John Kerry, the good soldier, continues his fight for

[whometense]

morality in the military.
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/print.php?sid=1011&POSTNUKESID=ba949c7e67a35cad4dbacd1f953d6707

The Good Soldier

Date: Feb 07, 2005 - 05:07 PM
John Kerry, the good soldier, continues his fight for morality in the military.
By Liz Larocca

I think I understand why John Kerry went to Iraq. It wasn’t exactly for the reasons he said, although I’m sure he did want to express his gratitude to all the soldiers and the Massachusetts National Guard troops in particular. Nor was it merely opportunistic, an attempt for personal political gain so he can position himself for another presidential run in 2008. Kerry went to Iraq because he is still a soldier, and he is continuing to fight the war that he began as a young man.

The war that Kerry is fighting is not a military conflict, but a cultural one. It is the war against the "good" soldier.

[angrydemocrat]

1. Excellent Article

Kerry is the "good soldier" still reporting for duty everyday.

[ginnyinWI]

2. good, but sad

America has really lost out by failing to realize what a good leader JK is. I don't even think all of the half that voted for him know.

[TayTay]

3. A small quibble in an otherwise worthy article

The Army does prize creative thinking skills and people who can think on their feet.

Check out this article on how the Pentagon is trying to get soliders to be creative: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050117fa_fact

(Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Wong, a research professor of military strategy at the Army War College) ....found field artillerymen, tankers, and engineers serving as infantrymen, while infantrymen were building sewer systems and running town councils. All were working with what Wong calls “a surprising lack of detailed guidance from higher headquarters.” In short, the Iraq that Wong found is precisely the kind of unpredictable environment in which a cohort of hidebound and inflexible officers would prove disastrous.

Yet he found the opposite. Platoon and company commanders were exercising their initiative to the point of occasional genius. Whatever else the Iraq war is doing to American power and prestige, it is producing the creative and flexible junior officers that the Army’s training could not.

There may be a generational explanation. While most high-ranking officers are baby boomers, most lieutenants and captains are of Generation X, born in the mid-sixties or after. Gen X officers, often the product of single-parent homes or homes in which both parents worked, are markedly more self-reliant and confident of their abilities than their baby-boomer superiors, according to Army surveys of both groups. Baby boomers moved up the ranks during the comfortable clarity of the Cold War, but the Gen Xers came of age during messy peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia, and Haiti. Gen Xers are notoriously unimpressed by rank, as Donald Rumsfeld discovered in December, when enlisted soldiers questioned him sharply about the lack of armor on their vehicles. This turns out to be a positive development for the Army, because the exigencies of the Iraq war are forcing the decision-making downward; tank captains tell of being handed authority, mid-battle, for tasks that used to be reserved for colonels, such as directing helicopter close-air support.

It's not the warriors, it's the neocons running the show who are screwing up. The soldiers involved in the effort are quite good and perform honorably and well. But the higher ups in the Pentagon and in the White House are letting these noble folks down with their incompetence.

[elshiva]

8. Militarism is a social sin.

I hate these little pointless wars that just keep stirring up the endless cycle of violence. I think the blame is definitely more on the Commander-in-Chimp than the soldiers, but still as the say goes "What if there was a war and nobody showed up?"
I am proud of Kerry for speaking up for the problems that military families suffer especially from lack of health care. I do wish he would speak also on the need to peacefully resist war as conscientious objectors and protestors as well.
Why doesn't he? Maybe because he knows how much trouble it all was/is from his VVAW days. Certainly the reason why the Swift Liars were so inflamed was not because of his military service, but because of his protests.
Still, I urge him to speak out again for those who resist this war.

[blm]

4. You should post this in the open forums.

It really is an interesting piece.

[whometense]

5. ok, will do.

Thanks. I never go out there, so I don't have a handle on what is of general interest.

[blm]

6. See...that went real well.

;)

[whometense]

9. Wow!

I posted and then went to watch Sex and the City with my daughter (Tuesday night addiction) - then came back to a string of such nice responses!! Thanks. Maybe I should venture out of the nest more often.

Seriously, I imagined someone would make a sarcastic comment.

[sandnsea]

7. "when small boys ask why"

"when, in 30 years from now, our brothers go down the street without a leg, without an arm, or a face, and small boys ask why, we will be able to say "Vietnam" and not mean a desert, not a filthy obscene memory but mean instead the place where America finally turned and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning."

Are we really the only ones on the planet who understand this man? This has been his fight for 30 years.

[Hans Delbrook]

10. A lot of people don't want to understand him

I've begun to think that truly good people make folks uncomfortable. They prefer politicians who are corrupt or stupid because they can vote for them: 1)knowing those types have no core beliefs and will do whatever helps their constituency (right or wrong) 2)never worrying they'll ask for true or lasting sacrifice 3)never feeling bad about their own failings - hey whatever I've done I'm not as bad as that guy and he's a congressman/senator/president.

edited for spelling

[whometense]

11. That's an interesting perspective.

You may have a point. I've been wondering for two years now why people refuse to recognize how seriously he takes his responsibilities. I wonder if they are blinded by their previous experience with politicians, hardened into cynicism.

Anyone who lived through Vietnam and Watergate has earned the right to some cynicism, and what I really really admire about JK is his total lack of same.

[karynnj]

13. The Republican line was practically the opposite

It was annoying how they seemed to say that he did nothing as a Senator. Never explained why if that were the case, MA didn't toss him out.

Not only his lack of cynicism, I'm surprised that after being hurt by the government first in the absurd Vietnam mission and then being harassed by the Nixon administration even though they knew he was quilt of nothing, that he didn't just leave the country after being defeated in 1972. He and his wife had connections in Europe. His genuine love of this country and lack of bitterness is beyond my comprehension.

[karynnj]

12. America's love of rascals

has been written of so often, it's boring. I think you might be right about people being uncomfortable about the truly good. Other than Carter in the wake of the Watergate sludge it's hard to think of any candidate in either party who even had pretensions of moral clarity.

Also, I remember in several past years the person who came across as the smartest, most distinguished person at the debates was the moderator. This year in all three debates clearly the best person on the stage was Kerry.

[Hans Delbrook]

14. So where does that leave those of us

Who get truly excited by, and would give anything for, a candidate who has grace, intelligence and moral clarity????

[karynnj]

15. Same here

I have never been as impressed by a candidate as I was with Kerry and there was no one I more deeply wanted to win more. It's hard to accept that he may never be President when men of far lesser character will and have been.

[whometense]

16. A good question.

I have never been so excited about a presidential candidate either. I feel like I've spent the past two years talking to the jaded about why they should not be cynical about Kerry. I guess that fight must go on.