I asked a question to the Marines in my barracks room last evening: Can you support the American GI and not support his or her Mission? What I heard from them was not what I expected.
Upon first posing the question I immediately heard an emphatic yes from one of the more well educated and passionate Marines in the room.
He stated that supporting the American GI was largely unrelated to the mission.
At that point he was sharply countered by another well educated and opinionated Marine that stated absolutely not, the mission and the GI are inexorably linked.
A third Marine, this one known for his down to earth, if stubborn, opinions chimed that he did not even believe the war was winnable how it was being waged so what did it matter (that we were here at all), maybe supporting the troops means not supporting their mission at all...
In the space of 5 minutes my eyes were opened to a group of comrades that up until this point I had thought believed things along a parallel train of thought to my own.
Of course, I was not naive enough to believe that they would be political and social clones of me.
But apparently I was naive enough to miss the fact that the American GI is a citizen first and that the same myriad of opinions and ideas that permeate American political rhetoric and debate, is echoed every day by the American GI in the safety of his comrades confidence.
Upon first posing the question I immediately heard an emphatic yes from one of the more well educated and passionate Marines in the room.
He stated that supporting the American GI was largely unrelated to the mission.
At that point he was sharply countered by another well educated and opinionated Marine that stated absolutely not, the mission and the GI are inexorably linked.
A third Marine, this one known for his down to earth, if stubborn, opinions chimed that he did not even believe the war was winnable how it was being waged so what did it matter (that we were here at all), maybe supporting the troops means not supporting their mission at all...
In the space of 5 minutes my eyes were opened to a group of comrades that up until this point I had thought believed things along a parallel train of thought to my own.
Of course, I was not naive enough to believe that they would be political and social clones of me.
But apparently I was naive enough to miss the fact that the American GI is a citizen first and that the same myriad of opinions and ideas that permeate American political rhetoric and debate, is echoed every day by the American GI in the safety of his comrades confidence.
Source...