Just a quick comment about last night's episode of "Nightline" on ABC. I do get to catch a bit of late night television these days during Jaxon's eating times.
Anyways, the episode was about soldiers who are going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) during this time of war, which is a crime they can be sent to prison for. They interviewed several soldiers who had gone AWOL and now are in trouble. The army does not chase down deserters, they just wait until the guy or girl gets stopped for speeding and their name pops up, or (in most cases) they turn themselves in.
Only one of the soldiers is being prosecuted, the rest have just been given other- than-honorable discharges or dishonorable discharges and no benefits. The one person being prosecuted for going AWOL is hispanic, and Nightline tried to make it a racial thing that he is being prosecuted and other deserters are not. But I think that he is being prosecuted because he deserted his unit on the day they left for Iraq and delayed his unit's deployment and hindered their mission because they did not have time to replace him. Though I think racism is still very prevalent in our society I also think that way too many fingers point at race when it is probably not the cause or problem.
The other problem I had with the show was the people they interviewed. They talked to some members of an anti-war group full of Iraq war veterans. Many of these guys are deserters, and complete idiots. they talked to a guy who enlisted for the infantry in 2004! He said that he never thought he'd be going to Iraq, though he joined the army to get away from home and see the world. Anyone who has joined the army after september 11th HAD TO KNOW that they are going to be deployed. ESPECIALLY if you enlist in the INFANTRY!!!! The guy came off as a whiner. You can not enlist in the army nowadays without knowing that you are going to deploy. And NO ONE in our current military has been forced into anything. We have an ALL VOLUNTEER military and there is no excuse for desertion. If you are morally against the war there are legal, safe routes to take to get out of the military. But the counselors that were interviewed who help people get out of the military to avoid deployment said that most of the people they help are not avoiding deployment for political reasons. Most avoid deployment for reasons that you and I can all understand. Anyways, that's just some thoughts from my head. The protestors were idiots, basically is my comment.
Not much for my first political post, but there ya go.
Timeline
3 years ago
5 comments:
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I agree that the race card should not have been played. It was because they were looking for it.
I think the reason for so many volunteer soldiers going awol is because there is less commitment expected by society as a whole, and they may have the "it won't happen to me" attitude. The young people who sign up may not really think they have to stay. They have never been a part of something that they can't back out of before. Examples: HS dropout rates, job turnover, divorce, etc. They get into the military and realize they do not like it, and leave. Next, there is a high prevalence of high-risk behaviors that people, especially young people, engage in with the thought that they will not be affected by it, like so many others before them. Examples: drugs, unprotected sex, stunts, etc. They get into the military and realize that they really have to deploy and really have to use the weaponry and fighting that they have been trained to use and it becomes much more real than they expected, they have fear and go awol. Althought I think their actions are desparate and selfish, I do not think they are necessarily uninformed as they claim to be. It just sounds better to be uninformed than to have changed your mind and made a selfish decision.
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