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pecuniumI've been meaning to mention a book I've been reading for about a week now.
The untold war:
Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of Our Soldiers
I mentioned it yesterday in a minor pissing contest at HuffPo (I got in two of them, Memorial Day makes me cranky. Not the day itself, I can cope with that, rather the people who posture about the glories of soldiering, or the virtues of not; sometimes they do it at the same time. I can be a stiff-necked SOB, and treating the service and sacrifice of soldiers, Marines, seamen, airmen as toys to be used to score rhetorical points gets my back up, but I digress).
It probably does the best job I've seen of explaining how, and why, the "soldiers" in the US military do what they do. The struggles we endure to bear up to what service is, and the greater struggles which come of being in an army at war; and more the struggles of being in a combat zone when that army is at war.
It doesn't hurt that she has a large chunk about interrogation; as a theater of that mental/moral struggle.
So, if you want to understand soldiers better, this is a good place to start. If you want to understand me a little better, it's not a bad book either, for an idea of the subject her post in the NYT, A crack in the armor is pretty good.
The untold war:
Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of Our Soldiers
I mentioned it yesterday in a minor pissing contest at HuffPo (I got in two of them, Memorial Day makes me cranky. Not the day itself, I can cope with that, rather the people who posture about the glories of soldiering, or the virtues of not; sometimes they do it at the same time. I can be a stiff-necked SOB, and treating the service and sacrifice of soldiers, Marines, seamen, airmen as toys to be used to score rhetorical points gets my back up, but I digress).
It probably does the best job I've seen of explaining how, and why, the "soldiers" in the US military do what they do. The struggles we endure to bear up to what service is, and the greater struggles which come of being in an army at war; and more the struggles of being in a combat zone when that army is at war.
It doesn't hurt that she has a large chunk about interrogation; as a theater of that mental/moral struggle.
So, if you want to understand soldiers better, this is a good place to start. If you want to understand me a little better, it's not a bad book either, for an idea of the subject her post in the NYT, A crack in the armor is pretty good.
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Date: 2010-06-01 03:13 pm (UTC)I spent the weekend commuting (rather than camping-out) to the Spring Witayapi (think: an SCA-like event based on contemporary American Indian Powwow culture), where -- partly because it _is_ held on the Memorial Day weekend and partly because practically all of the members are Veterans, or the parents or children or spouses of Veterans -- much emphasis is placed on the importance of serving in the Armed Forces. There's a tiny bit more stress on Idealistic/Nationalistic "Patriotism" than I'd like... but not much, and most of the people are refreshingly practical about it. So I really need a reasonably-outsider/independent examination, such as this book promises to be.
One focal-point of the weekend was that Bill Wantz' son has just joined the Air Force. (And yeah, I remember Bill when he was that age. *sigh*) When I passed a not-small bill to him in a handshake, told him to "spend it on something silly -- but not foolish, mind you", and wished him the best of good fortune, I didn't (one can't you know) say anything about hoping that our country will not waste him, but that thought is heavy on my mind.
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Date: 2010-06-01 08:54 pm (UTC)I appreciate the practical sense of patriotism which pervades collections of older vets; those who have a bit of time to have a bit of distance. It does tend to be a bit more nationalistic than I care for, but I know why that is, and can adjust.
I recall Ed Green, looking a little pale, telling me not to do anything stupid, when we knew the deployment was inevitable. I think he was feeling a trifle responsible for me; while he wasn't instrumental in my enlisting, the career I got wouldn't have happened without him.