Support the Troops

Support the troops. We haven’t heard that empty slogan lately amidst all the severe skullduggery going on recently. Masks have replaced yellow ribbons. Apparently self-evident, supporting the troops has fallen out of style. It has always been tradition to cite this empty slogan and go about one’s day without taking action to support the troops. But protest if one must. Speak about how one might have joined the service if it wasn’t for this, that or the other. Veterans love that talk. Easy to express bluster and bravado wearing camo rolling to McDonalds in a Monte Carlo when bullets refuse to buzz above the broken bodies of one’s brothers. But go on and continue supporting the troops with pointless platitudes and cowardly courtesies. Come forth with empty accusations of a lack of patriotism on my part… it’s not as if I’ve never heard them before.

Good Intentions, Ulterior Motives and Tragic Results

Most grunts, squids, devil dogs and wingmen join the military with noble intentions. Defending one’s country from danger honors and protects the citizens of any nation. Our freedoms should be treasured and protected, with force if necessary, against any enemy, foreign or domestic. And our history uncovers a multitude of threats at a brief glance. The Indian savages, the Redcoats, the Confederacy, the Nazis, and the Reds just to name a few. Some of these enemies listed even presented a legitimate threat. More recently, claims of existential threats to American freedom seem questionable at best. Dare I say the most dangerous and subversive threats to freedom seem to be internal. Gadzooks!

As an advocate for the individual, it’d be hypocritical to generalize an entire section of the population: veterans. However, experience behooves me to mention the number of veterans I’ve had the pleasure of knowing that are so disillusioned with our government, they might as well be insurgents themselves. Remember the Maine, when a battleship exploded in Havana Harbor and killed 260 sailors, but it was never proven to be the Spanish although this event was the catalyst for the Spanish-American War? That was awesome!

The Lusitania sank in 1915 due to the strike of a German torpedo. Twelve-hundred souls perished within eighteen minutes, drawing America into the deadliest war that the world had ever seen. Little did the American public know that this cruise liner was carrying millions of rounds of ammunition to the British regulars who were amid a bloody war. There were even reports in newspapers warning people to travel at their own risk when boarding the Lusitania. Nevertheless, thousands of Americans and millions of other men, women and children lost their lives in this war. Little white lies.

While history appears extremely violent, the world is yet to experience a horror as pernicious as the 30’s and 40’s world war. Fascism, genocide, rape and pillage in mass, concentration camps, death camps, Communism, firebombing civilians, the splitting of atoms… cannibalism. Yes, one read that right. While the United States seemed to remain neutral, behind closed doors the government was placing embargos on Japan. Meanwhile, in the European theater, American corporations were supplying the Nazis with support and other resources while American banks laundered Nazi money.

I probably shouldn’t speak on such matters, dear reader. Then again, the troops fought for the right to express any opinion, correct? That’s what everyone tells me so it must be true. Consensus equals correct in this strange time. All these wars we fight, we fight for noble causes. I write we as if all of us take part in the effort. We just want the spoils and the glory while we take for granted our good fortune. We must fight them over there so they don’t attack us over here. The attack of the ominous they once again!

Good morning Vietnam! Henry Kissinger needs some stupid animals to use as cannon fodder to slaughter those with different ideas. Just make up a lie to justify sending kids to die, for shots fire at boats that cruise in the Gulf of Tonkin. Indeed, the military-industrial-complex salivates at the profits made when more bombs drop on the jungle than in Dresden, Tokyo or Berlin combined. Or was that Laos? Oops dear reader, we should keep these facts secret, for we were at war with Vietnam, not Laos or Cambodia where dictators pulled pots from the mouths of peasants. Besides, the coffins of dead Americans gave relief to some citizens – just ask Frank Lucas.

Afghanistan produced virtually no opium before the righteous invasion of the mountainous terrain that even Alexander the Great couldn’t conquer. Now Afghanistan produces most of the world’s opium coincidentally as the opium epidemic strangles the will of the American family; docile and defeated with energy depleted. The Graveyard of Empires indeed. But rich in resources that manufacturers use to produce our toys. Ulterior motives seem to support the troops well. Plus, Dick Cheney needs to rebuild a neighbor that was destroyed by the might of American military force – Eyes rack them up!

The terrorist stronghold, formally known as Communist threats, formally known as Native Savages at home and abroad. We must have an enemy to distract us from the inner workings and the poison of greed that now pours out of the pores of the power structures, the hunger cannot be hidden any longer. All the ulterior motives cannot be listed in this foolish essay; besides, we need to support the troops, remember? False flags… check. Deceptive shipments… check. Big money interests, fabricated attacks, invisible weapons of mass destruction… check, check check, and check please.

