Blue Star Chronicles

I’m still mad at the ‘journalist’ William Arkin. I didn’t realize that I was still mad or really HOW mad I was until I happened to run across this article earlier today.

I know that sounds silly. It’s not like he’s the first or last person to call our Troops names and belittle their contribution to our society. But after the first flare-up about him calling our Troops mercenaries, I actually went and read his article.

He did more than call our Troops mercenaries. Even with all the outrage over his disgusting article, I didn’t get a feel for how bad it was until I read it. It wasn’t just that he disrespected our Troops, he held them in complete contempt.

But I already wrote about that.

It’s maddening that this sort of effete-elite looking - down - your - nose at those who serve the country is an accepted norm in some circles.

Our Soldiers are the sons and the daughters of this nation. They are not mercenaries. They represent the entire spectrum of our society. There are a few glaring exceptions in that they are more disciplined, physically fit, selfless and patriotic than the average person. As a general rule they have a stronger sense of duty and honor. Felons are not allowed in the military so they have a much lower percentage of sociopaths and criminals than the population at large. They have to have at a minimum a high school diploma, or equivalent, so the level of education in the military is overall higher than the rest of the population. They don’t in any way resemble your portrayal of them.

What really makes me angry is that Arkin and his kind demand to take full advantage of every freedom and ‘right’ that is a privilege available to those of us fortunate enough to live in the United States, but have no concept of what it takes to maintain those freedoms and rights. What’s even worse, they don’t WANT to understand it.

Our Soldiers are giving up their youth for this nation. I am willing to bet there’s not one of them who would rather be driving Arkins shiny late model SUV today than a Humvee full of bullet holes.

I can’t imagine that any of them wouldn’t rather be putting their family in that SUV for a vacation, as Arkin was earlier in the week. Instead, they are walking through the raw sewage that runs through the streets of Baghdad.

Those of us who have sons or daughters in Baghdad or in the other theaters of this war would love to protect our child the way that Arkin is free to do. Instead our sons and daughters are sleeping with the enemy - literally. They are sharing quarters with people who will shoot them for a fee from the highest bidder.

We have to endure the reality that there are Iranian and al-Qaeda snipers and ESPs at every turn who have our sons and daughters in their sights. We don’t have the luxury of asking the press to respect their privacy. The press won’t even respect our sons dignity! They are out there vulnerable to an enemy that wants to kill them and to ‘journalists’ that want to undermine their mission, would have them lose this war and love it when they can announce there are more bodies for their body counts.

Arkin can put his sons in his shiny new SUV with all the latest gear and amenities while I can do nothing for my son but pray that someone like Arkin doesn’t cause him more harm. Arkins sons were in nice new warm coats while ours are pulling dead bodies out of the garbage piles lining the streets of al-Qaeda infested neighborhoods.

Arkin and his type talk about their ‘right’ to say whatever they want. Our sons and daughters have rights too. I want them to have the ‘right’ to do the work many in this country don’t want to think about without ‘journalists’ like Arkin putting them in more danger than they already are.

Arkin and his type want to pretend there is no war, they have that ‘right’. Meanwhile, our sons and daughters are enduring his insults while doing the ugly business of keeping the jihadists away from his door. Even while they are making these sacrifices, Arkin doesn’t care enough to understand the meaning of sacrifice.

People like Arkin don’t know our Soldiers or the sacrifice they and their families make because they don’t want to know. Here are a few examples of who our Soldiers are and the kinds of sacrifice they are making.

They are fathers who want to be with their families. He’s her husband, who is leaving a loving wife and family to return to a battle whose outcome will affect Arkin’s ability to continue his carefree narcissistic existence.

He’s her husband who lived in the ‘obscene amenities’ Arkin wrote about for as long as I’ve read her blog.

The American Soldier is not amused by Arkin’s disgusting public display of cowardice. Her son would never hold his manhood so cheap. Nor does this Soldier.

These parents’ provide each other support as so many of us have to do, so they can try to sleep at night and get through another day of having a child deployed. This kind of sacrifice is foreign to someone like Arkin.

While Arkin uses his pen to write nasty bitchy articles about our military, this mother uses her blog in support of her son who is fighting in Iraq.

There are so many I can’t possibly put them all here. They are everyday American families who love their children, their husbands, their wives, their mothers and fathers, their friends.

She is an American Soldier so is he. He is an American Marine.

American Soldiers/Marines/Airmen/Sailors and their loved ones are all around because they are US - they are not paid mercenaries, but every day Americans who love their country and understand the concepts of duty, honor and sacrifice. Here, here, here, here, here, here