Fight, Kill, Die! It Makes These Guys Happy.

Control freaks, power addicts and adrenelin junkies, have we got the job for you!!! Own the road! Visit people’s homes without an invitation! Do what you want as you will be issued a high powered assault rifle AND a bunch of friends to back you up!!! All meals provided and clothing too!!! Even a small check each month to help your family back home!!!

You really don’t want the wife/husband nagging you daily do you? The everyday mundane tasks of child rearing can be someone else’s job. Yours can be exerting fearful control over other people who don’t look like the folks in YOUR neighborhood back home!!!

Sound like something you would like? Well…just come sign on the dotted line and all of your dreams will be realized!!! The military is the life for you!!!!

(disclaimer! PTSD and other combat related psycological problems will be totally ignored and treatment will not be available when you do get home…if you really want to come back, that is)

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While I have known that the companies like Blackwater and Halliburton hire(d) their mercenary soldiers from the militaries of the world I have never really thought about these folks much. The NEWSWEEK article, Love Is A Battlefield: For Some Soldiers, There’s No Place Like Combat, gave us an inside look at how these guys think.

Some feel a duty to their country and continue serving long after their first deployment is over. But it seems the majority of these soldiers need to be in that kind of a situation to be happy. Their homelife is boring after living on the edge for awhile and the need for the constant rush doesn’t go away that quickly. The war front is much more appealing to them. They have all of their decisions made for them and they just do what they are told. No worries if the decision is a bad one, someone else made it for them. Besides they get to bully people and shoot them if they piss the soldiers off.

Now, I am in no way suggesting that all of the soldiers have this need to continue a war life. In fact it is probably the exception rather that the rule. Most of what I got from the article is that those interviewed seemed to think they couldn’t be a “man” unless they were in that situation constantly. And that they feel that only the pussies go to shrinks and admit to the PTSD the war has caused them. That in itself is a symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

It’s the thrill of the kill for these few. Apparantly the way I was supposed to feel when, as a teen, my dad forced me to go hunting. I never got that thrill because I didn’t do any real hunting. As I was too young to go to Viet Nam and had no desire to live a military life at any time, I never had those experiences that made me unhappy in the mundane workaday American life.

The combat veterans I have known over the years were happy not to be in those situations either. They did their duty to their country and returned, happily, to the place they had fought for. The freedoms they were told they were fighting for were mostly intact and the knowledge they had served all of us was enough for them. It isn’t that way for some I guess and that kinda makes me sad.

As a peaceful old guy I may never understand this kind of mind frame. But sitting here in the peaceful environment of my living room (complete with the 1967 Grateful Dead playing on the jukebox), understanding is far from me. It’s a mystery to me why anyone would want to live that life. But for those with that desire, or need, I guess there will always be a war or forceful conflict for them to fight.

And be happy….I guess.

Edit: After writing this post I came across this article. Seems some of the guys just can’t take it here or there. I am saddened at this.

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Home-a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

This film will be showing tonight on National Geographic. This version is the entire film..one hour and 33 minutes long. You can watch it free on YouTube until July 14th. A few words from Mr. Arthus-Bertrand:

We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth’s climate.

The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.

For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.

HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

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