I saw a lot of me in Rebecca yesterday. She is beside herself over her cousin Kyler’s decision to enlist in the Marines. Rebecca’s good friend Roger did the same and endured two tours of duty in the Middle East before “graduating” to civilian life. While he was honorably discharged, Roger has very little positive to say of his military experience. Rebecca shares Kyler’s aspiration to not follow the crowd and to live life in a way that contributes to the larger good rather than selfishly taking advantage of it. This is why his decision to become a lean, mean killing machine just doesn’t compute in her searching mind.
When I chose to “enlist” in the paramilitary profession of law enforcement, my greatest quandary was the use of deadly force. I was fortunate enough to make it through six years as a cop without ever having to use it, but I have to think that a soldier doesn’t have the same degree of discretion when placed in a combat situation. With the Middle East spiraling deeper into its own ancient quagmire combined with King George’s conviction that it is any of our business, I, too, fear that Kyler may eventually face having to make the decision to take human life under less than ideal conditions.
You have to hand it to the people who have orchestrated the United States’ “war on terror.” I daily grow stronger in my belief that 9/11 was conspired by the same military industrial complex that succeeded in stealing the presidential election of 2000. The pieces of the puzzle are slowly but surely fitting together and I daresay that someday in the future Americans will be charged with the same immoral behavior that continues to haunt the legacies of Nazi Germany. But in the meantime, young men and women will continue to be recruited in the name of patriotism to a shame that will make that of the Viet Nam vets pale by comparison.
