 |
|
Add to My Group
|
December 11, 2007 at 14:36:25
Military Families Patient No More by Kay Jones Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
|
|
The recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll looking into the views of the military community, both service members and families on the war in Iraq, seems to have been big news to some, but to many military families it was just a statement of fact. From the Military.com site an article from the Cincinnati Post entitled “Poll Questions Family Support of War” (December 10, 2007) gives a pretty clear explanation for why military family support for Iraq is on the decline: “Today's all-volunteer force is older and more married than any before it. …At the same time, deployments have grown longer and more frequent as Soldiers rotate in and out of the war zone, sometimes three and four times, with no end date in sight, a wearing existence that has contributed to opposition to Bush and his war strategy.” As one of those military family members, the bottom line is that we are so weary from the sustained level of stress from repeated combat tours, not just in one war effort, but two. And how do you suppose it feels to hear our leaders talking about the possibility of a third? My husband retired last year with 30 years of combined service with the USMC and the National Guard. Three out of our six children enlisted in the military, two of whom made a career in the military. I often say I was born in the military, I married the military and I gave birth to the military. 
So I get that the ultimate cost/risk being in the military is the potential for combat, injury and/or loss of life. I accepted that voluntarily when I married into the military. I am not a pacifist; I understand that wars are sometimes necessary. However, I expect that war should always be our last option as a nation and a people.
As a long time military family member, I have endured and supported my loved ones and friends fighting in both Iraq and Vietnam. It makes me crazy when people are so full of opinions about Iraq, but would never consider going there themselves. They have a multitude of reasons for not joining; just ask our Vice President why he sought five deferments during Vietnam. It was reported in an article on 5/1/2004 in the New York Times by Katharine Q. Seelye “Away from the hearing room, he [Cheney] told the Washington Post that he had sought his deferments because ‘I had other priorities in the 60's than military service.’"
Increasingly over the last five years, both in the media and among average Americans, the rhetoric around this war has become so mean-spirited and attacking that dialogue has become impossible. Sometime statements are made with little understanding of what life in the military is like for both veterans and their families. Does anyone consider how the bipartisan bickering feels to us?
As recently reported on 12/6/2007 in the Grayson County News-Gazette, regarding the service members who have died in Iraq, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell was quoted as saying, “…Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.”
To that I ask “and that means what exactly?” That volunteering for your country is relinquishing one’s right to speak out when you disagree? Or because our military are “full-time professional soldiers” rather than draftees, they and their families are supposed to hold their tongues and follow orders without a thought?
I expect statements like that made by Sen. McConnell, from people with a limited understanding or personal experience our current military. But as the mom of a daughter, who is a single parent, set to deploy to Iraq before the end of this year, I was deeply offended. I am offended when any politician attempts to use the lives of our loved ones as a political battering ram. We are not Democrats or Republicans fighting and sacrificing for our nation; we are Americans.
I just wish more Americans who believe Iraq is worth us losing our loved ones over, would head for the recruiting stations and actually walk the walk and not simply talk the talk. Do you really want to support our Troops in a tangible way? Give our brave men and women a break from repeated tours, enlist. Our military desperately needs enlisted personnel and officers; the maximum age of first-time enlistment has been raised to the ripe old age of 42.
Personally, I love and support our military and I speak out against the war, with my family’s full support. Both can exist in our nation and if that stops being the case, then we have lost who we are as a nation. What happened to “I may not always agree with what you have to say, but I will fight for your right to say it”? I long for the day when we can get back to having respectful, fact-based dialogues and disagreements.
Another point of contention I have regards something implicit in Sen. McConnell’s above statement, which is about our so-called “all voluntary” military. In the beginning when I began to make my feelings known, inevitably someone would try to throw that in my face, like it was supposed to silence me by pointing that fact out. After hearing it one too many times I had enough and I came up with what I think is a well thought out response.
Our police, local, state, and federal, is also voluntary. The biggest current difference between our current military and our many law enforcement personnel is the simple fact that the latter, can quit any time they choose. Their contracts cannot be involuntarily suspended. (i.e. Stop Loss Policy)
Our voluntary, though financially compensated, police force know exactly what they are getting into, do they not? They know each and every day that they are putting their lives on the line. They know that too often, they are out-gunned by the criminal element from which they attempt to protect us.
