An interesting comment in this post:

You are planning to volunteer for the military, right? I mean, "support the troops" is more than just an empty slogan for you, right?

The fact that I spent 4 years on a floating nuclear missile target (aka aircraft carrier) during the Cold War aside, I think the author of that question has an exceedingly narrow view of what "support" means.

You don't need to be firing a gun in theater to "support the troops". In addition to men, a successful military campaign also needs supplies and good morale - the will to stay in the battle until victory.

The most you can do to "support the troops" from the homefront is to actively provide material or morale. Send them armor, send them cookies, send them a postcard. It all helps.

The least you can do to "support the troops" is stay out of the way while they get the job done. You don't even have to so much as say "hi" to a soldier on the street. Just live your life as a productive citizen leading a normal life. Believe it or not, it DOES help troop morale just to know that the country they're fighting for is safe and comfortable - to know that there's a land of sanity to return to when the job is done.

What DOESN'T support the troops is denigrating the mission. Arm-chair quarterbacking that the troops aren't doing a good job, or that they're doing the wrong job. It's corrosive and eats away at morale.

Now, to the commenter's credit, he's not following the third option. He's merely evaluating some events in Iraq in a more pessimistic light. I won't hold that against him.

But I wonder if he's thought through the full logic of his chicken-hawk argument. If the only people who can be considered as "supporting the troops" are those who're in combat, then aren't the only people with the right to criticize the war the people working for the Department of Defense who have full access to ALL the relevant information about conditions in the field?

If I have to pick up a rifle or shut up, they have to get a job at the Pentagon or shut up.

Posted by: Harvey at 09:38 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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