Nobility................

I've devoted a lot of time in the past (nearly) forty years to reflection on my own period of military service and its relation to the sacrifice of service rendered by those throughout history.
 
As our current military adventure in Iraq appears to be deteriorating into the predictable quagmire it was destined to become, and our involvement in Afghanistan (remember that?) disappears from the news media, it seems appropriate to offer up my own small voice.
 
Until the last of my generation lies rotting in its overpriced boxes, no military effort entered into by our country will escape comparison to Vietnam.  The effort to free Kuwait, in 1990, succeeded beyond our wildest expections. It will be duly noted that that effort was presided over almost entirely by veterans of Vietnam: Colin Powell at Joint Chiefs and Norm Schwarzkopf in the field.  George the elder was at the helm, and whatever else may be said about the self-serving, oil-soaked bastard, he ruled his ministers, gave the order and deferred to the judgements of those to whom he entrusted the execution of the operation.
 
George the small, however, excercises no such ascendancy. He is the propped up talking head for a cabal of vested interests.  Schwarzkopf is retired and Powell has been neutered by his inclusion in the administration and his own consuming ambition.
 
History is replete with examples of the citizen soldier: Cincinnatus and Glendower and Wallace,  Sgt. York and Audie Murphy.  If these names are unfamiliar to you, I'll leave it to you to conjure up the resouces of your browser.  Surrounding us, though, in our everyday lives are walking examples of those who gave the best years of their youth in service to something they believed to be as important as their lives.
 
In any sampling of men in the armed forces, you'll find the borderline psychotic who lusts for the opportunity to experience the thrill of murder without the threat of execution or prison.  Also present will be the cagey opportunist who is motivated by the lure of a free education or other economic advantage, or the man who seeks to compensate for his lack of penis or personality by donning a uniform.  Added to this is the misguided fool who sees and seeks the mantle of glory draped over the horror of war by  limp-wristed, safe-at-home poets,writers, film-makers, actors and other clueless wanna-bes of their ilk. 
 
For the most part, however,  from time immemorable, a nation's standing military has comprised, and wars have been fought by, men and women who have made a concious and considered decision to offer their lives as forfeit, if need be, to defend and preserve the integrity and ideals of  the family, or clan, or tribe, or nation to which they owe their allegiance. Motivated by the highest aspirations of honor, these individuals stand ready, in peacetime and in war, to render the ultimate sacrifice in the cause to which they are committed.
 
This, to me, defines nobility.
 
History is also replete with examples of the misuse that may be made of these men and women by unscrupulous politicians, outright criminal war-lords, opportunistic men of influence, and populations driven to hysteria by fanatic demagogues. We needn't go far back in time to cite the soldiers who were utilized to implement the policies of extermination and containment practiced on Native Americans, or those who served the government of Adolf Hitler.
 
This, to me, does not erase or negate the nobility inherent in honorably motivated service.
 
In the span of my life, the American people demanded a "hard line" against the expansion of  Soviet Communism.  This led to a war in Korea and a war in Vietnam. A war-weary public, largely ignored the warrior of Korea. A public, divided into warring camps at home, took its frustration over, and contempt and revulsion for the conflict in Vietnam, into the streets.  A generation, by some exercise of stoned logic, reasoned that if there were no one to fight the war, then there would be no war and transferred its fear driven hatred onto those who were noble enough to serve.
 
In our times, a terrorized public has demanded an answer to an attack on our shores.  In our panicked, knee-jerk reaction, we have bought, wholesale, the fabric of rationale that has led us into our adventure in Iraq. We are beginning to question, investigate, uproot and examine the truth. We are beginning the process of weighing the costs and risks and sacrifices that we will be condemned to bear for a generation. We are beginning to cast about for the villian.
 
It is likely that the  villian will  prove to be as wily and as elusive and as immune as those who gave us Vietnam.
 
We, the people, elect the politicians, we demand protection and security, we send our sons and daughters off to stand in harms way.  We are responsible..........................they simply serve, Nobly so.
 
This entry was elicited by a song..............a very old song. One that has echoed within me for a lot of years.
 
I think it expresses something timeless..................and I'll share the lyrics with you.
 

The minstrel boy to the war is gone,In the ranks of death you'll find him;
His father's sword he hath girded on,And his wild harp slung behind him;
Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard,"Tho' all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy right shall guard,One faithful harp shall praise thee!"


The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's steel Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again,For he tore its chords asunder;
And said "No chains shall sully thee,Thou soul of love and brav'ry!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free, They shall never sound in slavery.

Nobility, people. Those who serve own something that most will never aspire to.
We owe them everything.

Thus endeth the entry..............