Reply #112: Civilians are one thing, but can you believe soldiers are the same way?

[Stand and Fight]

Sometimes I look at the situation and wonder what the apathetic would do if fascism came to this country. The late Huey P. Long once said, and I paraphrase, “If fascism comes to America it will come in the form of patriotism waving a flag.” If I can look back on times in my life that America changed it would be the selection of 2000 and 9/11.

I was a soldier when it happened – out training troops on the use of the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) in Fort Lewis, WA. I had gone back on the troop carrier to fetch some “poggie bait” – snacks and the whatnot one masticates to pass the time – when I heard Howard Stern of all people talking about a plane having hit the World Trade Center. Since it was coming from Howard Stern, I was positive it was nothing more than one of his antics. I instructed the driver to change to the AM frequency for news… I was shocked. I knew then and there that things were about to change in America – greatly. It is no wonder then the I found all the flag waving that occurred after 9/11 that was accompanied by mass paranoia as extraordinarily disturbing… Rumors spread in my unit that the perpetrator was bin Laden and that he was in Afghanistan and that’s where the Army was being sent to hunt him down.

I watched and listened as horror as we went into Afghanistan without holding back or seeming to really think about it, but I understood the sense of urgency to capture Osama bin Laden. I actually supported it a great deal once I understood he was there and how much of a danger he represented. In 2002 I read reports that he had been cornered in Tora Bora but had escaped, I could not believe it. When the rumor spread that the Joes on the ground had been prevented from going after him by the higher ups and he had slipped away I was incensed with anger. However, when rumors began to spread through the ranks that we were going to Iraq, I was completely aghast! What did Iraq have to do with 9/11? I knew that I had read that the terrorist were primarily from Saudi Arabia. I had watched news clippings of Saddam Hussein firing his gun into the air surrounding by Iraqis, but I never deemed him a danger or thought it necessary to remove him from power through overt force. He was a silly little man on a silly little television screen of little or no consequence. However, in March of 2003, we invaded with ground forces. At that point I turned completely against George W. Bush. I had been doing my own reading and research (and had come across DU in the process), and it was clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction and Hussein posed no threat. I knew it was a complete and outright vicious lie. However, my fellow soldiers did not care. They did not care. I was stunned to say the least, because you would due to the gravity of the situation in relation to their livelihoods.

I changed my party affiliation to Democrat and have not looked back since. I had not liked what had been done to Bill Clinton, and the war in Iraq convinced me that Republicans truly had lost their way. I began to read and read and read about everything that had happened since 2000 and came to believe that the election had been stolen. I was hard pressed to find anyone in the Army who agreed with me or shared a passion for getting to the truth. The soldiers were content to go along with the madness and lies – even though it most certainly meant they and those they called “battle buddies” would face death on that flawed premise.

Gradually I looked for civilian outlets and began to read DU a great deal more. I got out of the Army on February 3, 2004, and immediately began to take an active role in local politics. I was the county chairman for Wesley Clark and worked my tail off for him in the primaries. I take solace in the fact that Oklahoma is the only state he won. I did not see fit to become any more than a lurker until the election was stolen last year. It crushed my spirit. I had been out of the army for seven months to the day when Kerry conceded, and went home that day with tears in my eyes, my heart ripped asunder, and in a deep depression. For months following the concession – until there was no hope after January 6, 2005 – I had suffered a profound since of melancholy. I tried to find people here in Oklahoma who felt the same way, but no one seemed to share the outrage – not even my wife or friends or those I loved and respected.

I began to feel apathetic toward them for their apathy and then anger and then aversion. I still feel a lot of this, but DU is the means by which I maintain, not only my sanity, but my civility in the face of the more pressing importance of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Lacy Peterson, the Surreal Life, Animal Planet, and all other matters of distractions that opiates the masses and those I love and respect. The country slips evermore toward fascism and authoritarianism when Bush can get on television, admit to committing a crime, and say that he will continue to do so…

It’s even more disheartening that people I regularly think of as intelligent can NOT feel any outrage or care about it. This thread helps explain some of it, but it does not help excuse it. I’m 27 years old today and a former Republican who enjoys video games and multimedia design, and I saw through the lies. I still watch the occasional episode of Cops or Law and Order, but I have never felt inclined toward group-think. Even as a Republican I had a maverick streak because I could not see the sense in supporting the death penalty but abhorring abortion. I could not separate the doctrine or “state rights” and what the true success of said doctrine would have meant to the cause of civil rights. I share your confusion as to how so many people can be so taken up with frivolous matters when the country is going to hell, but it is even more disheartening that an alarming number of soldiers continue to support this madman. It’s very confusing and damn near maddening… I am alarmed that the flag waving continues despite the fact that the ship of democracy is sinking. It’s like the band that supposed played on while the Titanic sunk – even as a kid I regarded them as fools and not brave ones.