The myth of “I support the Troops but do not support the war”
My last TFTC I wrote about the some of the injured I have seen in the last few days. I am not sure if everyone is aware of the term “close ranks”. It is used in military operations when there is a battle line and when some of the soldiers in the line are injured then the soldiers are to “close ranks”, that is join once again shoulder to shoulder to fill in the gaps left by the wounded or killed. You can see it best demonstrated in movies like The Patriot when they fought side by side. We do not fight like that anymore but the term still applies in a figurative sense in that when it gets tough you get closer as a unit. If a group of men are surrounded they will huddle together to help save each other. Now the military is made up of ordinary people. There are some people in your unit that you like and some that you really wish were in a different unit. But when the fighting starts and your unit is in harms way, then all of the disagreements over religion, politics, sports teams, which NASCAR car is better(Ford or Chevy) all start to fall away and you are trying to survive and encourage each other to have the courage to fight which may be to the death.
So why am I saying all of this? Well, I am not sure that everyone in the states is aware that we get quite a bit of news over here. Not as much as in the states and those who are in forward locations may get less, but at most bases there is a daily Stars and Stripes and CNN and/or Fox news is on Air Force Network. As we see American blood on the floor of the operating room or the ICU or the back of a helicopter. Or men crying because they lost a buddy. In that same day or hour when we have a chance to read a stars or Stripes or watch some TV over a meal we get to hear how less than 50% of the public support what we are doing. Let there be no mistake. The phrase, “I support the Troops but do not support the war” are empty words. When I hear someone say that expression, which I hear frequently, I in no way feel supported by them. In fact, I take it as a statement that they are against what I am doing so how could they support me without supporting what I am doing. I believe support for me and my role here are inextricably linked.
It is a tough battle over here trying to fight an enemy who will kill themselves to kill us. An enemy who doesn’t care if innocent civilians get killed, but if we happen to accidentally kill an innocent person then the media wants immediate punishment of the soldier. With the fall of support for the war for freedom for Iraq, I sense the battle lines in America are starting to break.
Now is not the time to debate this war, which I believe is just. That can be done later. While there are men and women in harms way, I ask one thing of all those who are enjoying the freedom of the US. Who will enjoy the fireworks of Independence Day. Who will go to the store with out the fear of a car bomb. Who will enjoy a picnic and a BBQ this 4th of July.
CLOSE RANKS
Soli Deo Gloria
More thoughts to come
Posted by Tim at June 26, 2005 09:18 PMI wrote Congressmen and Senators last week after the weeks and weeks of verbal debacle coming from the floor of Congress. The words made the hair on my neck rise when I heard the despicable things said.
I have written strong letters to Senators from other states about the recklessness of their words.
Beyond that I lie in bed at night and ask God to protect and defend you and all like you who are there that I might live free.
Be blessed this day.
Beverly Gunn
Tx Rancher, mother of 2 AF officers and wife of ret. Officer
First, thank you for your service. Second, do not despair at the poll numbers. Clearly the MSM does not support the war. These same people have the ability to cook the books on the poll numbers. Remember, if the polls were all that accuraute John Kerry would be in the White House.
Furthermore, the recent polls are intellectually dishonest. An honest poll would look behind the number that does not support the war and probably find this, assuming 50% do not support the conduct of the war:
30% against the war and have been from the start
20% want to send enough troops to search every house in Iraq and chase the enemy into Syria or Iran if necessay to win.
The real numbers are probably this:
30% cut and run
70% win
Thank you again.
First, thank you for your service. Second, do not despair at the poll numbers. Clearly the MSM does not support the war. These same people have the ability to cook the books on the poll numbers. Remember, if the polls were all that accuraute John Kerry would be in the White House.
Furthermore, the recent polls are intellectually dishonest. An honest poll would look behind the number that does not support the war and probably find this, assuming 50% do not support the conduct of the war:
30% against the war and have been from the start
20% want to send enough troops to search every house in Iraq and chase the enemy into Syria or Iran if necessay to win.
The real numbers are probably this:
30% cut and run
70% win
Thank you again.
We support you 100%, Tim. We know that you are fighting the fight there so we don't have to here.
God bless you and everyone you come into contact with over there.
Bob
Abilene, TX
Those who chant "I support the troops but not the war" are the same people who chant "Terrorism is just a nusiance".
They also like riding Timothy Leary's LSD-fumed Magic Bus of peace. love, and understanding, Man.
Unbeknownst to them, on 9/11 the Magic Bus ran out of gas and those days are like so over.
Don't let them get you down, they're relics of a dead Age of Aquarius.
When over 70% of the population places greater trust in our military than they do in media, so much for believing in media's polls.