How many times have you ever heard the public or our government respond to the concerns of our police or their families by saying, “didn’t you know what you were getting in to…no one forced you to choose law enforcement as a career?”
1 | 2
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
 Contact Author |
Contact Editor |
 View Authors' Articles |
|
|
|
|
| 10 comments |
|
thanks
you and your family are courageously sacrificing a lot. Your voice is an important one. I hope you use the platform afforded you here at opednews.com to express your thoughts and observations and those of the families who share your experience. by Rob Kall (952 articles, 4177 quicklinks, 374 diaries, 2087 comments [45 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 3:00:50 PM  (0+)
|
|
thanks for your families service to this Nation
First and foremost thanks for your families service to this Nation. I am not a pacifist but I was against this war from the start. The troops should have stayed in Afghanistan until the job was finished with Osama bin Laden captured or killed. Iraq was no imminent threat to the U.S. The leadership from this administration has been detrimental to our military and I wouldn’t blame any soldier to refuse to continue their career in the military. From the lack of equipment and the lack of comprehension on how to deal with the military occupation of Iraq to the saber rattling at Iran this administration demonstrates their complete lack of comprehension of foreign affairs. With the spineless Democrats and the Chicken Hawk Republicans this country is in real trouble. Our only hope is that the next Commander in Chief will not be a fool or a crook and that we will elect enough people to congress that are not bought and paid for by the military industrial complex. by Michael Chavers (53 articles, 0 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 198 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 5:03:26 PM (0+)
|
|
it is an honor..
Dear Mrs. Jones, ....to thank you for your sacrifice, your husbands' and your childrens.....and for your expression to the sad inequities that war brings every time it arrives. I am overwhelmed by your ability to find strength and solace inside 30 years of such as you have gone through. I'll contain my personal frustration here, but will admit that your words and feelings are another reason I find 'war' and especially the reasons we are sold to go to war, so sadly lacking in truth. Please continue your sharing your needed voice. peace by mikel paul (14 articles, 1 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 570 comments [13 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 7:40:13 PM (0+)
|
|
Excellent piece!!
I tried to express these feelings when I participated in a call-in radio program, but I wasn't able to say everything as eloquently as you did. I was thoroughly "dissed" by the right-wing host. My son was in Iraq for the second time, and as a single (widowed) mom, it was unbelievably hard to cope with the strong feelings of betrayal at the thought of these young people being over there without adequate equipment. Alternately, I cried and raged at our government, at this administration, for their ineptness, for their indifference to the horrors they have sent our young into, and for the outrageous unecessary war that was begun on a foundation of lies and greed. I wanted my son home, I wanted him safe. He came home eventually, and he's all in one piece. But he's still dealing with the effects of having been there. And I wonder... Will he be okay?... When he gets married and has a family, will his kids be okay? I mean, what about all that depleted uranium? That this president (term used loosely) could be capable of so much carnage and mayhem and still not be impeached astonishes and dumbfounds me. God bless you and your family! My best to your precious daughter, and she will be in my thoughts and prayers.... by Semisweet (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 7:46:04 PM (0+)
|
|
I feel the pain in your written words.
