Modern Heros Deserve Respect Not Pity: Updated
Don't miss this great piece by Robert Kaplan in today's Opinion Journal where he looks at the disconnect between the media, the public and what our soldiers actually do. They volunteered for their job, they like doing it and they want to get the job done with honor. Read the whole thing but here's a teaser.
The media struggles in good faith to respect our troops, but too often it merely pities them. I am generalizing, of course. Indeed, there are regular, stellar exceptions, quite often in the most prominent liberal publications, from our best military correspondents. But exceptions don't quite cut it amidst the barrage of "news," which too often descends into therapy for those who are not fighting, rather than matter-of-fact stories related by those who are.
As one battalion commander complained to me, in words repeated by other soldiers and marines: "Has anyone noticed that we now have a volunteer Army? I'm a warrior. It's my job to fight." Every journalist has a different network of military contacts. Mine come at me with the following theme: We want to be admired for our technical proficiency--for what we do, not for what we suffer. We are not victims. We are privileged.
Update: Donald at Burkean Reflections has his take on the article posted and a great tribute video to the fallen, via Forward Deployed.
4 comments:
Nice posting. This afternoon, I'm going to do a write-up on the Kaplan piece as well.
I must admit to sympathizing with our soldiers, but it is a pragmatic sympathy: they were trained and equipped for the modern
battlefield-manuever, air/ground coordination, heavy armor, mechanized artillary, etc. But, they are in a confining house-to house combat environment where friend and foe are nearly indistinguishable. IMHO this requires discipline and courage
above and beyond the norm. To complicate matters further, as
outlined in the COIN field manual
recently released, our soldiers
need kill insurgents while winning
the population..a considerable task
for our young men in uniform ...small wonder us at home and the media tend to misunderstand
the full scope of things Iraq.
"We are not victims. We are privileged." That sentiment is something the left will never understand, and no, I don't think they've noticed that it's an all volunteer Military, Goat. Those on the left who have noticed it believe that people only volunteer because they are uneducated, stupid, or brainwashed by recruiters. The frustrating thing is there is no way of getting through to them.
Gayle: No, you're right, we'll never get through to them, but if conservatives continue to point out the left's America-bashing and irrationalism, we can save some youung kids from going down that direction.
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