Quote:
Originally Posted by Webstral
I’m not going to weigh in on creating a separate category for OT threads regarding current military events. I doubt my ability to be neutral, so I’m going to recuse myself.
There are times when I feel like we vets are bit too sensitive to seeing our deeds and misdeeds discussed openly. We’re often resentful that much criticism and judgment are heaped upon us by people who are safe and snug in their living rooms, free to enjoy the blessings of plenty and liberty with no other contribution than a grudging payment of taxes. We’re annoyed that the people of nation we serve claim not to like the war but otherwise sit on their hands when it comes to putting pressure on elected officials in any meaningful way. We’re vexed by the often inept strategic leadership, both military and civilian. We’re outraged that the media focuses almost exclusively on negative press. It’s bad enough that every misdeed undoes ten good deeds in-theater; when the media reports only (or very nearly so) on misdeed and misfortunes, the whole world gets the impression that American soldiers are ignorant, raging thugs and that American policy is based on a Roman model. We reach a point at which the mere mention of misdeeds evokes a strong negative reaction in part least because the public in general cannot contextualize said misdeeds.
We have to remember that we swore to uphold the Constitution, which means that we swore to uphold free speech that will often make us unhappy. I strongly dislike the idea that openly racist organizations and individuals can spill their bile such that my children will be exposed to it. In my heart, I feel there’s something wrong when Neo-Nazis have the right to assemble, march, and speak publicly. However, I accept that a free society must tolerate much which disgusts us.
We veterans have to choose how we’re going to wage the never-ending struggle of free speech. Whenever we react with negative emotion, we reinforce certain stereotypes about us. The citizens who are least able to contextualize bad press about us are the ones who need most to be impressed that we are, by and large, an organization of dedicated professionals upholding American ideals to the best of our ability under very trying circumstances. Just as our parent society struggles with criminal behaviors, so our armed forces struggle with behaviors that are responses to the unique stressors of the job we do. Our civilians need to understand this; and we need to be the teachers in this regard.
In our digital age in which there are no more safe havens from the eye of the camera, our every misdeed is going to be reported on. The press is going to run with these stories because they sell copy. The American people soak them up because that’s human nature; for the same reason that gladiatorial events, public hangings, and all manner of cruel spectacles have attracted crowds, the ugly side of war will attract far, far more attention than the operations that go the way they are supposed to. We want good outcomes, but we can’t turn our eyes away from bad ones. We military professionals either can rail against this reality or we can work with it the same way we should adjust our approach to a changing battlefield.
Note: I say "we", but I'm not part of the organization anymore. I'm not even on the IRR roster. Anyone who tells me that I don't have any skin in the game anymore is right. I'm not ever going to deploy to Afghanistan. So my remarks have to be contextualized as those of a well-informed outsider.
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Well said.
Now I'dlike to add a civilian's perspective. I grew up on RAF bases, my father was a sergeant and all i wanted to do was follow his footsteps. As soon as I recieved my GCSE results after leaving school at 16, I walked straight into a careers office, while the aptitude test and my school grades showed I was perfectly able and suited to following an RAF career I was turned down because I had a history of epilepsy as a teenager. Admitedly I was devastated, however I was still determined to do something so I joined NAAFI, if I couldn't serve then I'd damn well serve the services and enjoyed a ten year career with that company till and I still work for ESS their successor.
I have someting of a unique perspective, wile I am a civilian I have lived and worked my entire life on military bases. I was part of RAFWA (Royal Air Force Wargaming association) while working at RAF Marham and that's, iornicly enough, how I was introduced to Twilight 2k.
One thing I have observed is a certain arrogance in many military and ex-military personel, many do seem to feel that anyone who has not served has no right to criticise or comment on those who do. I argue against this attitude, we live in a democracy and military service is a choice. Most of us choose not to serve the military, some of us (like myself) find that choice denied to them in the first place, yet we are all still citizens 9or in the case of the UK, subjects) with the same rights to free speech and expression.
In many cases people of other nations judge us by our military and by our military actions, we resent it when we are judged harshly because of the actions of a minority within our military. I have been insulted and slagged off by Americans who feel some of the more shameful events from Northern Ireland's history represents the thoughts and feelings of my entire nation.
Whether we like it or not, whether veterans like it or not, what our military does today is how the entire world (however wrongly) will judge us and we have a right as citizens and subjects of our respective nations to demand the highest standards from our military personel. Now in the case of both my own country and that of America, new Zealand, Australia and all the other western nations, our militaries continue to exhibit the highest of standards and do us all proud. When things go wrong, when our soldiers drop the ball and exhibit behaviour and morals that are wrong and in some case repugnant, we have the right to feel outraged.
The biggest fault lies in the media, as webstral mentioned, they are so very good at giving full coverage to a soldier's misdeeds yet publishing stories about the good our soldiers do (both British and American) seems so very difficult. The public are left with a very one-sided view of things and it can come across badly.
That being said, we civilians have every right to criticise our military, every right to criticise our government's strategy and our military's tactics. However we civilians have a moral obligation to do so respectfully and to understand that the average fighting soldier is not responsible for the bigger picture. I hope that we will NEVER again see the disgraceful way American Vietnam vets where treated, I feel proud that in my own country we are very good at focussing our ire against the government and senior officers rather than at our soldiers.