The Weak Dwell On The Bad

The following are excerpts from an excellent account of that which is NOT covered EVER in the Lame Stream Media.

I am a member of Vets For Freedom and we have us a consortium, so to speak, here in Texas and we do communicate. So, a major HT goes to Knox, the man that sent the email to our group. I found the link to the article sent and, the entire article can be found here. (emphasis mine)

Modern Heroes
By ROBERT D. KAPLAN
October 4, 2007; Page A19

I'm weary of seeing news stories about wounded soldiers and assertions of "support" for the troops mixed with suggestions of the futility of our military efforts in Iraq. Why aren't there more accounts of what the troops actually do? How about narrations of individual battles and skirmishes, of their ever-evolving interactions with Iraqi troops and locals in Baghdad and Anbar province, and of increasingly resourceful "patterning" of terrorist networks that goes on daily in tactical operations centers?

The sad and often unspoken truth of the matter is this: Americans have been conditioned less to understand Iraq's complex military reality than to feel sorry for those who are part of it.

[...]

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.

[...]

Media frenzies are ignited when American troops are either the perpetrators of acts resulting in victimhood, or are victims themselves. Meanwhile, individual soldiers daily performing complicated and heroic deeds barely fit within the strictures of news stories as they are presently defined. This is why the sporadic network and cable news features on heroic soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan comes across as so hokey. After all, the last time such reports were considered "news" was during World War II and the Korean War.

[...]

Read the rest of the article and you will see why the theoretical "peace activists" are not "peace activists" by any stretch of the imagination. They are weak-spirited, weak-kneed, thin-skinned whiners that deserve no more attention than a spoiled brat should receive.

Related writings: Execupundit and Fraters Libertas

As a Warrior, no longer in uniform, I learned to recognize the Fraud Warrior. There are many, albeit a scant few in the grand scheme of things, join the military for the benefits and the gravitas of a man or woman in uniform. The educational benefits are pretty much second to none. The health care while serving is first class. Those that join with the intention of never actually "fighting", are suffering from delusions of grandeur.

Once the Oaths of Service are spoken, sworn to and signed, ALL personal "feelings" are second rate. IAW the UCMJ, a military member is the property of the United States Government, plain and simple. That point is sent home several times before the oaths are administered. We ALL volunteered and we ALL were told and made to understand that swearing the oaths and donning the uniform of military service, we were henceforth and for the duration(s) of our sworn service to God, Flag and Country, expected to give our all up to and including our lives.

We were not guaranteed a right to opt out of a war. We were not offered the luxury of picking and choosing the fights we may be sent to fight. This is what I find most sadly laughable when I hear one of the cowards of Vets For Peace ramble on and on...we call them the Wonder Warriors. Sure, some have actually seen combat and it scared them to the point that they have to hide behind the likes of Soltz to get some courage up to prattle and yammer on in a vain attempt to hide their disappointments in themselves because they have to justify their hidden fears...to themselves and they cannot; I can see it in their eyes, even though they hide behind their dark sunglasses.

I don't know anyone that has seen combat that wasn't scared as scared could ever get, myself included. Lead and steel projectiles hurtling towards your general or specific direction is something one will never for ever forget and at times one can still hear the action echoing in the memory caches we carry with us forever and ever...some of us still can smell the smells and taste the tastes.

The True Warriors know and knew the risks we took and take to honor our Oaths of Service and carry those oaths to our graves. We, unlike the Wonder Warriors, don't discard our oaths when we discard the uniform. We, unlike the Wonder Warriors, have a high self-esteem and are proud to have served and proud of those that still do.

I am ashamed for the Vets For Peace in that they have betrayed their Oaths Of Service and have gotten caught up in the emotional fervor of cowardice and they found a venue in which to color their "afraidness" a different color.

I spit on them for betraying their oaths and those still fighting but are still fighting, going back for tour after tour. Cowardice under fire, when one is spineless, quits and whines and produces venomous rhetoric to mask their cowardice. Bravery comes to play when one is a coward or is scared and does it anyway because he or she knows that someone must do it and the costs of not doing it is far greater for all concerned.

Peace Activists my ass.

Catch the wave