Blue Collar Muse

I don’t usually blog about local stuff but this hit me hard in all the wrong ways. Last night, I was banging around the blogosphere and found a trackback in my comments that led me to a site I visit every couple of days. It’s actually sort of a combination of two sites, both sponsored by WKRN, Channel 2 television here in Nashville, TN.

The first site is Nashville is Talking. It’s a great place to get a feel for what Nashvillians are thinking and feeling about everything from traffic and temperatures to the War on Terror. All political and religious views are present and things both serious and trivial are discussed. It’s quite a window into our community and I enjoy it.

Nashville is Talking linked to a post at the second site, Volunteer Voters, and I found it just last night because of the dust-up that grew up around it. The original post, by Adam Kleinheider (I think that’s his name) is titled Warrior Poets.

There are two parts to the controversy. The first is a video responding to Fred Thompson’s Memorial Day video here. Fred recites the poem where it is the soldier and not the reporter that is responsible for freedom of the press and so on. The video maker takes exception to that and lists a variety of other people who he feels made contributions as well.

All in all, I thought the video was in poor taste. It’s not that I disagree with the video (except where it pulls out Abu Ghraib and Kent State to show that our military has its darker side). It’s just that I grow increasingly weary of people that have to be against everything.

Some things need opposing, no problem. But why oppose a tribute to the troops. The poem wasn’t a slam on other professions, it was a praise for the military. But someone couldn’t leave it alone. So many people suggest that we be FOR things and then when we are, slam us that we weren’t for THEIR pet person, place or project. **sigh**

What really set me off was the post that accompanied the video and some responses in the thread that followed. Kleinheider wrote:

Soldiers are just that — soldiers. They are spokes on a wheel. Many, many soldiers, save those at the very top of the pyramid, are pawns. They are button men for our civilian leadership. Is this an honorable profession? Certainly. But it is also, in the end, just that — a profession. Soldiers should be proud of their service, maybe prouder than men of any other profession, but let’s not get out of control with it.

The ‘pawn’ and ’spokes’ comment drew a sharp response from the community, both for and against. It even made local talk radio with host Steve Gill spending considerable time on the matter yesterday morning.

One commenter objected to the term pawn and was challenged to lay out why he thought our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were not pawns. I thought I’d tackle the challenge as well and this is what I wrote:

All I can say is “Wow!”

I cannot speak for #9 or others. However the reason I find the “pawn” and “spoke on the wheel” comments both offensive and inaccurate is not because someone can quote a dictionary definition and apply it to our military and show some relevance. I freely grant you your relevance.

The reason I find it offensive is because of the ‘real life’ definition of pawn. There, pawns are small, ignorant tools manipulated without their knowledge by shadowy, powerful figures generally for obscure and selfish goals.

For those of you that saw the last X-Men movie, think of one of the final scenes when Magneto’s forces attack and one of his inner circle starts forward. Magneto stops him and says something to the effect of “Let the pawns do their work”.

These pawns were mere cannon fodder, unimportant in the real scheme of things. They are good for manual labor, sacrificing and little else. The tasks of thinking, planning strategy, formulating goals and such are best left to the intelligent, the elite, those that sully their hands with the day to day tasks of life as little as possible.

That is the definition I filter your comments through. That you may take my ‘real life’ definition above and say, “Exactly! That’s our military!” says more about you and your values than it does about the reality of our military.

In real life, these are men and women that volunteer, even knowing that they are going to be deployed to a war zone where their lives will be at risk even in the safety of the Green Zone. They not only volunteer the first time, but many do so over and over. So much for “ignorant” and “manipulated”.

The goals they work for are not shadowy or obscure. They are common knowledge, tactical and personal.

They fight for their family. 3000 Americans were killed on our soil by an enemy that openly states they want to do that again and then some. Going there to keep them from coming here sounds like a reasonable act.

They fight for their fellow soldiers. Here we stab our cubicle mates in the resume to get ahead. There they throw themselves on grenades and rush into firefights to save the guy in the next bunk. It’s not a hard decision for me to choose who I want in my corner in a scrap or having a beer.

They fight for their country. If bringing democracy to a far away land is too big a concept to wrap their little minds around, then they’ll do it to keep our Republic free of the brutality they see visited upon the world by their enemies.

They fight for their values. I mentioned above that your position says more about your values than it does about the values of our military. They know your opinion of them. While it matters to them in that it would be nice if you thought better of them, it is really unimportant. They are not there doing what they do to change your values but to be true to theirs. I’m reminded of the story about the woman who objects to a man holding a door for her with the comment, “You don’t have to hold the door for me just because I’m a lady!” He graciously responds, “I did not do it because you are a lady. I did it because I am a gentleman!”

And these are just the enlisted guys. Officers are another breed entirely. They are among the smartest and best educated people I have ever met. Their degrees come from prestigious schools and are in areas like Political Science, International Affairs and the like. Many junior officers go on to become movers and shakers in the civilian sector when their service is completed.

Many of our finest politicians, business leaders, civic leaders and such have distinguished themselves first in the military. The finest boss I ever had was an Army Captain and Blackhawk pilot.

I’m convinced this is either because the military teaches or because those who enter the military already have the attitude (or a little of both) that serving your country by wearing a uniform, in peacetime or in war, means that you are able to put the needs and welfare of others ahead of your own.

This is what separates this profession from all others. Country artists don’t sing so that others won’t have to. Corporate executives don’t exec to keep their employees safe and secure. Entertainment moguls don’t navigate the minefield that is their chosen workplace to blaze a safe trail for those that will follow.

The military does all that and more. And they do it knowing there will be people back home that will not understand at best and actively seek to undermine their efforts at worst.

If that is a pawn in your estimation, I’ll take one of them over a thousand like you and know that I got the better deal.

Thinking that when I get in my booth to punch out my chad, I’m going with Prince …

Blue Collar Muse

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 5:03 am and is filed under Individual Responsibility, Politics, US Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.