As you may or may not know, Hawaii is one of the most militarized states. For those of us who live here, this means we have to deal with the influx of military personnel and their abject ignorance. It is sometimes common to overhear army and navy idiots discussing the war while using words like "raghead" "haji" and "sand nigger". While the normal person would cringe at the mere thought of using these slurs, military personnel seem to think they are commonplace. Now, I know that the military is not comprised of the most intelligent people. After all, the military recruiters pray on the "bottom rung" in terms of intelligence and socio economic status. Many of these young men and women think they are being patriotic when they are often showing that they are being brainwashed into a racism that serves their commanders. What is more is that we, as a society, permit these young people (and often praise) who get sucked in to this monster to behave however they wish. For example, proposed laws in Alaska and South Carolina would allow marines under the age of 21 to drink on bases. We can not let these people think that they are above or outside the law. Military personnel, regardless of service branch, are citizens like you and I. Nothing in any law gives them exceptional rights besides being able to kill who they are fighting during wartime (and this is sometimes not legal). I fear laws like this further the farce in the minds of young servicemen and women that they are "special". On the contrary, the very fact that they are in the service proves that they are "expendable" in the eyes of the government. We need to wake these people up and show them the error of their ways. If this means social science class for all servicemen than so be it.
Another connected issue I have been revisiting lately is the notion of the warrior as it relates to the modern US soldier. I am of the mind that warriors, in the classical sense, do not exist in our military. After all, we kill people from extremely far away not knowing if the actual targets are the correct ones. Furthermore, drones and guided weaponry are often targeting virtual targets and are operated by pilots thousand of miles away. These pilots only see a number or symbol and not the actual person being affected. This also eliminates any code of honor against, for example, killing women or children. Instead, our military has a term called "collateral damage". When I hear people referring to our soldiers as warriors, I often laugh. I wonder what samurai or perhaps Masai would think.
I have found that our armed forces do resemble another group that would label itself a warrior class. Many of us know about "gang bangers", but this could also be applied to most organized criminal organizations. Gangs and other organized crime syndicates also label their street level enforcers "soldiers". They have a similar hierarchy as well, answering to a commander in chief figure in their "boss". Interestingly, many former gang members have been recruited into our armed forces. This has happened to such an extent that some aspects of inner city gang culture are permeating through the armed forces. I have friends who have told me that aircraft carriers have gangs that control parts of the ship as their territory by wearing certain colors and levying passage taxes.
However you want to look at it, our military is totally broken. They seem to be a group that has been cultivated into something malleable so it can be pointed at the enemy without question. We can not get mad at them for not knowing any better as they are often the least educated members of our society. However, we do have a responsibility to try to show them why they are wrong. I think with a little tweaking, our military could be at least a little useful instead of just costly.
No comments:
Post a Comment