[f*ck the troops?]

If you're in anyway affiliated with the military, you've probably heard about this. Solja Boy recently wrote a rap song that's main theme was eff the establishment, but he explicitly says "Fuck the FBI and fuck all the Army troops /Fighting for what? /Bitch, be your own man."  Here's the song:

Of course this caused a massive shit storm in our little militant world.  A soldier, Stephen Hobbs, stationed in Afghanistan laid down a pretty kick ass rebuttle.

As much as I hate this kind of thing, I have to jump on the side of my men (and women) in cami's...obviously.  Besides the fact that we've been fighting for a decade and have buried too many thousands of our young men and women, our troops didn't chose to start these wars.  

After 9/11 a large group of young Americans lifted their right hands and swore an oath to protect their country and their countrymen, with their own blood.  Freedom doesn't come free.  In fact, in early August Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines stationed here lined the streets to pay their respects to a Soldier who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country.    

I went to a fundraiser last weekend and met his family.  While my H was mixing and mingling (it was a crossfit event) my friend and I started talking to an older man.  He had a sadness about him.  As I talked to him I figured out he was the father of the fallen man.  His son was one of the 31 killed in early Aug when a Chinook was shot down in Afghanistan.  Also in this unit is the boyfriend of one of my very good friends.  That morning, A called me to tell me J was ok.  She felt guilty for feeling relieved.  She felt terror that her love was so close to being the man that piloted that aircraft.  She felt sadness that her unit sustained such profound loss.  This hits VERY close to home for us.  

I feel like American has become desensitized to the wars.  I mean ten years IS a long time.  Its just that while America moves on, we're still fighting.  We're still sending our beloved Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines into warzones.  We're still sustaining casualties also.  Sometimes, the announcement of a U.S. death is just a little blurb on scroll on the bottom of the screen.  We need to speak their names.  

I watched the reading of the names (of those killed on 9.11.01) today on cnn.com.  I was shocked to see that there was virtually no audience.  Maybe I didn't understand the set up and maybe it was survivors families only, but the crowds were sparse.  Never Forget is the ONE thing we took from that day, yet we're forgetting.  "Those who ignore the past are condemned to repeat it." 

Really not sure how I ended up on that tangent, but lets carry on shall we?  Solja Boy issued a formal apology saying,

 "When I expressed my frustration with the U.S. Army, not only did my words come out wrong, I was wrong to even speak them...I have watched our country fight two wars that seem like they are never going to end. I have seen thousands and thousands of our brave men and women get killed in battle and often times, I think for what?," he wrote. "A lot of people in this country are struggling to make ends meet and I think a lot about what if we had never gone to war."

I give him credit for apologizing, but I think the damage has been done.   I think John Stewart Mill said it best,

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stewart Mill--