Once again today I saw someone say "I support the troops, I want them to come home". I wouldn't complain if he'd said "I wish we hadn't gotten into this war, but since we're in it, I want to win"; but what he was saying was "I want to quit now".
No, you don't support the troops. Our troops are all, every single one of them without exception, volunteers. They signed up knowing that their job was risky, and that they were offering to carry out the lawful orders of our government despite that risk. That is what they are doing. Undoubtedly, they all want to come home--but the honorable ones want to come home after they finish their job. If they come home before they finish their job, well, the word for that is "defeat". If you are advocating defeat, you are not supporting the troops.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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You give our troops too much credit for noble thought. The average low-level grunt (of which I was one 1975-1978) sees being in the army as a job, not a mission or a calling. The complacency and desire for comfort and routine mean that they don't much care about grand notions of victory or defeat. They care about getting a paycheck, and they'll do what's required to obtain that. I believe many of them would come home in "defeat" and never think twice about it. They'd just be happy to back in the States and not "stuck" overseas. BTW, I support victory, not defeat and not apathy.
My understanding is that the Army of the early to mid 70s was low in morale and desperately in need of reform. Not to say that our present Army doesn't need a few fixes too, but it's a professional, volunteer force.
I'm sure everyone wants to come home, but that's not the only thing they want. The ones on the sharp end do, or should, also want the mission completed; if they don't, they've got no business being in a combat arm. That's not to say that they enjoy combat, or that they might not be thinking "I've done my tour, let someone else take over now".
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