CSM
Senior Member
mrsx said:You are right that I have become more and more angry in this thread and I apologize to everyone. I am not used to this on-line exchange of ideas and I wasn't well prepared for the name calling, pontificating, and nit-picking that form the lingua franca of this discourse. I apologize for becoming like my opponents and contributing to the very thing that I have criticized. Originally, my interest was "the troops" as individual human beings. Perhaps that isn't a topic that works here. I certainly couldn't make it work, but then I'n not a blogger type.
Having failed to make this thread pleasant or useful, I'm going to sign off; but before I do, I want to tell you just a little about my background - not to justify what I have said, but in the hope that you all will understand me better and forgive my having offended you.
I grew up in a tiny, isolated town in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Both my parents died before I was 12 (I think I mentioned that my Dad died on active duty - he was killed on Okinawa). The relatives who raised me were a lot older than my parents. They were kind, but distant and I was a lonely kid. I did go to college at a little place no one has ever heard of, and then to nursing school courtesy of the G.I. Bill benefits from my Dad. Try telling me these government programs are a waste of money!
I was recruited into the Navy right after graduation and spent almost my entire service in Norfolk. The hospital was bigger than the entire town in which I grew up. I did the full rotation but spent the largest part of my two tours in the maternity ward. I loved the Navy. Being an officer was a big step upward for a little girl from nowhere. This was during the period between Korea and Viet Nam, so we saw a lot more car wrecks than combat casualties.
I met my husband, a widower, 20-and-out Chief who was on the edge of retirement. We married at the end of my second tour and moved to a town here in Maine. We had a son from my husband's first marriage. He meant the whole world to me and when he joined the military, it seemed the most natural thing in the world. He didn't go Navy; instead he followed two of his best friends from high school into the Army, joined the 82nd Airborn. He was deployed to the Dominican Republic in one of those nation building expeditions that seemed like a big deal at the time but nobody remembers any more. He died in a freak accident while they were loading up to come home.
I have never blamed the military for my son's death the way some mothers do. I am proud he served his country. As I have sat here and watched TV, it seems to me that the gap between them the military my Dad was in and where we are now has grown and grown. From fighting to be left alone, we've become like the Roman Legions, scattered around the world holding down people for fun and profit. I don't have the sense of certainty you-all seem to have about what's right. I wish I could have grown up with my Dad, but I understand. I know the Navy is good people. I can still see the brave face my son put on for his Mom. I can't say what his death accomplished and I think of him when I think of supporting the troops. I'm glad to be driving Frankie. I just don't know. You folks seem so sure that you do.
Bye for now.
I am sincerely sorry for your loss. You have a right to be proud not only of your son's service, but your own as well.
On a side note, I do wish you would continue to post here, as I believe you are and can be a worthwhile contributor.