My Future Book’s Preface (Edited Version)

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Where to begin? It seems that war is just too big of a topic for Hollywood to handle in 90-110 minutes. Go figure.

I suspect what people want from Hollywood is to take the viewer from innocent civilian to battle-hardened soldier and back again. Do we really want Hollywood to tell us about Charlie’s war in Afghanistan or are we more interested in the conflicts within the soul of the Lion of Panjshir?

Modern war movies seem to be more about telling the story within the story. The other problem with movies is that there is no smell, except of popcorn and spilled fountain drinks. Try to imagine the real smells of war. Then smell the “imagined” ones of fear and death. Do death and fear have a scent? Is it a bad thing if you don’t know the answer to that question?

We are all fascinated with war. It is tribalism at its worst and unveils the darkness within each of our souls. That is why scenes from The Deer Hunter are so hard to watch. We realize that war can take good, decent, and normal people to dark places from which they never can fully return. The movies that touch us the most are those that teach us new ways to think about the common man turned warrior. What makes him take on these unbearable loads? Imagine the burden of command, the weight of a nation upon your very flawed and weak mind and body.

What if, after great personal sacrifice and loss, your president gives away with the stroke of his pen the victory soaked in the blood of your friends and the Marines who believed in you enough to follow your not-always-perfect orders?

Why is war hell? you ask. War is hell because of how the Ruling Class mocks the sacrifices of our warriors. Then there is survivor’s guilt thrown in for good measure.

The best modern war movies do not try to explain war or even human nature. What they do is try to provide a glimpse into the impenetrable psychic conflicts that modern warfare weighs upon the American grunt. One reason that Saving Private Ryan did not really work after the opening scenes is because Tom Hanks was miscast in his role as an infantry officer. He could not and did not give us any sense, other than a shaking hand, of what it is like to order good men to their deaths. The only relief from the burden of command in combat is one’s own death, but in dying what if your replacement is an even more flawed human specimen?

In other words, you have asked me, the Soldier, to go to places and do things for you there that you cannot do for yourself. I have been there and done things as ordered. I am forever changed and not always for the better.

Your dilemma is whether or not to accept me as I now am or pretend that you have nothing to do with what I have become. I did not start out this way. I know freedom is not free and that our nation is worth the sacrifice.

Finally, how do you make sure that America will remain worthy of my efforts to defend her? Will I be mocked in the end by my fellow citizens turning the greatest nation on Earth into something that was not worth fighting, killing, and dying for?

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Published by ST

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63 thoughts on “My Future Book’s Preface (Edited Version)”

  1. My editor has recommended two sentences to be re-worked.

    She thinks the Go figure in the first paragraph should be deleted and replaced with a line or two that talks about why I am writing the book.

    She thinks I need a ‘but’ followed by some additional words after: I know freedom is not free and that our nation is worth the sacrifice.

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  2. I am crowdsourcing this out to you and d’Ettes because all this talk of Flu Manchu has given me writer’s block, and I am lazy.

    Asking for a friend for ya’ll to write something to replace my “Go figure.” with something ‘off the hook’ to capture new readers.

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  3. For our second assignment I am thinking, Biden like, to borrow something that I may have read or heard that caught my attention. How about this?

    I know freedom is not free and that our nation is worth the sacrifice, but it was a tale of two cities.

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  6. P.S. Should I continue to shelter in place right here in the foothills of the Himalayas with all the hardships and deprivations entailed or in a proper Christian country, such as the Philippines?

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  8. As an aside, do we know your editor?

    In any case, “War is hell because of how the Ruling Class mocks the sacrifices of our warriors.” That was Nam and I think the Desert wars changed attitudes because we all believed in the evil of the enemy and the absolute necessity of your mission.

    Great post because perhaps unknowingly, you included civilians with this observation: “Finally, how do you make sure that America will remain worthy of my efforts to defend her?”

