?

One parent actually had the audacity to state, "The recruiters are in your face, in the library, in the lunchroom," he said. "They're contacting the most vulnerable students and recruiting them to go to war." No they’re not, you idiot. They’re recruiting them to serve in the United States’ military to protect this country -- my country, YOUR country. The military didn’t start the War on Terror, but given the chance, they sure as hell will finish it.

I can’t imagine the conversation that might go on at the dinner table? What exactly do you say to convince your child not to enlist? Do you tell your child that it is bad, wrong, evil to consider joining the military? Exactly what logical argument can you possibly use to sway a child? Tell them that you don’t want them to go to war (told our sons the same thing). Tell them you want them to consider all their options (told our sons that same thing). Tell them that the military can be really hard and involves a lot of sacrifice (told our sons the same thing). Tell them that they might be killed or injured (told our sons that, too). Yeah, well… my guess is that a lot of these sniveling parents simply TELL their children “no”. They don’t really allow an open discourse about the honest and honorable career the military might afford. They don’t really listen to what their children might have to say. No, it is about the parent, not the child.

Another parent said, "Pulling in this need for heartstrings patriotic support is clouding the issue," she said. "The point is not whether I support the troops. It's about whether a well-organized propaganda machine should be targeted at children and enforced by the schools." Ummm, 18 year olds aren’t technically “children”. We assume they can think for themselves. (If not, you’ve failed as a parent.) It’s not like they’re selling them candy or soda or porn… They’re offering your children the opportunity to serve in the United States military. They are offering them the opportunity to earn money for college. They are offering them the chance to learn marketable skills. They are offering them the chance to become proud, contributing members of society. They are offering them the chance to defend their country. It’s an offer. And it can be refused.

People need to get out of the way and let the military recruiters do their jobs. If your child is interested – or has an interest – in joining the service, do your job as parents: help your child explore the offer in the same way you would help your child explore a college. See what they have to offer. Talk about the limitations, the benefits, the upside and the down. Grill the recruiter (don’t be nasty, just insistent.) It’s their job – they don’t mind.

There isn’t a parent of a soldier, sailor, marine, or airman that likes war. We live with the specter of our children’s mortality every day… and we revel in the pride that comes from such selfless and strong children who listened to what we had to say and said, “I know, Mom. I know, Dad. But this is what I want.”

When they say you SERVE in the military, they weren’t lying. They serve something bigger and nobler than anything those parents will ever understand.

Brings to mind that soliloquy from the character Colonel Nathan Jessup (even if he was a real creep) in “A Few Good Men”:

“And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand at post.”

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