06-27-2007, 11:38 AM
I was a bit too young to be very aware of the Vietnam war as it happened so...
The only opinion i can offer is that we (my SO's son) have a kid going into desert training next month and then headed to Iraq. Dumb kid - he was in Korea for 3 years, on a black hawk helio base (as good as tucking him in a bank vault my SO says) and could have stayed there but WAS SICK OF KOREAN FOOD! (the real reason!! ha ha ) and wanted to come back to the US.... and he did for all of one year in CO springs (and then re-enlisted because CO is fun!)... So whatever I believed or thought about the war becomes way more personal now, it isnt an abstract idea, or thread to argue in, or some slogan or flag to wave one way or the other just to egg one side or the other on (and believe me I am a "bleeding heart liberal" with two retired Marines in the family and one current Army soldier so the thoughts & arguments go back and forth!)
So is it possible to support our troops while not agreeing with the war? How do you reconcile the two opposite views? How can I worry about the kid and still voice an opinion against what our country is involved in? How could we even tell him to not do this (my first urge) when we have tried to instill a duty to follow through on committments? How can we say we are scared to death for him, when our country is asking him to be brave? How can I say this war is the right thing to do when I am not sure it is?
Just random thoughts because we just received the news a few days ago. There is not the idealistic feeling of patriotism that followed 9/11 for these kids. There is no "they may get killed", young people ARE getting killed almost daily.
Edited by - kapohocat on 06/27/2007 15:50:32
The only opinion i can offer is that we (my SO's son) have a kid going into desert training next month and then headed to Iraq. Dumb kid - he was in Korea for 3 years, on a black hawk helio base (as good as tucking him in a bank vault my SO says) and could have stayed there but WAS SICK OF KOREAN FOOD! (the real reason!! ha ha ) and wanted to come back to the US.... and he did for all of one year in CO springs (and then re-enlisted because CO is fun!)... So whatever I believed or thought about the war becomes way more personal now, it isnt an abstract idea, or thread to argue in, or some slogan or flag to wave one way or the other just to egg one side or the other on (and believe me I am a "bleeding heart liberal" with two retired Marines in the family and one current Army soldier so the thoughts & arguments go back and forth!)
So is it possible to support our troops while not agreeing with the war? How do you reconcile the two opposite views? How can I worry about the kid and still voice an opinion against what our country is involved in? How could we even tell him to not do this (my first urge) when we have tried to instill a duty to follow through on committments? How can we say we are scared to death for him, when our country is asking him to be brave? How can I say this war is the right thing to do when I am not sure it is?
Just random thoughts because we just received the news a few days ago. There is not the idealistic feeling of patriotism that followed 9/11 for these kids. There is no "they may get killed", young people ARE getting killed almost daily.
Edited by - kapohocat on 06/27/2007 15:50:32