Follow Me.

[gridlore]

I've tried, on occasion, to explain how someone can be proud of their military service even when they may disagree with the mission, the current government or even the existence of the state they are fighting for. These arguments, usually at cons, tend to met with blank looks. I've been having more of them over the past few years as I try to explain the concept of "oppose the war, support the troops" to my more rabid liberal friends who equate serving with making national policy.

David Drake is a SF writer probably best known for the Hammer's Slammers series. Mr. Drake is a Vietnam Veteran, having spent most of 1970 in-country with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment - The Blackhorse one of the more storied units of the US Army.

I just finished The Tank Lords, the collection of Hammer's stories that Drake has suggested be read first, and in the back he has placed an afterword seeking to clarify his position on several issues. Being a veteran who writes what some would see as fiction that glorifies combat (these people have never read a word of his work) he explains his views of Vietnam, a soldier's role, and the growing tendency among those of a certain age to bemoan "missing out" on Vietnam. I really urge everyone to get this book if only for this essay (the stories a freaking excellent, and yeah, I knew those guys in my Army)

But he sums up what pride means to a soldier in the last paragraph:

Nobody who missed the Viet-Nam War should regret the fact. It was a waste of blood and time and treasure. It did no good of which I'm aware, and did a great deal of evil of which I'm far too aware. But having said that. . .

I rode with the Blackhorse

UU-fucking-raahhh!!

Comments

[claidheamhmor]

I did military service, essentially against the groups that became the current South African government. While I didn't agree with the government of the day that conscripted me, I don't regret my service.

[johno.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Folks look at me with amazment when I tell them I was in the USAF.

Yes, it was the "boring" mid-to-late 80s when nothing happened.
Yes, it was under the dottering Regan.
Yes, I was a computer repairman who spent most of my 5 years sitting on my duff waiting for something to break.
Yes, I was not the perfect Airman and had a rocky carreer.
Yes, my life would have been completely different had I not served.
Yes I'm proud of my service.
Yes, I'm glad I served.

Allons!

[redc1c4.livejournal.com]

if you ain't Cav, you ain't shit.
if you are Cav, you're in the shit.

i pondered what to say about my time in the Army and decided this covered it: (paraphrasing BoB)

i was never a hero, but i was lucky enough to serve with them,
and i *was* a Cav Trooper.

Halfway down the trail to hell
In a shady meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler’s Green.

Marching past, straight through to hell,
The infantry are seen,
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marine,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene,
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen,
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers' Green.

Scouts Out!

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

Of course you know what David Drake's MOS was.... ;-)

[bobmage.livejournal.com]

I haven't had that particular con-encounter, but I haven't been going to cons that long...
Usually, I pick up on someone being a vet and we start yakking about the service. The part where I brag usually goes like this:
I was in the Navy. (Other guy thinks I'm a wimp.)
I was in Submarines. (Other guy thinks maybe I'm not a wimp.)
I was a Reactor Operator. (Other guy thinks I'm a poser.)
It was boring, and my only good stories involve stupid officers. (Other guy thinks maybe I'm not lying after all.)

Many's the time I wished I had gone Army, so at least I'd have some fresh air. Of course, that was in peacetime....

It's simple, really.

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Soldiers fight for the rights of the nation on the battlefield. To do so, their own rights are limited, particularly the right to define the battlefield, appropriate targets, etc. Anything else, and you do not have a military, but a mob. They do (at a certain leadership level) have the right, ability, and obligation to define strategy and tactics.

Civilians have the obligation via politics to define the battlefield. I was a soldier, trained to lead soldiers. Now I am a civilian. Too many civilians are obviously ducking their obligations. I try not to.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

I'm a liberal and a "dove", but I have the greatest respect for those who serve (and who allow me to be "just" a civilian).

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Yup, and you get to strut about it. This means you should make an effort to make Conjecture.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Combat stories tend to be boring, due to the chaotic nature of combat. However, getting to tell how my XO had a complete and utter meltdown because someone had used a blue ball-point on a PCMS checklist rather than a black one is good for a few beers.

[meglimir.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, one has no choice in what to do or whom to do it for.

Making the choice, then, not to do one's very best at it is simply passive-aggressive, and is pretty useless all around - it helps neither one's employer, or cause, or country, or self.

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

I've never really likes David Drake's work, but I haven't been able to read him at _all_ since I got back from OIF 1. Too damned depressing. :-P