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The Actions of a Handful of Marines: No Need to ‘Celebrate,’ Justify or Broad-Brush (UPDATE)
Jan 13th, 2012 | 15 responses
About 18 months ago and in response to a piece, “Why It’s Wrong to Equate Military Service With Heroism,” which discussed the technical, logical and semantic reasons why our fighting men and women should not be collectively called “heroes,” I wrote a piece claiming “Our Military: Yes, They Are All Heroes.”
I started the article as follows:
I am one of those misguided, clueless people who, when writing about our military men and women slugging it out in Iraq and Afghanistan, engaged in combat, just trying not to get killed or maimed by an IED, or just driving a truck with supplies across the desert, instinctively and invariably refers to them as “heroes.”
Then I went on to explain why I felt that way.
Little did I know the overwhelmingly negative reaction and feedback I would get in response to my assertion, in effect — and in no uncertain terms — affirming how misguided and clueless I am.
While a few of the writers argued — perhaps validly so — that by calling all soldiers “heroes” we diminish the value of that accolade when used to honor the “real heroes,” and while I was not too surprised by the anti-war sentiments, I was truly shocked by the vastly negative — at times shamefully offensive — commentary about our troops.
Of course, “massacres” and “atrocities” committed by our troops in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were brought up in order to discredit my claim. Some went even further and used such misdeeds to paint all our troops with the same broad brush.
This week, we see, hear and read about the disgusting, inexcusable act committed by a handful of Marines in Afghanistan.
And, again, one can see the reactions going off in some predictable directions.
Some condemn the act, but then attempt to use the broad-brush tactic to indict the entire Marine Corps, our entire military.
Those “some” may well include the same people who criticized me for calling all our troops “heroes.”
You know what, I would rather inaccurately call all our troops heroes because of a few real heroes than call all our troops criminals because of a few real bad apples.
Some disapprove of the act but then attempt to list possible “extenuating circumstances,” even justifications for such a heinous act.
You know what, having watched the video where the Marines are in absolutely no stress or combat situation, where they are joking and laughing about it, I cannot find any extenuating circumstance nor rhyme or reason for such a despicable act.
Some object to the act, but then mention some of the perhaps even more reprehensible and inhumane acts perpetrated by the enemy — or even here at home.
You know what, two wrongs do not make a right, and even more important, when we sink to the level of our enemies, we risk becoming that what we are fighting against.
Finally, I will not dignify those who “celebrate” this act by commenting on such.
I honestly believe that we Americans can and must start calling what is wrong by its name, without euphemisms, without excuses — no ifs and buts about it.
In this case, by unequivocally condemning such an act, we not only do the right thing but we also show real honor and respect for the more than 200,000 proud Marines whose motto and way of life will always be Semper Fidelis.
UPDATE
The pundits — including this one — have expressed their views and opinions on what four Marines were videotaped doing in Afghanistan.
Without any further comment or judgment by this writer, here are the views of one of our troops based at a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan, as published tonight by the Stars and Stripes:
Let me first say those responsible (“Corpse desecration video sparks outrage,” article, Jan. 13) deserve to be punished to the fullest possible extent if they are found to be guilty of wrongdoing. However, they deserve to be punished because of what they did and the standards and expectations to which they failed to adhere. Let’s stop the pointless wailing and gnashing of teeth about their conduct resulting in American deaths or sullying our image in the Muslim world. Quite frankly, those complaints are hypocritical. The Muslim world hates us because of what we represent.
The outrage of the Muslim world over this video should be greeted with an enormous yawn. We are talking about a Muslim world that gleefully decapitates those who displease it, a Muslim world that calls for the murder of those who leave Islam, a Muslim world that imprisons women who have been subjected to rape for the crime of having sex outside a marriage. Let’s not concern ourselves overly much with what outrages this world.
When confronted with their outrage, we quite rightly ought to throw it back into their teeth and stand our ground. If the four Marines in the video are found to have done what it appears they have done, they will be punished. They will be punished for failing to adhere to our standards, not for causing outrage in the Muslim world. Let’s not lose sight of that distinction and let’s make darn sure the Muslim world does not lose sight of that distinction.
