Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Free Speech

Lately I've noticed some posts on a social media site about a woman who posted a video on youtube where she explains that she doesn't support the troops. At this moment lets put my opinion aside (GASP...I agree with her!) and address the issue of free speech. The people that had made a comment on this video on facebook where either military members or family of military people. I found their comments quite disturbing, not only did they call this woman names a few of them actually called to revoke her right to free speech because she doesn't support what the current U.S. military does. This is quite disturbing...I may not agree with others political opinions but I would never tell them they could not speak their minds, have we come that far as a Nation in the post war on terror age; where we must censor people we don't agree with? I sure as hell hope not, because I enjoy using my CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS to either protest against the wars or speak up about them because I've been to Iraq.

Since 2001 our Nation has been torn apart both by petty politics and fake patriotism, democracy cannot let people take others voices away just because a few disagree with what they say, because then democracy dies. If that was the case most all politicos would be out of jobs and in jail. This was troubling to me because the people who posted the initial comments I had served with or had spent time talking with and I was surprised by their ignorance and lack of ability to protect the first amendment. I wanted to debate more with these people on the issue but to my surprise I was blocked after an initial comment, because my beliefs are you cannot separate supporting the troops from the supporting the so called war on terror.

My argument dives into a historical one because following orders does not mean the soldiers do not have a choice. (This is something I've struggled with since I left the Air Force, because had I looked closer into our missions while I spent 500 days in Iraq I would have objected and made my voice known but that's hindsight.) Two points come to mind when dealing with this subject matter; The Nuremberg Trials after WWII and The Mai Lai Massacre and the U.S. war trials after. In short both of these cases prove that the soldier cannot use orders as a defense from war crimes, in this case killing innocent civilians. So following orders is no excuse when one is ordered to do something that they know is morally wrong, this is where you cannot separate what we have done in the war on terror. We all played a part in these wars, whether we like it or not. Some of us prepared the planes and equipment so other soldiers could go out and complete those missions, those missions could have led to innocent death or the torture of kids. Either way we all have blood on our hands...

I know people like to defend the soldiers and say that we fought for America's freedom, but we know that's bullshit! The only freedoms that were lost after 9/11 were those taken from our own government, the lies that the middle eastern world hates us for our freedoms only stoked the political fire even more. Most of America is too stupid to understand what happened that day, nor did they ask who they people were (Saudi Arabia anyone?) Instead we survived nearly a decade of war and lies through our mainstream media outlets. But of course the American public doesn't want to hear any of this and either do the politicians because that means the wars would end and their pockets would be lighter, because there was a lot of money to be made in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because the American Empire is vast and the middle east was a place we needed to keep our eye on, but our actions since WWII have caused these problems and Imperialism is not going to solve them now.

Free speech and the right to protest our government are important to our Democratic Republic, we need to embrace being free and not living in fear and not letting those who seek to use fear to their advantage back in office. Now going back to the woman in the video, I agree with her and have made these types of comments before either on facebook or in person. After WWII the U.S. led by fear, fear of communism and the A-Bomb, the Cold War created the Military Industrial Complex which now our economy depends on. We spend more in defense then something like the next 7 countries combined, and it continues to go up every year. War has become a business, if you happen to be a defense contractor chances are you made a shit ton of money in the last 8 years and it may not all have been legal. My end point is that free speech is too important and just because you do not agree with someone does not mean their rights should be taken away, ignorance is what leads to the death of our democracy. If we were all more involved with what our nation does and actually paid attention instead 30 second news clips our nation would be better off for it.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The occupy movement issues...

I was recently in a discussion about the occupy wall street movement that is somewhat sweeping our nation at the moment. Now I know this movement has been going on for over a month because I am a regular user of twitter and follow many progressives who passed the information along. Now don't get me wrong I think it's great that people are in the streets like they were back in March here in Wisconsin. But as I mentioned in my class, no matter who WE vote for they are not going to bite off the hand that feeds them, politician's survive on wall street and corporations money. Any politician who would cut that off would be cutting short his own career, and these people who are power hungry are not going to give up that lively hood for democracy to flourish. Capitalism and the version we have become accustomed to in this county is just too damn powerful and too damn enticing.