Posted by: susan at June 29, 2005 12:44 PMYou hit the point right on the head with your analysis of the "support the troops, not the war" myth. Every time I see or hear that phrase, my blood boils. What the hell is it supposed to mean, anyway? To me, all it means is that when our heroes come home, they won't have things thrown at them and be called "baby killer" by anti-war folks. Thanks, but no thanks. . . Instead, this treasonous phrase, and the attitudes and press that follow it, serve to prolong the war and aid our enemies. A dead German guy named Carl Von Clausewitz once postulated that the waging of a successful war by a democracy hinged on three things - a "trinity," as he called it:
1. A strong military. (We're the best in the world, hands down. Our supremacy has forced the bad guys to resort to their tactics of cowardly car bombings and the killing of civilians.)
2. A unified government. (here is where we're slipping with the large partisan split that we have. The time to debate the war is past. We went to war on a majority consensus and for just reasons. Even if we were wrong about WMD, which I don't think we were, we succeeded in ridding the region of the terrible, murdering despot that was Saddam. Our President had the BALLS to take action when Saddam thumbed his nose at some eight U.N. resolutions regarding weapons inspector access, etc. Our cause was legal and just.)
3. Public support. (we are waning rapidly here, as well. The public hears almost nothing positve about this war by the Left-wing media. Everything you hear on TV, with FOX being the only exception, is sensational and negative. Shows always expound on the effects of spectacular suicide bombings, various hostages and "victims" of attacks, both military and civilian. Where's the coverage of the Medal of Honor winner, or the hundreds of other supreme acts of courage and sacrifice being commited daily by our troops? I highly encourage you to go to your local library and search the archives of WWII-era newspapers. Pick any given day during that war and the headlines and other stories will read something like "American GI's Pound Japanese Positions," "Iwo Jima Secured After 45 Days of Heavy Fighting - Marines Take a Break." Were there thousands of guys getting killed during that time? Yes! 5,800 or so KIA during the battle of Iwo Jima alone! Yet, it has taken over two years of war in Iraq to kill about 1,700+ Americans. One would consider war a pretty dangerous thing, it must be because our press whines about it so much. . . Yet during that same two year period, we lost over 80,000 Americans on our own highways! Let's close all the roads!)
In the end, if America wants to make "another Vietnam" out of this conflict, as I've heard it referred to from time to time, all they have to do is keep whining, believe what the liberal press has to say, and NOT believe that what we're doing over there is the right thing. Whether or not you agreed with the reasons we went to war with in the beginning, you must admit that Iraq is a better place without the killing fields and mass graves of Saddam's regime.
Thanks for reading!
Tom
Navy F/A-18 pilot. Multiple deployments to the Arabian Gulf.
It warms my heart to find a group that has such a firm grasp of the phrase 'support our troops'. I find the the hypocrisy of supposedly supporting the troops but not the war offensive. How can you tell someone "I support you, just not what you are doing" and expect them to feel good about themselves? They need to look up the definition of 'support'.
1. If Saddam Hussein had complied completely with the terms of surrender in the 1991 war, we would not be in Iraq now.
2. If the U.N. and President Clinton had taken the measures we are taking now when Saddam Hussein did NOT comply with the terms of surrender, we would not be in Iraq now.
3. If Hussein had complied with the terms of the 1991 war when Bush told him what the consequences would be otherwise, we would not be in Iraq now.
4. Our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq have flushed out the terrorist organizations, exposing both the size and sophistication of them and how much they have infiltrated everywhere. I am sure this makes them unhappy, cancer spreads more easily when it is undetected. The Islamic clerics have started issuing Fatwas that these terrorist actions are not Islam. In their religion, this is condemnation of the highest order.
5. The discovery of the torture chambers and mass graves brings to light the way the Sunni dominated government actually ran the country when Hussein was in power. The reason the Sunnis lead the insurgency is because they want that cushy ride back, and the terrorist organizations are capitalizing on that attitude. Al-Qeada and the other terrorist organizations do not care about Iraq or the Iraqis.
5. Hussein tapped of some 300 million dollars from the 'Oil for Fools' program, and stashed it in a bank in Syria for among other things, payments to suicide bombers: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/rosett200404182336.asp
That revenue source has been stopped.
6. The rapid defeat the of the Iraq Army demonstrates the quality of the American and British (God bless 'em) Soldiers.
7. A brutal dictator, who makes Milosovic look like Willie Wonka, has invaded TWO countries, and has used chemical weapons has been removed. If if we think HE was bad, imagine what those crazy sons of his would have been like.
8. After two years of intense effort, the terrorists have only managed to kill only about 1/2 as many Americans in Iraq as they did in one day on 9/11, while losing considerably more of their own. They are not warriors, just murders.
I try to never pass up a chance to approach our uniformed soldiers and shake their hand.
Posted by: Bill Kuiper, USN 1970-1976 at August 10, 2005 11:46 AM
