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Don't judge what you don't know
The Advocate
It’s no secret there is a major conflict occurring in the Middle East. There are plenty of opinions floating around about the war, from left wing journalists and right wing journalists, people who think the military is full of dull brainless order-followers and warmongers, and people who feel that everyone in the military is just young men and women making the ultimate sacrifice, putting it all on the line for our freedom.
But what I find most entertaining about all of these opinions is that they are irrelevant.
They are just a bunch of people who read the paper or listen to the radio, or they watch movies and think they know what it’s like to be in the service, when they really don’t know anything. The response I love the most is, “Well, I know somebody over there so I know what is going on.” I always ask, “Have YOU been there?” The answer, 99 percent of the time, is . . . no.
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When I was stationed in Mississippi, it seemed like everyone had a yellow ribbon on his or her bumper. It’s not like those people did anything for the troops. Keep sending the troops to fight a glass war and I’ll save money on taxes and it will be all good. Then when I came to Oregon it was just as ridiculous. In this state, everyone feels that THEY know what is best for the troops. Stop the war, cut the funding, soldiers eat babies. Support the troops by pulling the rug out from under them.
When I got off the airplane and felt the 120-degree heat blowing on my face at the airport in Kuwait, my gut went into my throat. At that moment, none of the opinions matter anymore. Most guys and gals my age at that time were stressed about who their dorm roommate is going to be. Or, “I hope I get into that fraternity!”
But instead of worrying about midterms or finals, everyone around me was worried about being in a strange desert, while our superiors hustled us onto buses to get us to camp for the night. For the majority of the kids in my battalion, we were all there because we couldn’t afford to pay to sit in the class to worry about midterms or finals. It wasn’t about the mission. What mission?
The point is, it didn’t matter what the mission was because all of us needed a jump-off point. The risk was worth it.
A common misconception about the military is that it’s full of meatheads. I found that there was more Xbox-savvy college dropouts in the service than washed-up high school athletes. My friends were mainly skateboard punk burnouts who pissed away high school to go snowboarding. Not gun-loving patriots.
America holds all of these stereotypes about the people who defend their country. It’s like they have it all figured out without even stepping foot in country. Society hasn’t sat next to friends on the phone when their wife is cheating on them while he pays the rent. Society hasn’t had to miss the birth of their firstborn children doing a job that many people would just as soon do without. People just toss a sticker on their truck and think they are showing support. Or vote to cut funding because they think it will bring the troops home, even though it won’t. If you haven’t been in a situation, keep your support and opinions to yourself.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.
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