This post from Marty has been bobbing around at the back of my mind for some time, so I figured I should just blog it and move on. The bit that really struck me, beyond the general disagreement I’d have with it, is this line:
We have an outstanding military force comprised of the finest Americans this country has seen in generations.
Now I think that the idea of comparing generations of people is rather silly. Of course there are generalizations that can be made – Gen Y is more confident than the equivalent group from the Great Depression, for example, and probably has higher expectations that can appear (rightly or wrongly) to be selfishness – but to say that one generation is ‘better’ than another when they’ve lived in such different worlds is ‘a hiding to nothing’ as my grandmother would mysteriously say.
But just for the sake of argument, let’s look at this assertion. Note first, these aren’t some of the finest Americans, these aren’t heroes that would rank alongside the greatest we’ve seen; these are the finest.
So let’s go back 3 generations (the minimum I think ‘generations’ would cover). That gets us to the end of the Second World War, and men like Beauford T Anderson, who threw mortar shells at advancing Japanese forces to successfully hold his position single-handedly. Men like Thomas A Baker who, too wounded to continue after a night filled with heroism, asked to be propped against a tree with a pistol containing 8 rounds. The following morning he was found dead, still seated and with 8 dead Japanese soldiers in front of him. Or men like Charles Joseph Berry, who threw himself an a hand grenade to save his comrades.
Skipping forwards we have Tibor Rubin, who during the Korean war held a hill without support for 24 hours against overwhelming enemy force (and that was only one of three reasons given in his Medal of Honor citation). William G. Windrich died as a result of injuries received and the cold, having repeatedly declined treatment so that he could fight with and direct his men in battle.
In Vietnam, among many heroes, James Anderson Jr, Richard A Anderson, John P Baca, Jedh C Barker, Peter S Connor, Michael J Fitzmaurice, Robert H Jenkins Jr, David P Nash, Laszlo Rabel, Hecto Santiago-Colon, and Russell A Steindam were just some of the men who threw themselves on grenades to protect the men around them.
In 1993 Gary I Gordon and Randall D Shughart volunteered to walk into the chaos of Magadishu to protect a downed aircrew, and paid the ultimate price.
The men and women who serve today are ordinary people who have it within themselves to rise to extraordinary heights. I unhesitatingly admire them for their service, regardless of my views on the war they fight. But the men I listed here, amongst thousands of others, stood tall in Hell. To suggest that they aren’t the equal of today’s soldiers is as grave an insult as I can imagine.
8 Comments
/salute
/bow
Great post.
Dan
An oversight on my part. I don’t think our guys would think themselves better than the fine warriors who came before them.
Thanks for the clarification Marty – I would perhaps expect you to over-aggrandize the military, which appears to be something of a competitive sport amongst both politicians and Republicans, but this seemed rather out of character.
Don’t give our guys (or yours) short shrift though.
They are doing amazing work in a difficult environment and could look the men you mentioned in the eye.
Warrior to the King:
Take heed for I am weary, ancient
And decrepit now and my time grows short
There are no honorable frays to join
Only mean death dealt out in dibs and dabs
Or horror unleashed from across oceans
Assail me not with noble policy
For I care not at all for platitude
And surrender such tedious detail
To greater minds than mine and nimbler tongues
Singular in their purpose and resolve
And presuming to speak for everyman
Oh, for another time, a distant field
And there a mortal warrior’s lonely grave
But duty charges me remain until
The end: the last battle of the last war
Until that ‘morrow render unto me
That which is mine my stipend well deserved
The fairest flower of your progeny
Your sons, your daughters your hopes and your dreams
The cruel consequence of your conceit
As I said above, I have great admiration for anyone who serves, and have no doubt that today’s soldier can and does measure up in every way with those of the past. But I’m also not blind to the fact that they are just people, with all the flaws that normal people have. These can be gross offenses, such as My Lai, or trivialities (my mother served in Malaya, and my father in Cyprus, and I’m clearly aware of their failings). There is a difference between honouring and even celebrating members of the armed services, and lionizing them.
Wasn’t doubting you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I was quoting a poem that I thought fit the occasion: when there are no honorable frays to join, there is only the consumption of (generally) young people into the machine of war.
No worries Nick, I was responding to Marty, not your quote (which I can see truth in).