...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Tuesday, March 11, 2003
      ( 8:02 PM )
 
Where Have all the Young Men Gone


Brother Jon was deployed on Friday. Just got a call from him...the last in a while. Though he cannot say exactly, it is most likely he is enroute to a small emirate somewhere on the southern coast of the Arabian Penninsula. I am battling all the conflicting feelings. After I come up for air from being so angry. I spent some time today composing a brief rant to NPR which is airing a Talk of the Nation show tomorrow on "families of military personnel." It has gone to the limit with me, these bastards who equate opposition to the war with hating the troops. My rant follows:

Dear Talk of the Nation: I heard that you are airing a show on the families of
military personnel who are now overseas in the Persian Gulf. I am the
daughter of a 30-year veteran of the Air Force, and my brother is currently
a decorated Captain in the US Air Force and was deployed to the Persian
Gulf last Friday. As with all families of military personnel during wartime,
it is so very hard to know my brother is so far away, under possible threat
and danger to his life or the lives of his unit, and to not know
when he will be able to come home again.

What I really want to say is that I find it very disturbing how many
people, including many influential media personalities, equate being
against this war and this administration's handling of foreign policy
with being against the troops. There seems to be no ambiguity allowed
in a person's opinion about the current situation with Iraq. It's a precedent
set by the President himself when he declared the black and white
situation of either "they're for us or against us."

It is wrong to assume that dissenters against the war and the
administration's policies are against the men and women in the
military. I am so incredibly proud of my brother and all the men and
women who have voluntarily entered military service for our country
and who are now serving so diligently in the Persian Gulf and all
over the world. But my brother is also proud of me for standing up
for my views and for dissenting when I do not agree with what my
government is doing. He, along with most all other members of the military
that I have ever met, is able to distinguish between my unwavering support
of him and my disagreement with the policies that have put him in harm's
way (without sufficient reason, in my mind). He has told me many times
that he is proud to be in the military to defend this country, especially those
citizens of it who disagree with its leadership and work for positive change.
Let's stop the black and white condemnations and allow people their right to
dissent AND support and be proud of our military troops at the same time.

So endeth the rant. I miss him. I've already written 2 letters. Come this Saturday's Protest March, The Kid will have the sign taped to his stroller: "Bring my Uncle Home Now and Leave me a world of Peace." Or else The Kid's Godmother's newest: "PEACE ON EARTH, GODDAMMIT!"


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