thedrifter
12-10-06, 08:16 AM
The Failed President And The New "Greatest Generation"
Frank Schaeffer
Huffington Post
The Iraq Study Group and Robert Gates agree: Iraq is a horrible mess. We won't be hearing any more about "bringing democracy the Middle East." Many things have contributed to this mess, a lack of honesty, a lack of wisdom, and a lack of personal connection to those asked to go to war.
For the President, like most Americans, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been all about other people's children. The President, like most privileged Americans, has no "skin in the game." But we in the military family lent our children and therefore hearts, to this small man. And if the sacrifice turns out to have been utterly in vain where will we find hope? I'm not talking about political, but personal hope.
I never served. I was shocked when my son John volunteered for the Marines right out of his swanky North shore of Boston private high school (a story John and I tell together in Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and The United States Marine Corps, that, with a kind assist from Oprah, became a best seller). Then came 9/11, and the "good" war in Afghanistan, then the "bad" war in Iraq. My son served in both. Now Iraq is disintegrating. And there will be worse to come. Our country, with our notoriously short attention span, will "move on." Out-of-sight-out-of-mind we'll forget the carnage we've caused in Iraq and the thousands of grieving American military families, and tens of thousands of our wounded.
As I observe in my new novel BABY JACK---the price paid by the military family for the folly of our leaders is out of all proportion to the price paid by our leaders. Gone are the days when it could be said of an American war effort, "We're all in this together." Those who talk the most and decide the most have suffered the least. And I'm not alone in saying this. Here is a letter typical of the thousands of emails I've received in response to my Washington Post pieces and books about class and the military, and the price paid by the military family.
"Frank: Thank you for writing about what many of us with children in the military feel. You have been able to eloquently put into words what we hold so very dear to our hearts about our children and their families. Our son and his wife are both back stateside from Iraq. We have been truly blessed that they are home. We cannot say that they are unscathed. . . . [Our son] had to have some help dealing with the bombings. . . . As he described it, "One minute there was a school yard full of children playing, and then there was a big gaping hole with nobody in sight." Our hearts go out to all of the young men and women in the military who are dealing with experiences like this and much, much more."
My son is home safe but the words, "Today a Marine was killed..." still hit me like a punch in the face every time I hear them on the news. Through my son I learned that "those men and women" are my children. I ask again: So where does the military family turn for hope now Iraq is coming apart?
When John came back from his first tour in Afghanistan I thought he would be home for good. More fool me! Within three weeks he called to say that he was headed back to war. "Why?" I asked. "You just got home!" "Because they need me Dad," he answered.
Like any father I long for my children to succeed. Sometimes this longing manifests itself in wanting them to have educational or other opportunities beyond mine. But there is a deeper longing. It is for my children to become more than me.
When John answered, "Because they need me," I felt devastated, yet filled with pride and joy. My son demonstrated that he had grown into someone more substantial than me. He had discovered a selflessness in the Marine Corps that is beyond anything I have ever done or become. And this selflessness has nothing to do with politics, or a president's policy. It has to do with the best of the human spirit.
Most military families treasure a favorite story that gives us a proud glimpse of our children acquitting themselves with honor. Here is one I noted in my diary.
September 2, 2003, 1AM, John called.
"Did I tell you I got shot at by a kid?" John asked.
Genie [my wife] stifled a gasp. My heart was flip-flopping.
"No," Genie and I said.
"It was weird," said John with a chuckle. "I was out, you know working, and we hear this shot and turn around and this kid is running away carrying some sort of old muzzle-loaded gun that looks as if it's from the eighteen hundreds."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Nothing."
"What?" I exclaimed.
"What do you expect me to do," John answered, "put a bullet between some kid's eyes? He looked like he was about ten. Anyway he dropped the gun and ran."
************
When asked to go back to war again and again my son could have answered, "Let someone else go." That is what most Americans, including the President's service-age children have said. Our military men and women said, "Send me." The fact that they have answered our nation's call when we have horrible leadership only makes their willingness to serve more poignant. We are lucky to have them. And shame on us for not electing better leaders.
Our troops have become our new "greatest generation." That is reason enough for a father's pride and provides one answer to the question: Where do we find hope in this mess? But it does not excuse President Bush, nor does it excuse a whole generation of influential Americans who---like me until my son volunteered---have glibly assumed that service is always for the "other."
