Is it possible to support the troops and not the war? YES
by Jessica Salamon, MFSO Member,
http://www.helium.com/items/935130-often-asked-soldier-deployed
By Jessica Salamon, MFSO member
I have often been asked, when I was the wife of a soldier deployed to Iraq,
and now as the wife of an Iraq Veteran, how it is possible for me to say that I
support the troops but I do not support the war. I often turn the question
around and ask, "Well, what is it you do to support the troops?" Most people can
not formulate an answer. The truth is, that most people do not think much on the
phrase "Support the Troops" past the moment that they stick the yellow ribbon
magnet on the back of their vehicle. It's an empty phrase, something they like
to think they do, but in reality never put into action.
It is very much possible to support the troops, the men and women who
volunteered to serve our nation, to honor the sacrifices that they and their
families make every day, to mourn their losses with them, and still not support
this war. Support is an action.
For me, supporting the troops means utilizing the very rights that they swore
to uphold when they took their oath to join the military. It means using my
voice to question my government, its methods, and its actions. Thomas Jefferson
said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism;" the responsibility to
maintain the checks and balances in your elected government are not only a
guaranteed rights, it is our patriotic duty. What kind of support are you really
giving them if you stand silently by and watch policies enacted that only bring
them death and injury?
We have been given a multitude of ever-changing reasons for this war, as each
reason was proven false, the spin machines of the administration came up with a
new justification. They touted the tragedy of September 11th and utilized the
atmosphere of fear created in its wake to push this nation into war in a country
that was never connected with the events of that day. We sent our best and
brightest into the desert without body armor, without armored vehicles, without
adequate supplies. We took away the self sufficiency of military units by
bringing in companies like KBR to cater and build, compromising troop security
as local Iraqis were hired to build and work on military sites. We sacrificed
our men and women for profit. There was no planning for the occupation of Iraq,
there is still no end in sight, there are still troops deploying every day, some
for their second, third, or even fourth time. Our military hospitals and
veterans administrations were not prepared to deal with the influx of so many
into the system, leaving our wounded soldiers without timely and adequate care.
Not only is it possible to support the troops without supporting this war, we
owe it to the troops to do so. We owe it to them to see that they are never
again sent into a war under false pretenses, undergeared, undertrained, past the
termination of their individual contracts, and without an exit strategy.We owe
it to them to pressure our government to ensure that they receive those things
that they so desperately need. We owe it to them to ensure that they are taken
care of when they return home, that we as a grateful nation show our support for
the trials they have endured. The men and women of the US Armed Forces joined
for various individual reasons. They all took an oath swearing to uphold the US
Constitution and to serve this nation. They did so with the implicit
understanding that their gift of service would not be used in vain. We owe it to
them to support them with our action, not our empty rhetoric.
