Posted on 05/04/2002 6:33:10 PM PDT by Dallas
BATON ROUGE, La., May 3 (UPI) -- One American soldier said to his mother just before leaving for Afghanistan: "The terrorists have to be stopped. If they send me over there and anything happens. I'm proud to die for my country." Another's wife explained after he died that it was his hope to "defend our nation from evil." At the funeral of a third, the pastor said, "You didn't run from the heat of battle. You didn't have to fight, but you did."
They didn't run, any of them -- in fact they signed up, marched and flew into harm's way.
And then these men -- Army Sgt. Philip J. Stivak, Marine Staff Sgt. Scott N. Germosen and Marine Gunnery Sgt. Stephen L. Bryson -- died in the post- 9/11 war against terrorism in accidents and action.
I've been pondering the mystery of such men most of my professional life. I write books about social conflict, war and warriors. I study pictures and stories about men -- and women -- who leave their families and their homes and go to some distant battleground and fight--and sometimes die. I read their diaries; I listen to relatives, hometown pals and service buddies talk about them.
But still I don't know the answer to the big "why." Teaching a class on war and war images, I tell my students that historically people have gone to war for varied reasons. Wanderlust, search for adventure, escaping the law, seeking plunder, learning a trade and impressments were the more prosaic calls to the trumpet of many armies in the past.
But there was faith and patriotism too, and love of a great commander. George Washington's Continental Army did not brave frostbite, hunger and disease at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78 for gold or glory: they believed in an idea and a man.
But who are today's army? The dead heroes came from small towns and bigger cities like Joplin, Mo. and Queens, N.Y. Some were quiet men, others jokers and story-tellers. There were black and white, Hispanic and Anglo. One had six brothers serving or who had served in the military. Others had no such tradition. Some were single; others left wives and little ones behind.
Did they join to obtain job skills and respect? Until 9/11 this was the main focus of Army recruiting, although Marine ads still featured a warrior elite image. But there most be something more to the story than vocational training and psychological uplift. Why did they die for us?
I am reminded of Thornton Wilder's novel, "The Bridge of San Luis Rey." Five people traversing a rickety span over an Andes valley fall and die. Why them at that time? asks a young Franciscan monk. His quest for an answer is unresolved, except that in the face of death he discovers a core of love and sacrifice in all the victims.
Yet, there is something distinctly American in the stories of our warriors. It's revealed in two simple words that I find rarely in the annals of war and the motivations of warriors. These men wanted to "do good."
Over and over again you hear about American sailors, airmen, soldiers and Marines who flew to far-off lands not just for vengeance or duty or country, but to free other peoples from the whims of crazed gunmen and dictators.
What other superpower in history can accurately describe one of its soldiers as a "patriot and peacemaker." Such is the portrait a hometown journalist painted of Sgt. Bryson, an African-American Marine from family of Marines.
The massive infusion of assistance, materials and resources given to our former blood enemies in World War II is proof of America's inclination to virtue in victory. We rebuild our enemies and make them better than they were before -- that is, if they give us the chance and reject the false idols that led them to disaster in the first place. Obviously such an ethic can lead us into misadventures, interventions both unnecessary and impossible.
Still it reveals much that when our soldiers go to Somalia or Bosnia or Afghanistan and say they want to help the good people as much as they want to hurt the bad. Foreigners who hate America -- even Americans who hate America -- do not pay attention to such principles. Our government may sometimes err, but we keep trying to do good and do better.
That is why the heroes died.
* David D. Perlmutter is an associate professor of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and a senior fellow at the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs. He is the author of "Visions of War", St. Martin's Press, 1999.
Copyright © 2002 United Press International
For me the best representation of the reason men go to war is in the opening scenes of the made-for-tv movie "Rough Riders" - which is by far the most viewed movied in our household.
There are many new Rough Riders being born today on those windswept, godforsaken mountainsides in Afghanistan - even as I type this.
Let's see, go to war, go to prison.
Gee, I don't know.
If You really want to fight America's enemies, You don't have to go any further than DC (or America's colleges).
But there's always someone who will try to make sacrifices look romantic.
And there's a million times more willing to swallow that crap.
Baahaa baahaa..............
Are any of their families more secure today, then they were 50 years ago.
And it will continue to get worse, until the elites have everything they want.
Then people will know what hell is.......
THANK YOU EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU.
MARION MURPHY STATEN ISLAND , New York
Take a moment to email a soldier.
Read some emails while your there,it does the heart good.
/john
Yeah...this is a horrible country to live in and we have a horrible government and we should all just pack it in. off/sarcasm
Thank your family members for me would you? Thank you!
I tried to be Lincoln like,but it's obvious your an ass!
Crawl back under your rock!
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