Did you ever aspire to be a mercenary?
Most people don't. But during a severe economic recession, perhaps the idea of being in the military offers a glimmer of hope.
Criminal organizations have to offer incentives to their prospective underlings.
But are modest monthly living stipends and discounts at supermarkets enough of a gain?
What isn't duly stressed is what you're at risk to lose. Your life, your limbs, your sanity. Conservative estimates suggest that 13% of returning soldiers become afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder. Self-mutilation, night terrors, fits of uncontrollable violence and extended periods of depression silently characterize so many soldiers' lives.
Maybe this 1 out of 8 chance isn't enough of a risk for you.
What you're at a much greater risk of is discarding your dreams and passions. People usually enter the military during some of the most formative periods of their lives.
What you're at a much greater risk of is living with regret and confusion from being a pawn in a muddled and unjust war.
What you're at a much greater risk of is murdering and mutilating innocent people.
We are not against violence.
Whether it is immediate or long-term self-defense, life often requires us to fight back. Life often requires us -- or at least presents us with opportunities -- to fight on behalf of others, too.
Isn't this what we're doing? In Somalia, in Haiti, in Iraq? While this might be the intent of a handful of individuals, this is not the intent or function of the military. Seemingly altruistic military endeavors necessarily devolve into excess and are invariably guided by economic and imperial ambitions. There will always be a revolutionary band in any group of oppressed persons ready to depose a ruthless dictator and take down his or her cronies. If we are willing to take the risk, there are ways we can help in these struggles ourselves.
We are not against violence, but here is what we are against:
- Masses of civilians being carpet and cluster bombed.
- Brainwashed citizens being faceless flesh-and-blood targets.
- A corrupt state, effete in its ability to aid and potent in its ability to harm, directing political violence.
- Citizens in our own country being tricked into thinking that a career of terrorism is both heroic and viable in the long run.
One day more informed future generations will look back on our military, and they probably won't see heroes.
They will see a rogue state that indiscriminately slaughtered civilians.
They will see men and women who let apathy and opportunism ruin their chance to make a positive change in the world.
They will see pictures of children permanently disfigured and disabled from depleted uranium.
They will see the last few violent sparks of a dead ideology.
Today's glory will be tomorrow's shame.
