Hock,
Sorry for my lack of blogistics and email quoting. Not sure how to do this. My comments are in italics. I don’t think I have read anything that has pissed me off more than this blog from 23 Nov 06. I read you have a thick skin, well you will need one.Radical Thanksgivings, 23 Nov 06
What I am about to say here is kind of whispered and understood in the police and military community which sheds some understanding into who we are and what we do...and what we REALLY think. As a cop working in the "land of porcelain toilets" (codename that "homeland"), I never missed a blink having to work on a holiday. Of course after an 8-hour shift I returned to the "fam." But, I have also done my time overseas and know many, many who have and who still are now. Every Thanksgiving I am usually working in Europe. I can tell you with some certainty that many other cops and military are not missing blinks working on the holidays either. If I had a choice of sitting around and watching Uncle Pete burp up yam gas or sitting on a robbery stake-out? I, and many others would take the stake-out. Call us cold-hearted or sick if you wish, but that is just the way it is. Understanding the inner workings of this is an important training and staffing issue.
Yes you are cold hearted, however thanks for working the holidays so I didn’t have to, or someone with a family didn't have to, like my brothers. 25 year cops themselves who value their jobs and their service, but would rather if given the choice be home with their families. Cannot repeat what they said about the stake out scenario. I wish I could hear Uncle Evo burp again, because that meant he was about to impart some wisdom, in fact I wish I could hear my parents burb at the thanksgiving table, haven’t recently because they are deceased. I am glad I flew back from Germany for my mother’s last Thanksgiving; it meant a lot to her, and it meant even more to me. So I must have missed the secret understanding memo, and I missed the whisperings also, bet they were “special”.It is not uncommon that on a holiday, no matter your country, those at home pray for, and voice regrets about, and even sob for, troops overseas as they are "away from home," and "away from their loved ones," and "missing Thanksgiving," etc. Suffering great heartache. Suffering with great sacrifice. The usual litany. It creates an image that our soldiers, sailors and Marines are off whimpering in a corner on Christmas Day or Thanksgiving afternoon. But, many times these home front viewpoints are projecting (to use the psychological terms) their emotions and perceptions on the troops. Secret hard cold fact is? Many are glad to be gone, or simply don't care they are gone. Actually, honestly, I was. I didn't care, and I know many who felt and feel the same.
Never saw this in 27 years of active duty and close association with the US Army. In talking to the out patients at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center recently, all voiced the worry that their fellow soldiers and marines were in the thick of things down range, and they were not there to watch their backs. However, in the next breath they wished they were home with family and friends for the holidays. They wanted to talk about their families, Turkey day football, and how good a cook their mothers were, they wanted to have someone listen to them. Go figure, they must have missed the memo and the hushed whispers also I guess.Now if you have a church-going, shoe salesmen with a big family doing a reluctant hitch in the National Guard and he is overseas on a short tour, he may be tortured with homesickness. Then again? maybe not? I know these guys too. For many troops, certainly special forces types, you might be surprised that many are not sobbing on a stump somewhere.
Yup saw, and see lots of these guys. Tortured no, missed his/her family, you bet. Serving their country with distinction, you bet. And they are not even ‘special”.
And..they won't be too quick to admit that in public, huh? When they commit to speaking or writing, they are not naturally open as I am being right here. They say and act the expected, acceptable and proper way. From the non-fiction book, Jawbreaker: the Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda by CIA Gary Berntsen, Gary was one of the first agents into Afghanistan with Green Berets. Here he telephones his wife - (remember the last line of the quote)
"How are the kids?"
"They're fine. Alexis is traveling here for Christmas. If you can get back by then it would be great."
"I have no idea on timing. I'm taking this one day at a time."
"I know. I'm not putting pressure. But please be careful. Please!"
After years in the Agency, I had developed the ability to compartmentalize things. I missed my family terribly, but could push the loneliness aside and concentrate solely on the mission. Laser- like focus is what made me good at what I did. Rebecca remained calm as we continued, as though she was talking to her husband at work down at the mill in some small town in America. It was great hearing her voice. Even though I loved her and missed her, I was exactly where I wanted to be.
Thank God there are people like this huh? But generally speaking, can you read deep between such lines? What would anyone say in a book that would be read by family members too, or normal people with typical, civilized perceptions? I do not mean to say that Gary himself here has a between the lines message, rather what I mean to suggest is that many times, soldiers voice what is expected, but actually feel more like...I am exactly where I want to be.
Well, yes thank god there are rough men standing on the walls and at the gates, while the people sleep. We need them, hopefully when they finally do come home, someone special will be exactly where they (Gary in this case) want them to be, greeting them with a welcome home and a hug. Or perhaps the loved one will chose to be somewhere else…. exactly where they wanted to be.Or, even more specifically, they may complain and not be stationed exactly where they want to be stationed, but that doesn't mean they are in a corner somewhere sobbing about missing Thanksgiving. Not everyone wrestles so much with compartmentalizing normal feelings. I didn't. Others don't.
Good for you, you are certainly in the minority. Guess it is fun there.Plus, in these days of quick media and international CNNs and BBCs, the enemy easily spies on us and the homelands. If they can embolden dove politicians and weaken hawk politicians in any way, they will for their cause (note the recent tempo of Iraq bombings). Our enemies must view our forces as chained-up, raging huns ready to decapitate them in a barbarous second, rather than simpy momma's boys, or henpecked husbands, crying instead for their fluffy, lounge chair and a big, fat pie. Nor is it good that the enemy is aware of politicians working day and night to remove the troops from the frontline, ensuring their victory. Momentum in combat may not be just "turning the tide", rather it can be like a tsunami.
Chained-up raging huns? Ready to decapitate?? Did you really mean to say that??? Is that really what you want the US Armed Forces to project?? Calling US Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardsmen and Marines momma’s boys and henpecked husbands on Thanksgiving, is insulting. Of course, there is sacrifice and suffering of a kind. But, the fact that many like, prefer or seek out, long-flung and dangerous assignments is not a bad thing at all. This does not make them any less special. Not at all. We need people on the front who hold this view. Here's the unsociable, dirty, little, unspoken truth. What makes many troops and certainly special forces so special, is not that they suffer and sob through the holidays on the front lines, what actually makes many of them special is...they just don't care that much.
Unsociable, unspoken, dirty, don’t care that much?
?………………Sorry, but BULLSHIT!!
Jack
Heidelberg