The troops come home maimed and battered, some physical, others with psychological scars that all the opium in the world can’t heal. Yes, dear reader, we must support the troops by giving them socialized health care with absolutely dismal care to veterans. The irony of veterans fighting the tenets of socialism to come home to a socialized health care system that ranks worse than the private sector should shock the conscience. Sadly, dear reader, this seems to be the least of the sorrows.

Enemies of the State

As a society, we pretend that the military receives the highest honors. Support the troops we say, echoing in the hollow corridors of American culture to placate our own egos that tell us we are collectively doing the right thing. There, we’ve done our part, we can’t be wrong. If one chooses to take a deeper look at the treatment of our veterans however, a different picture begins to emerge.

The Bonus Army was subdued in Washington D.C. when veterans of World War One demanded the money they were promised by the government in the 1930’s – when the world was experiencing an economic depression. Vietnam Veterans suffered from a plethora of health issues because of defoliate campaigns designed to destroy the dense jungles of Indochina. Only recently has the government admitted that the chemical, known as Agent Orange, contributed to many of these ailments. What about the medication that was given to Gulf War veterans to mitigate any effects of chemical warfare? I’d be remiss to omit the effects of depleted uranium ammunition used in the Iraq War, the radiation poison inflicted on our soldiers and the defective “Bush babies” born since this war commenced. Support the troops indeed.

Twenty-two veterans take their lives every day. Every. Single. Day. A sobering statistic considering how well our society supports the troops. The drug and alcohol addiction among the veteran population appears staggering. Give them antidepressants and pain killers to numb them out – we won’t have to deal with them then. The post-traumatic stress that veterans endure was never acknowledged up until a few decades ago. All the platitudes and empty thanks in the world couldn’t cure these ills. Yet despite all this mistreatment, worse remains.

Vigilant Eagles attempt to eat away at the carcasses of veterans’ psyches. We coerce and manipulate young men and women to serve in the greatest military force the world has ever seen to preserve our freedoms. However, once these battle-hardened individuals return home attempting to acclimate to civilian life, these brave men and women are viewed with suspicion. Labeled as potential domestic terrorists, no one says a thing about this appalling situation. Support the troops, for we must because the troops are doubleplus good when abroad but enemies of the state when home. Perhaps these veterans are correct in their disillusionment.

Support the Troops

Between the lies, deceit, mistreatment, malfeasance and neglect, brave men and women still volunteer to serve their country, albeit under false pretenses. Conscription no longer seems necessary, for massive propaganda campaigns recruit children to participate in hellish games under the guise of threats to freedom. Alas, our freedoms seem to be dwindling, receded by the very elected officials that proclaim to represent us. Protests do not swarm capitols for the dismal treatment of veterans and unjust wars… why, they volunteer?

Congress, the branch of government designated with war powers, doesn’t need to declare war anymore – indeed war hasn’t been officially declared since 1942. Patriotism seems to be just a hollow talking point in contemporary times; support the troops, the slogan howled through the halls of Washington. President Eisenhower warned us in the 1950’s. General Smedley Butler realized the truth about war racketeering nearly one hundred years ago.

Our freedoms don’t seem to be in jeopardy from a foreign threat. The threat exists within our own borders. Despite the two massive oceans that provide a nearly impregnable natural defense, we have been infiltrated. Compound that with the fact that the people willing and ready to die for their country and the freedoms we proclaim to hold so dearly are spread thinly across the globe… away from home, unable to defend against the real threats.

So how do we support the troops? This foolish writer would suggest that we treat them with the respect they deserve first and foremost. Political slogans and hollow thanks do not heal the psychological and physical wounds that veterans experience. Our government should allocate funds to give our veterans the best support, emotionally, physically, and mentally possible. Eliminate the crude stigmas that veterans are pinned with: psychopath, drunk, suicidal, crazy, and disturbed. Stop perceiving veterans as domestic threats, viewed with suspicion and malice after serving one’s country. What does our government have to hide to designate our brave men and women as threats?

Most importantly, we need to support the troops by refusing to put them in harm’s way unless absolutely necessary. These brave men and women take an oath to our Constitution to protect America from all threats, foreign and domestic. Instead of fighting for freedom, our government sends our children to fight and die for corporate interest and political agendas; not to preserve our freedoms. Indeed, our freedoms rapidly deteriorate while our troops fight abroad for ulterior purposes. Allow these brave men and women that serve with the best intentions to actually serve our country. Our veterans deserve to be honored simply for this reason despite there being a ruse to recruit them. Support the troops by keeping them home and alert and if a threat does present itself, they will be ready and willing to fight. Stop sending them to far away lands to die in vain. Support the troops by keeping them safe, not by sending them into unnecessary danger. Support the troops dear reader!