Here's the problem....it is US! We are consumers we buy products from corporations who in turn have shares on wall street, so while you maybe out in the streets with thousands of other protesters filming police brutality, you are most likely filming it with a product that you purchased from a company that has its hands in other business or government projects. Now I'm not saying we should jump into total chaos but if you really want to shock the American system, stop buying products. Sure it will most likely tank the economy even more but it will quickly get politician's attentions. We as Americans are too naive, we believe the mainstream media at every turn, we fail to understand that the spending of two wars has severely hurt this nation.

Change always comes at a price, but like in Millennium People, we fail to understand the consequences of our actions, if you truly wanted to dive into these protests our actions would make our lives less comfortable than they currently are. An example is the Iraq War, I'm sure if you asked the nation if the Iraq War was mistake, illegal and pointless more than half of the 300 million people would agree. But if that's the case how come we have been there for nearly 10 years? Protesting and free speech are great but if there is no sacrifice and no ambition to end the war from the people, why would the government change? And another example is Daniel Ellsberg, sure people protested the Vietnam War, but his Pentagon Papers which were an eye opening view to the war, took nearly 5 years for someone in our government to listen and end the war.

Sure the people can enact change, but short of a revolution and overturn of our economic policies the government and big business is happy with the status quo. Sure the people in the poor and middle class suffer but big money walks and talks! While WE the people have no real say in our elections, big money is even hitting the local levels, the crushing of unions has business licking its lips and relentlessly hoping for the 19th century again.

This maybe a negative blog and bit off my normal topic about the wars and my military experiences, but I suppose we will see how motivated these protesters really are once the cold sets in on the east coast. If this survives the winter we may have a movement that gains steam and actual power with the political community but for now every conservative, republican and teabagger are writing these people off because they like the status quo even those most of them are not rich, or ever will be. We love the fantasy of being rich, but we fail to understand that we can never be a nation of rich people, and until we grasp that as a Nation we will continue down this path of greed.

Cheers!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

10 Years later...

First off I must warn that this post may offend some of you, but do not think that for one moment I will regret what I post. Tomorrow is the 10th year after the September 2001 attack, now the American media is playing to that to get people to watch these shows where politicians get the chance to try and re-write history while saying things that never happened or are even true.

Since that day we have lived in a country where our American freedoms have been taken from us in the name of security. The DHS and its overpowering and over growing authority still exists, the pat downs and the body searches at the airports are still here. The war in Afghanistan is still going on and IT IS a failed war, the illegal war in Iraq that was started because of a government that let one Administration manipulate the facts to send American service members to do their dirty work so private contractors and oil companies could reap in record profits. All the while destablizing Iraq and other countries in the middle east, because America always needs to get involved when oil is present.

My military friends may not be happy with what I say, or how I say it. But in the real world, where we the common people live; the only thing that has truly changed in ten years is that we have lost our freedoms. Americans have died in two countries where the wars weren't needed, and on a daily basis I see posts that say it is important to support the troops even though you may not support the wars. I think this is complete bullshit! As members of the military we cannot hide behind orders and hide behind the fact that officers may have told us to do missions that have caused harm to others. But more on that in another post...

People are talking about this 10th year anniversary and how important it is, and it is important. The message that needed to be broadcast should have been one of truth and facts. Yes 3,000 people died that day, but what happened next is even more important. The expansion of the government, the creation of the DHS and its ability to use the Patriot Act. But in all honesty compare those 3,000 to the hundreds of thousands that have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since. Where is their day? Where is their justice? How do you think they feel? To watch another country bring its military forces and destroy everything, to round up people for fighting back or even kill them without cause. But of course we are selfish country and any republican or American who just watches fox news would tell that the Iraq war was necessary because of that day. But thats not true, there was no connection or wmd's. How come we aren't talking about those lies?

