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The Myths of War
Honor and Glory in War Are Myths
We must honor those who sacrificed without honoring those whose failures made those sacrifices inevitable
There is nothing good about war. The hype is B.S. War heroes live their lives between pretending to feel good about their service when required to do so by an ignorant public, incapable of or unwilling to examine the realities of war, and the solitary agony of reliving one horror after another over and over again.
Returning soldiers too often never find satisfaction in life back home, so attuned to another kind of survival that they don’t fit here anymore — and they know it. These are the symptoms of a normal human being who has been thrust into an abnormal situation that’s as close to hell on earth as one can imagine. There is no medal, parade, or honorary membership that can do a damned thing to help these people. It’s all B.S.
I spent four years on active duty during the cold war. I served with men who had been in Viet Nam. They were very quiet most of the time. But they moved quickly. When a trainee was stupid enough to light firecrackers in the parking lot one day, about five of our drill sergeants dropped to the ground so fast it was like watching cartoon characters blur when they run off. They all got up…