Ellie
Frank Schaeffer
Huffington Post
The Iraq Study Group and Robert Gates agree: Iraq is a horrible mess. We won't be hearing any more about "bringing democracy the Middle East." Many things have contributed to this mess, a lack of honesty, a lack of wisdom, and a lack of personal connection to those asked to go to war.
For the President, like most Americans, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been all about other people's children. The President, like most privileged Americans, has no "skin in the game." But we in the military family lent our children and therefore hearts, to this small man. And if the sacrifice turns out to have been utterly in vain where will we find hope? I'm not talking about political, but personal hope.
I never served. I was shocked when my son John volunteered for the Marines right out of his swanky North shore of Boston private high school (a story John and I tell together in Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and The United States Marine Corps, that, with a kind assist from Oprah, became a best seller). Then came 9/11, and the "good" war in Afghanistan, then the "bad" war in Iraq. My son served in both. Now Iraq is disintegrating. And there will be worse to come. Our country, with our notoriously short attention span, will "move on." Out-of-sight-out-of-mind we'll forget the carnage we've caused in Iraq and the thousands of grieving American military families, and tens of thousands of our wounded.
As I observe in my new novel BABY JACK---the price paid by the military family for the folly of our leaders is out of all proportion to the price paid by our leaders. Gone are the days when it could be said of an American war effort, "We're all in this together." Those who talk the most and decide the most have suffered the least. And I'm not alone in saying this. Here is a letter typical of the thousands of emails I've received in response to my Washington Post pieces and books about class and the military, and the price paid by the military family.
"Frank: Thank you for writing about what many of us with children in the military feel. You have been able to eloquently put into words what we hold so very dear to our hearts about our children and their families. Our son and his wife are both back stateside from Iraq. We have been truly blessed that they are home. We cannot say that they are unscathed. . . . [Our son] had to have some help dealing with the bombings. . . . As he described it, "One minute there was a school yard full of children playing, and then there was a big gaping hole with nobody in sight." Our hearts go out to all of the young men and women in the military who are dealing with experiences like this and much, much more."
My son is home safe but the words, "Today a Marine was killed..." still hit me like a punch in the face every time I hear them on the news. Through my son I learned that "those men and women" are my children. I ask again: So where does the military family turn for hope now Iraq is coming apart?
When John came back from his first tour in Afghanistan I thought he would be home for good. More fool me! Within three weeks he called to say that he was headed back to war. "Why?" I asked. "You just got home!" "Because they need me Dad," he answered.
Like any father I long for my children to succeed. Sometimes this longing manifests itself in wanting them to have educational or other opportunities beyond mine. But there is a deeper longing. It is for my children to become more than me.
When John answered, "Because they need me," I felt devastated, yet filled with pride and joy. My son demonstrated that he had grown into someone more substantial than me. He had discovered a selflessness in the Marine Corps that is beyond anything I have ever done or become. And this selflessness has nothing to do with politics, or a president's policy. It has to do with the best of the human spirit.
Most military families treasure a favorite story that gives us a proud glimpse of our children acquitting themselves with honor. Here is one I noted in my diary.
September 2, 2003, 1AM, John called.
"Did I tell you I got shot at by a kid?" John asked.
Genie [my wife] stifled a gasp. My heart was flip-flopping.
"No," Genie and I said.
"It was weird," said John with a chuckle. "I was out, you know working, and we hear this shot and turn around and this kid is running away carrying some sort of old muzzle-loaded gun that looks as if it's from the eighteen hundreds."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Nothing."
"What?" I exclaimed.
"What do you expect me to do," John answered, "put a bullet between some kid's eyes? He looked like he was about ten. Anyway he dropped the gun and ran."
************
When asked to go back to war again and again my son could have answered, "Let someone else go." That is what most Americans, including the President's service-age children have said. Our military men and women said, "Send me." The fact that they have answered our nation's call when we have horrible leadership only makes their willingness to serve more poignant. We are lucky to have them. And shame on us for not electing better leaders.
Our troops have become our new "greatest generation." That is reason enough for a father's pride and provides one answer to the question: Where do we find hope in this mess? But it does not excuse President Bush, nor does it excuse a whole generation of influential Americans who---like me until my son volunteered---have glibly assumed that service is always for the "other."
Ellie