As Americans we are a society that is fueled by racism, we have politicians who claim that Americans who are Islamic deserve to be watched and have their rights stripped from them. Does this sound familiar? We did it in WWII against the Japanese, or how about the 1950's and McCarthyism. We do not learn from our past, we repeat it. It's an on-going cosmic joke that Americans will never learn from their past, we tear down one group of people whether it be over; race, gender, political status or societal status. And for most people this would make them sick to their stomachs, instead is encouraged through the republican party and their racist wing in the tea party. These people want to ban Islam because they think a religious law will take over our land, news flash these people are trying to enforce a christian law. In my opinion no religion is right, no religion should be used in this government in anyway shape or form. The founding fathers saw that and put it in the constitution, but more and more we see politicians use the religion as way to get votes and push some crazy ass agenda.

It is true that this is a time to reflect on ourselves and as a country as a whole. We need to see that in ten years nothing has changed. Two wars continue on that drain our country of money and human life, we need to see that it is time to rebuild our country. We need to continue to push for my generation and the generations after me to grow up in a country where FEAR isn't used a political tool. We need to reflect on both wars and how the have impacted the world and our country. How one war has since failed and the other was started under illegal actions.

I remember where I was in 2001, I was a sophomore in high school. What happened that day did not shape me in anyway shape or form to serve in the U.S. military. I did that on my free will, I did that because the only way to understand it and understand the world it lives in you have to serve in it. My past in the military may haunt me from time to time but one thing is for sure, I did not join it to take freedoms away from my own countrymen.

We must not back down from our politician's, we must seek out the truth even if we do not like what the truth is. We cannot hide behind orders from officers and a rapidly changing world to say we were afraid to speak out. We must remember that WE THE PEOPLE run this country, and the most important thing, it was just not Americans who suffered on that day, or the days afterwards. Many people suffer in this world and they do not get a media driven day just to get ratings to help themselves.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Moments...

There are moments that send a chill down my spine and give me quick memories of the Iraq war, these moments do not spur good memories. I have followed articles and news stories before about the insane things that have happened to Americans in Iraq and even to the hostile combatants. But this week was unique it really made me think about the missions the units I was with accomplished or took. This seriously made me think about some specific missions and my direct or indirect involvement with them. Its just shocking to hear that we may have treated Americans that way.

Obviously because of the sensitivity of these missions I cannot go into detail here on the Internet, you never know who's reading and watching. It just gives my conscience a bit of a rattle when I hear these stories, like the two cases that were brought up on Countdown this week. I do not regret my military service, do I agree with it though? NO...

Even when I joined I was a progressive liberal, I didn't envision ever going to Iraq, or even being placed in the middle east. I'm not complaining though I knew what I had signed up for and I did my job. The 500 days spent in Iraq are a testament to that. It was a learning experience and I imagine that throughout all wars there were people like me, people who wanted to see what our government was doing. People who needed to find the truth, or people who are true patriots and serve their country without a draft and even do it when they disagree with the policies and the lies. That is a true Patriot....not these tea bagger fucks who have no education on economics or even American History.

I realize that I don't have many friends left that I served with, some ignore me because I left and my attitude towards the Air Force and its policies. Others have their own lives and became busy, and the ones who stick by me are the ones who are progressives. Even a friend that's currently deployed chats with me on a daily basis and has even come to Wisconsin for a Packers game and good times. That's true friendship, two people that I had never known of each others existence prior to 2004 and had come from two separate parts of the country and different backgrounds and ethnicity. Even without the rank and bullshit of the military I highly respect this friend, this is a man who's had my back and I gladly have his. But man do I miss those few people...those few friends I had while serving made my deployments easier and helped carry the burden of a young man learning his way through the Iraqi desert. Those are the moments that make me smile, that make me remember the good in people and remember that true friendship is priceless.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sorry I've been away....