    We, the capitalists, defend our country in the best way we know how- funding the necessary tech so you guys can do the job. The military ain’t free and there isn’t a single one of us who complain about our taxpayer dollars diverted to the men and women who valiantly serve us. We worship y’all!

    The responsibility also lies with Washington and the electorate to make this country worth the sacrifice.

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    1. Yes, you do know her. She was and is a member not yet banned for life from L1.

      I do not want to turn her into a pariah so will not publicly out her here.

      P.S. She is married, happily I hope; and I do not intend to have sex with her.

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    2. Liz, war is *always* hell; but this time it’s only hell for <2% of us – who are there by choice. No matter how right we think it is – no matter how much we "support the troops" – we aren't fighting toe-to-toe with anyone. Capitalism provides the materiel, right enough, but there hasn't been a consensus about how/why we fight (or an interest in the questions) for an intolerably long time….

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      2. Yes, but I wasn’t sure how many decimal points to use….That makes for a pretty large potential for disconnect: “The Few. The Proud.”, for sure.

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  10. FYI: You can anticipate a complete, scientific, peer-reviewed ‘consumer reports’ type takedown of the various models of air purifiers ion L2 in a week or so. I don’t understand how those brainiacs always manage to stay a step or two right behind me.

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  11. (cont’d) and that lack of consensus about much of anything here on the home front can make for feelings of futility, anger at perceived under-appreciated human cost, and the aforementioned survivor guilt makes for a witches’-brew with which to toast one’s: “Welcome Home”

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  12. P.S. ST, can you tell that reading/thinking about your Preface has got me ‘fired up’? I love those paragraphs to bits…Goshness!

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  13. One of the hardest things I did was re-write awards written for guys KIA or WIA. Sometimes WIAs were more heart wrenching than KIAs, especially the burn victims. A lot of the younger Marines wore “Armour” t-shirts instead of their issued cotton ones. We put a stop to that right quickly. Those shirts were fire accelerators.

    Note to all L2 toughguys: Next time you’re in San Antonio, TX I beseech of thee to go spend a day on the military burn center on Lackland AFB with the patients. I am sure they would enjoy your company – even yours.

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    1. That made me think of The Raj Quartet. The heroine goes to visit a burn victim In a military hospital. They aren’t lovers, she’s just doing it as an act of kindness. When she arrives, the nurse showing her to his room brusquely says, “I didn’t tell him you were coming. Sometimes people say they are coming to visit, and they don’t, and then I can’t bear it.” That was enough to make me cry. But then the next scene where the soldier said, “ You can’t imagine the extreme pleasure your being here is giving me..” The visit only lasted long enough for them to smoke a cigarette. Such pathos!

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  14. “One of the hardest things I did was re-write awards written for guys KIA or WIA. Sometimes WIAs were more heart wrenching than KIAs, especially the burn victims.”

    Just for us civilians, could you explain KIA and WIA?

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      4. I mean, we’re always so sure – every fricking time a conflict begins or ends – that “this one will be the last”. I wonder if that’s the only way we can cope with the reality that unredeemed human nature is only capable of peace because we’re willing to go to war. Whether we use ballots or bullets, the dynamic seems the same.

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      8. That’s what makes it so hard. Yes, there are people who need to be shielded a bit, but the disengagement of the rest is maddening.

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      12. Yes, indeed. During the “book tour” on L1. It’s been with me ever since…Especially since the video you shared then had pics from the sandbox, not Latin America. It sorta kicks butt in a way that Ms. Ste.-Marie knew nothing about…Thanks for the shout-out!

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  19. Re: a substitute for: “Go figure,”

    “I guess Hollywood can’t handle the truth. One of its nicknames is ‘the dream factory’.”

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  26. Morpheus and Astraea are tag-teammates tonight…I’d better say G’day/G’night and Chao for now. SotD is up, “Mere Christianity” is being outlined…La paz sea contigo!

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