Cheney is a coward and always has been. Bush is a drunk pretending to be a KING, by Truenobleman (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 8:19:34 PM (0+)
|
|
You are 100% correct
As I posted here last night, Ft Drum asked 1000 civilian employees to deploy to Iraq...TEN agreed. Because of favorable hiring practices many of those employess are ex-military themselves. Presumably "in the know" about this war and still not concerned enough to deploy. My fiance' is a 100% service connected disabled veteran that went back to work for the US Army in Alaska in the Command Center to help with this war. Then he agreed to go to Iraq. Thanks to the idiocy of virtually one man, Command Center Director, Dennis Dunn, my fiance now has the distinction of being made disabled by the US Army twice. Once in uniform and once as a civilian. He has one of at least three federal lawsuits in Alaska against the US Army for civil rights violations by it's employees. Chief Justice John Sedwick is doing his best to bury them as a favor to Bush 43...Bush 41 appointed him. Typical Bush reaction, no accountablilty and let others clean up your mess. I am also a veteran but would never consider signing on the line myself, asking my fiance' to go, or encouraging one of my children to enlist. That is not an insult to you or your family. That is the turnaround myself and my family have made. Between my fiance', my ex-husband, and myself we have over 30 years in uniform and have not encouraged any of our children to enlist. The young troop has all but been forgotten and abused by this administration. War profiteers have triumped over honorable soldiers. Support the troops means more then a photo op surrounded with soldiers in uniform while making sure that your buddies at Halliburton gets the war dollars. The only way to turn that around is to stop giving Bush and Co. fresh meat for their grinder. When young Americans refuse to participate, this war will have to end. The Democrats have shown that they don't have the courage and conviction to end the lunacy and they surely won't be able to pass a draft. This war could have been much different. I was in New York on 9/11. The next day Bush could have gone on TeeVee and asked for Americans to join the war effort and at least in New York there would have been lines around the block at recruiting stations. Instead he assured us he had a clue to what he was doing and we all bought flags and cute yellow bumper stickers. Now this war has gone on longer then WW2 with no end in sight. Sure the surge is working. How long can we sustain it and how long before chaos ensues after we pull out the best soldiers on the planet keeping the peace? How long can we ask families such as yours to keep sacrificing? Once we have lost the support of the military families we have lost the war. It is hard enough to ask someone to deploy multiple times to a war zone. It's another thing to ask them to do it without family support. I should say conviction. Mothers will always support their children, loving wives their husbands. It is the loss in the belief that we will win this war in whatever form is being presented this week, at a fair cost across society, with the actual SUPPORT, not lip service of the Commander in Chief and those of his administration that I believe we are losing. That hurts. We could have won this war. by Robin Boerner (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 19 comments) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 8:23:13 PM (0+)
|
|
Reply: "go shopping"....
Remember what Bush said to do? Robin, It is sad and utterly deplorable how we have not learned from history how we've been sold the wars via false flags, banking and military complex corporations that fund both sides, sit back and watch their coffers grow at the expence of hundreds of thousands 'soldiers' for the cause. Mrs. Jones article and your response, both in its tone and accuracy, suggest there is a awakening to the falacy of what's been going on for eons. I hope you will continue sharing your voice as you have here. This war was never about winning. Peace is not the agenda. It never has been. They will continue this as long as we let them. I'm sorry to say I think it will be a long hard battle before we still this madness. My heart and support goes out to you and all those who in their 'souls' have stood tall for our country in all its battles. I cannot in my 'soul' rest quietly anymore. The quiet is deafening. The lives lost, torn apart, used as fodder and discharged as kindly as weekly garbage makes me sick. Please accept my words of gratitude and frustration together in my humble effort to say thank you. peace by mikel paul (14 articles, 1 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 570 comments [13 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007 at 12:18:12 PM (0+)
|
|
Understanding Support is a Much Needed Gift
I have been afraid to put my heart out here so publicly, especially in what has become such a viscious atmosphere as we have lately. When I am out in public at a event I usually get what I consider to be a hit-and-run verbal assualt. At first, it brought me to tears, because I am old enought to remember when on honest difference of opinion was handled with respect. I am so tired of our nation continually looking to our military, which makes up less than 1% of the population, to solve so many problems, and then treat them with such casual disregard, like they are an expendable commodity. It brings our the Mama bear in me. I was at an event in October in NYC to support Iraq War Resistors and this Dessert Storn Vet passed by and read my sign. He said "oh I can't talk to you, I am a vet." I said, "wait hold on, I don't think you understand. I love the military with every fiber in my being. (brat, wife, mom) Never will I ever demean our service members and often I have to educate those who no connection to the military, that we can love the troops, support the troops AND hate the war." I have been know to chatize the Generals who forget where their loyalties lie. During one event, in front of a USMC Recruiting staion, I spoke with the Marines working there. I explained my military connections and my beliefs and I asked them if what I was doing offended them. This one Marine told me this, "Maam, if there is anything you can do to bring this war to an end sooner, it is fine by me." So I know that while my words and actions do not speak for all military, they speak for enough of us, that I need to make my voice heard with clairty and respect. by Kay Jones (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 8:32:54 PM (0+)
