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2005-09-23 Home Front: WoT

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Posted by Ulens Angatch5968 2005-09-23 00:37|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 To create one more acronym, these soldiers have what I call "JSS", for "Joyful Soldier Syndrome". In an odd analogy, they are like angels sent to Hell to fight demons and redeem sinners. There is no higher calling for them. Nothing in their civilian world lives that could be so worthwhile, so fulfilling.

In most cases, only a small fraction of what they do involves combat. In every other way, they are trying to help people. Even the smallest thing they do helps others who cannot yet help themselves. To continue the analogy, only rarely do they need to fight demons; their greatest fight is against Hell itself.

It helps that their enemies often have "demonic" goals. Violence, tyranny, oppression, hatred, and to victimize the innocent. They are Philistines. Brutalitarians.

What at first I called JSS is much like combat fatigue or delayed stress syndrome in action, seen more in those who have returned home than those at the front.

Granted, where they have been was most unpleasant, but it had meaning, purpose and emotional intensity that cannot be reproduced at home. Unlike combat fatigue or DSS, they are not suffering because of where they were; they are suffering because they are no longer there.

As a Marine said to the author: "I don't want to be anywhere else but Iraq. . . .This is what manhood is all about. I don't mean macho [stuff] either. I mean moral character."

How angelic.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-09-23 11:40|| 2005-09-23 11:40|| Front Page Top

#2 Anonymoose's comment is not off the mark. I noticed this very same thing in a Marine platoon commander back from R&R with his Family. He's glad to be with his family, but feels that Iraq is "where the battle rages". I mentioned this article to a co-worker, who said he also noticed it in two of his friends fresh back from Iraq.

While the article is complimentary with regard to Evangelical Christianity, I think that's not the whole story: the transition to the volunteer army not only raised the quality of the soldiers in it, but also lifted the moral ambiguity surrounding the question of why a man is in the army fighting for his country if there is an active draft. That, and also the effect of battling something truly evil.

The marine commander I mentioned above noted that the bachelors in the unit spent the shortest times in the States, and the atheists had the highest re-up rates.

God bless all our troops. We ought to pick a day for an official New York City ticker-tape parade to honor these warriors. Until then, don't fail to thank them as you find them.

Posted by Ptah">Ptah 2005-09-23 14:32|| http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]">[http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2005-09-23 14:32|| Front Page Top

#3 You feel it even years later. Its there - the itch you cannot scratch: you want to do something - something you've done before, and done well. Done the right things. There's a righteous fight on, and you feel in your heart that you should be there helping these baby-faced kids (and protecting your own), your bones tell you that's where you belong...

...even though your head tells you "you're too old".

Its almost painful at times. But its a hell of a motivator in the work that I do get to do. Makes my job soemthing more than a paycheck.

Posted by Oldspook 2005-09-23 15:30|| 2005-09-23 15:30|| Front Page Top

#4 OS,

Amen.

After 9/11 I was lost. I felt the itch, the need do something, anything - but I was too old to go into military service and to out of practice to do any intel/analyst type work (I did some work as a civilian defense intel analyst with the military/DOD for about 6 years during my youth).

The loss of my civvie desk job was another blow on top of that. I had to do something, but I didn;t know what I could do. A friend suggested getting into the security field (most people look down on security officers until they actually need one - there are estimated to be 23 security officers for every police and fire dept and EMT on duty in most cities and localities - although, to be honest, I wouldn't trust more than a handful of the ones I've met to react correctly in a crisis).

I got into security (breezed the background check so quickly even my new employers were surprised (5 calendar days to clearance, 10 caledar days to when I had my guard card (which is also basically guaranteed employment anywhere in this country and in many places abroad))).

After a couple of missteps, I ended up working at one of the nations' most prestigious national labs - a soft target if there ever was one.

The jobs' fun, informative, different - and most of all rewarding. While I haven't had to go toe-to-toe with any terrorists, I've had a couple of run-ins with some miscreants, some accidents (no deaths thus far, but one pretty serious injury), and some other incidents. And, if I want, I have the opportunity to move up to a classified lab and get on its police force or security detail sometime in the future.

Every day here is a discovery, a learning experience. The work here is rewarding because I know I'm doing good work.

I still wish I could be out there with the guys hunting terrorists though. The itch is still there though it's milder...

Posted by LC FOTSGreg">LC FOTSGreg 2005-09-23 16:07|| 2005-09-23 16:07|| Front Page Top

#5 From the movie Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain:
"This is a different kind of army. If you look at history you'll see men fight for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, or because a king makes them, or just because they like killing. But we're here for something new. This hasn't happened much in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow, no man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here you can build a home. But it's not the land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end, is each other. Sorry. Didn't mean to preach."

Thought that sums it up about right.

Posted by Spans Cheatch7064 2005-09-23 16:50|| 2005-09-23 16:50|| Front Page Top

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