You know, despite my worst behavior, my parents never sent me to the army. I would never have made it. If my commanding officer had yelled at me, “Jason, take that Goddamned hill!” knowing full well that I would die, I would give him my gun and tell him, “No way, officer, you take that Goddamned hill!” I would not be one of the crazy brave in the army, but I would also not be one of those soldiers who had absolutely no compunction about taking another human being’s life.
When I look at what is going on between Russia and Ukraine, or between the U.S./Israel and Iran, it is quite clear that what is happening now also happened over a hundred years ago, in World War I. Eric Maria Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, spoke through his character Kropp. Those leaders of the warring nations should strip down in bathing drawers, get into a solid UFC-type cage, wield bats and clubs, and fight each other until whoever stands last means that his nation wins. This would be a much more just arrangement than the current one, where the wrong people—the young people—are doing the fighting.
I was watching a documentary about atrocities committed after the occupation of Berlin, and I was appalled by the rapes committed by all Allied Powers—Russian, French, British, and American troops. While some officers tried to impress upon their soldiers the bearing of honorable conduct, many did not. I thought to myself: if I were an officer back then, how would I have reacted upon seeing one of my men trying to take advantage of a young woman? Would I have had the moral conviction to take out my pistol, shoot him in the back of the head (no trial), and return that young lady to her family, after having protected her life and honor?
There has never been a human civilization without a military for the sake of national security. Arms races have probably existed since the dawn of human civilization, although they are rather dismal indicators of progress. And in the United States we only have volunteer armed forces, and the draft has seen its end. Now, many women are trained to be killers. Hey, what goes around comes around, right? What will they think of next? Maybe robots that kill, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator? At least, no more young people doing the fighting, thank goodness!
J.J.
Jasonjjpark.com
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