|
|
Military Families
Thank you so much for your wisdom and thank you to your family (and the families of other military who posted comments). After 9/11 and the beginning of talk of war in Iraq, I listened to the news, begging the news reporters to ask questions. Questions such as: Cheney and Rumsfeld, if you indeed know that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and you do know where they are, we still have hundreds of inspectors on the ground in Iraq. Tell them where they are so they can find them. I prayed that permission would not be given to this administration to go to war. I truly wanted to destroy my television on more than one occasion when comments were made that begged further questioning and enlightenment. It did not happen. Our congress and our media did not ask the tough questions and were all too willing to go along, or perhaps afraid they would be considered unpatriotic because of 9/11 if they did ask questions. There were only a few in the house and the senate who did speak up and who have continued to do so. Bless them for it. If it is any consolation to military families, I offer this: I appreciate, more than you or your families will ever know, the sacrifice you have all made. I am so incredibly sad for all the families who have had their precious loved ones die in this war. It is my firm belief that all those who serve in the military do so because they want to serve their country. It is through absolutely no fault of their own that our government lead us into a war that should not have been. My personal belief is that no one who does what they believe to be the right thing, and who dies in so doing, dies in vain. The question has been raised as to whether lives have been wasted because there was no need to go to war in Iraq and it seems to be that is a very different question. Wars should only be fought when it is essential to do so. Lying to the American public about the reasons for going to war, destroying a country who was completely unable to defend itself and killing tens of thousands of Iraqis as well as thousands of Americans, can be nothing but a terribly tragic waste that could have been avoided and that should have been avoided. Perhaps voices will be raised sufficiently so as to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Again, I appreciate the military and am grateful to them. My opposition to this war is in no way reflective of any belief that I do not support the military. Thank you all. Thank you for being willing to defend your country and thank you for your service. We owe you all!!! by Crystal Purcell (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 47 comments) on Tuesday, Dec 11, 2007 at 9:22:19 PM (0+)
|
|
This is where we need to stand up to Bush Co
My opposition to this war is in no way reflective of any belief that I do not support the military. Thank you all. Thank you for being willing to defend your country and thank you for your service. We owe you all!!! by Schroeder (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 14 comments) on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 9:22:19 PM Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove and all the rest of the Right Wing lunatics try to paint anyone critcizing them and their failure to support the troops and treat them as more then just pawns in their grotesque ambition to wage war on anyone they paint as a Axis of Evil and a perceived (in George's limited thought process) threat as not being behind our soldiers. This is where the battle must be. To let the Bush Administration get away with overstretching our military on wasted war fronts is more disgraceful to our military and our country then any other president in our history. It is time to stand up to them and and their simplistic rhetoric. We have a little over a year of Bush left. It's time to contain him and his ambitions at the cost of our military. Thank you for speaking out Ms. Jones. And thank you Schroeder for seeing the difference. The pressure the military and their families have felt to stay in line is incredible. I have been called anti-American and anti-military for speaking out and fighting this president and his wasted polices. My fiance' and I have been physically assaulted and accused of hurting the war effort. I think we were just a few years before our time.....wait . I think the fact that as Ms. Jones has said, only 1% are in uniform has actually HELPED Bush. As more soldiers get tired of being abused and get out, the less insulated the military will be to the sunshine of free speech not limited by the UCMJ and the threat of destroying their careers. My fiance' was accused of being AWOL from a US Army Command Center in a time of war and accused of stealing CLASSIFIED material. No one was interested in actually investigating. Just putting a black mark on a otherwise honorable career. His real crime was telling the Bush Adminstration to go to hell. Any member of the military or their family speaking out against the Commander in Chief and his merry band of misfits runs that risk. It took courage to write this article. A lot of courage. by Robin Boerner (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 19 comments) on Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007 at 12:21:29 AM (0+)
|
Want to post your own comment on this Article? 
|
||||
|
||||||||||||||
Must Read (0) 
Well Said (0) 
News (0) 
Touching (0) 
Funny (0) 
Supported (0) 
Interesting (0) 
Inspiring (0) 
Valuable (0)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tell a Friend:
|
Copyright © 2002-2009, OpEdNews |