Many thoughts on my mind as of late, the wars continue and will for sometime. I would say that this is disappointing but I knew it would always continue regardless of who is in charge. Just take a look at the wars we have been in, other than Vietnam we really haven't left any of those places. Why should Iraq and Afghanistan be any different? I have mentioned before about how my summer job reminds me of the war, well the other night I was taking in the smells and it dawned on me just for a moment that I had missed the busyness of the war.

To be honest I don't miss my job in the Air Force or the deployments to Iraq, what I miss are the few friends I made and the honest discussions and fun we would get into. My roommate who I lived with in the states deployed with me twice and to get the stress out we would fight each other. These were real fist fights, honestly how would you react if you had to work with someone for 3-4 months straight with no days off and 12 hours a day? It would make us feel a bit better and then we would go back to our daily work, I don't miss the fights because sometimes they became a little too serious. But that's a story for the book, it's true I did burn a few bridges when I left; I never really made any friends while in the Air Force because I was outspoken about my job and the way I was treated. I don't hate the Air Force or military for what had happened, I only hate the people that mistreated me and got away with it.

I am glad that I don't have to deal with these people anymore, most of them talked so much shit about me behind my back that it makes me sick. I served over 500 days in Iraq and in the end I never even received my achievement medals from Little Rock AFB. This is how you treat people who served honorably and I sucked it up and took 4 deployments that weren't my own. They even knew I didn't agree with the war in Iraq but they couldn't prove it. So am I bitter?

Hell yes!

Monday, June 20, 2011

My mind and its memory is a bitch!

My summer job deals with a contractor and the local airport, it's not a hard job but most days I am quickly reminded of my days in the war. It has been over 4 years since my last trip to Iraq but there isnt a day that goes by when I am quickly reminded of the long days I lived through.

An example is while at work the smells always shoot my mind back to the hopeless days of the war. It's the combination of water, sand and jet fuel. It's a smell that I will never forget, it also keeps my days in the war right in the front of my memory. When my four years was up, I was quickly relieved to be leaving the Air Force; it was a job that was overly stressful for no reason. My job was micro-managed by people who eventually stopped doing their jobs and just managed from behind a desk. These were also people who refused to go to war, at 18 I was a one stripe Airman who was forced to take a deployment for a Master Sargent who had over 20 years in the military because he cried his way out of it. Saying he didnt want to leave his family.

I took four deployments which added up to 500 days, all four deployments were someone elses. I never chose these, they were put on me. I spent nearly all of 2006 in Iraq, missed holidays and everything else. I am not complaining about taking the deployments, I learned alot and it shaped my view of the US military but what angers me is that these people refused to do their jobs but still supported these wars politcally.

Memories are a bitch at times...But as always I must use them as motivation to write this memoir and show sides of the war that public will never see in the media.

Cheers!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Picture to the left

So the picture on the blog site is from 2006. It is in fact ME...

I had the opportunity to fly on a few missions, because it dealt with my job. Anyways I was just standing on the tail of the aircraft and a Lt. snapped a few pictures. It was a very interesting day and one I will never forget.

The memoir is coming along quite well, school is done for the summer and this means I have more time to sit and write and reminisce about the war with people I served with. I often talk to my friends about the war, it is easier for me to deal with it when I open up about it. That's the point of the memoir, to get it all out in the open.

Cheers!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A Simple Idea

About a year ago I decided that I would begin working on a memoir about by experiences in the U.S. Air Force. These experiences have shaped the way I think and see our country in its current state. A good chunk of the memoir itself deals with the current Iraq War and my involvement in it. I spent roughly 500 days in that country and the point of it all is to educate people on what went on, and how I saw it through my eyes.

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting bits from the memoir plus other little things that I may find interesting on the web or just blogging. Over all this memoir is not meant to be political or bash one political party, it is simply showing my point of view and what I encountered during my times in Iraq.

Cheers!