Milsurp After Hours

Americans in general love war. I think we inherited that gene from our European progenitors who throughout history have loved to engage in killing each other every so often. At the same time we love to "honor" those that died for our freedom ....or for somebody elses freedom.....or just for the hell of it because some president or other felt like sending them to some conflict. We tend to forget that the ones who die are real people who are kin to other real people and that when the war is over they don't come back to life again and their families remember them and feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Maybe on this memorial day we should wonder why we love war so.

I have this other site. We have this Wall page related to one battalion that served in Vietnam. Nobody listed on this page is famous. They just answered the call to arms and went where they were sent and did their duty as best they could and were killed in the process. They all, save one, died four decades ago. Take a look at some of the memories left for the names with the lighted markers. These names are only a drop in the bucket of all the American military who have died in one war or the other.....but they represent real people who didn't have a full life.

http://www.6thofthe31st.com/kia/

I don't think we love war so much as for a variety of reasons we haven't been able to avoid it. Also we have never been bled white by a war as have the French and British in WWI and the Russians in WWII. We had the Civil War but one of the ironies of that was that while one section of the country was devastated the other enjoyed an economic boom and of course immigration helped the North recover from its losses.
I vaguely recall reading or perhaps seeing on TV years ago a program which contained George Bernard Shaw's comment that since we can't eliminate war it should be fought by those over 50 or so who have been allowed to live full lives.

Americans in general love war. I think we inherited that gene from our European progenitors who throughout history have loved to engage in killing each other every so often

I don't think America is unique in this. Although Australia has never been invaded, had a civil war or had war declared on it directly we have managed to be involved in all major conflicts and many minor ones. Even prior to becoming a nation.

The Australian War Memorial has a quote writ large in the entrance that sums up the attitude to remembrance -
"Here is their spirit
in the heart of the land they loved;
and here we guard the record they themselves made."

I don't think we love war so much as for a variety of reasons we haven't been able to avoid it

America could have avoided Vietnam. They could have avoided Iraq. They could have avoided Afganistan. They could have avoided a collection of other short bursts like Panama and and a few other small change exchanges of gunfire. But..... maybe you are right. Our government allows whoever is President to do whatever he feels like without any declaration of war. Once the troops are there it's not the presidents war, it's our war and we can't avoid it.

Maybe if they restricted war to those over 50, as you and Shaw suggest, we would actually have fewer wars. Us old farts would tell the draft board to go to hell a lot quicker and dare them to find one of us who is fit enough to stand the physical gaff that only young men are really up to standing in actually being in combat on a long term basis.

Perhaps a better choice would be to make the politicians do the fighting - as in "You started the war - you finish it"

Tom