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activist and columnist |
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by Gene W. DeVaux
Email: rbeigher (nospam) gbronline.com (verified)
Phone: 816-537-4956
Address: 1806 Jalene Ct. |
12 Jun 2004
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President Bush has over extended our military, now recruiters are cruising our malls and cities looking for more troops among our children and grandchildren. |
Yesterday at the Independence Mall and again today at the golf ball driving range, I saw predators searching for their prey, innocent young men and women. These predators were well dressed and clean-cut, young men. By their behavior and gang colors it was obvious who these fellows were. As a youth, I had harbored ambitions to belong to that gang. For four years in high school, I trained and became a leader in the youth version. The height of my ambition in those days was to join the gang and be a proud leader. I approached the young predators and confirmed that they were indeed what I thought they were, United States Army recruiting sergeants.
The Second World War ended when I was 8 years old. One brother was in the Army infantry and fought the Japanese in the Pacific; another brother was in the Navy and also served in the Pacific theater. My brother-in-law was on the U.S.S. Missouri when the Japanese signed the surrender documents that ended the war with Japan. My youngest brother, nine years older than I, enlisted in the army and served in the army air corps just after the war had ended. My wife’s step father, the bravest man I have ever known, was a marine top sergeant and was in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pear Harbor. Bill fought the entire war in the islands of the pacific and did some of the most hazardous duty a serviceman could be assigned. Several of my cousins served in the army and fought the Germans in Europe. Two other cousins served in the navy, and another cousin served in the infantry in Korea. A family friend served in both WWII and in Korea as a fighter pilot.
I grew up in a country torn by war fought against armies and navies that were not pushovers like the depleted Iraqi army. The weapons fielded by the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese forces were at least equal to what we had in our arsenal, unlike the mismatch between our high tech weaponry and the conventional weapons mustered by the Iraqis in our latest war. I grew up loving the army and my country and wanted so badly to serve this country as a second Lieutenant.
I trained in the ROTC, and led the high school ROTC battalion as battalion commander in my senior year. Also, I was the rifle team captain. During that time, I decided that what I wanted was to be in the United States Air Force. As a young boy, I had watched fighters and bombers flying over my house on their way to our forces that would use them to fight the Axis powers. In 1959, I joined the Air Force Reserve and served on active duty during the Berlin Crisis.
I saw those recruiting sergeants yesterday and again today and had an entirely different feeling about the army and today’s military. George W. Bush has so misused our armed forces that I cannot feel pride in what our government has done. Bush, by his actions, has done much to weaken our armed forces, and, by stretching our forces to the breaking point, has exposed our weaknesses. Reservists and National Guard members will not stay in their units, and those sergeants are having a difficult time recruiting young people. Unless there is a draft, our military will be weaker because of the way that George W. Bush has misused it.
Reserves and Guard troops are to be used in national emergencies. When the terrorist struck on 9/11 the Guard was put on duty to serve at airports and other important sites here in the United States. That’s the job of the National Guard. Many reservists are policemen and firemen in their civilian lives, jobs that are very important to securing our country in the event of attacks on the homeland. Bush has called these troops to active duty to fight a war in Iraq that was not supported by the Security Council of the United Nations and that didn’t have to be fought. Because other countries did not support the war, our forces are acting almost alone in Iraq. They are fighting a war against a country that had no involvement in the terrorist attacks. They are fighting a war that is either a war of personal revenge or a war to control a valuable resource, oil. Our troops are not being used to defend the United States. That should be reason enough to impeach George W. Bush.
If that is not enough, this administration has sanctioned war crimes against prisoners in Iraq. News stories emerge every day. With each story, our troops are faced with more danger that they might also suffer from war crimes. If we don’t recognize international law, why would our enemies feel constrained by them?
Now, when I see our young men and women in uniform, I want them to be safe and I want them to be treated with all of the respect that our young volunteers and veterans deserve. God bless those who serve and have served our country and keep them from harms way, and, if there really is a God, please, keep mad men from controlling our armed forces.
Gene W. DeVaux |