15 Responses to “The Actions of a Handful of Marines: No Need to ‘Celebrate,’ Justify or Broad-Brush (UPDATE)”
Yes but we do the WRONG thing by allowing far to many of these incidences pass without justice being served. To many dead civilians, not enough troops accused, and if accused, not enough convicted, and if convicted not enough punished nearly hard enough. As far as I can tell NO OFFICERS brought to propper justice to date. Our troops have clearly committed war crimes, yet not one is in Europe being prosecuted as we demand of others. The military is becoming an National Embarrassment. We are NOT a hegemony lording over the world with our military might!
The Military WILL be subjected to the will of the people through there elected government as the people desire it so. If the people of this country demand the crushing of the pentagon’s arrogance and the destruction of the military’s honor then it will happen.
The Marine Corps has long embarrassed this country and this must stop. Training our youth to be sadistic maniacs or using them as cannon fod must come to an end!
Sorry, Dorian, I agree with Lt. Col. Astore.
I especially deplore those emails I get which tell me if I’m patriotic I’ll pass on whatever sentimental claptrap (usually the lonely sentinel standing guard) they’ve accorded to all service personnel.
Nothing wrong with being appreciative about all the sacrifices military personnel and their families obviously undergo, but these civilians seem want to call them all heros so as to bask in the reflected glory of those sacrifices; and I worry about that jingoism being played out in the ballot box.
I’ll stick to calling heros those who act altruistically, not those who are just doing the job they signed up for. Sorry.
@ The_Ohioan:
I believe that I already admitted that a valid point might be made that “by calling all soldiers ‘heroes, we [may] diminish the value of that accolade when used to honor the ‘real heroes,’” but I will still caveat my admission by saying that I would much rather err on undeservedly calling our troops heroes, than undeservedly calling our troops “uneducated,” “unprofessional” — even “criminals.”
Anyway, this episode that happened 18 months ago was somewhat of an introduction to the appalling event of a handful of Marines “jovially” urinating on the bodies of some human beings and the reactions to that.
Do you have an opinion on that?
And, thanks for commenting.
Nearly all of these war crime incidences over the last decade, indeed back to Lt. Calley, involve groups of men, not individuals. These men are lead into this behavior. It is not specifically the trooper’s fault, but the leaders, the lifers, the career criminals in the military that has caused this. It is not our troops that are undisciplined, it’s there military leaders. I would also like to point out that we don’t see this repeated behavior in our allies.
Doeian – Aside from the moral issues involved here I STRONGLY disagree with the sentiments expressed in Stars & Stripes by FOB Afghanistan. We are in country to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans. These kinds of videos and reports are totally inconsistent with that strategy. It does matter the Muslims feel about our actions.
We are NOT going to win in Afghanistan is we ignore muslim culture, no matter how many boots we put on the ground or what kind of firepower we bring. This was a military failure, not terribly different from the kind of military mistakes that bedevil every war.
Jdledell, I agree with you.
While I perhaps can understand the Sergeant’s sentiments — and appreciate his service in Afghanistan — I believe he is wrong on several counts:
First, and as I say in my piece,”two wrongs do not make a right, and even more important, when we sink to the level of our enemies, we risk becoming that what we are fighting against.”
Second, it is not “pointless wailing and gnashing of teeth about their conduct resulting in American deaths” because as it has happened all too often in the past our troops are indeed increasingly targeted and, sadly,killed as a result of such events.
Third, while our “image in the Muslim world is indeed “sullied” by such events, it is even more important and regrettable that our image is also sullied at home.
Dorian
Just my remarks in the previous post about this situation.
http://themoderatevoice.com/134598/administration-and-military-shocked-over-video-showing-marines-urinating-on-dead-talibans-bodies/#comments
I’ll repeat the last comment:
Foolish actions, especially of those who are supposed to be professional and disciplined troops and commanders, are distressing to we the civilians they are representing.
@The_Ohioan
Not to flog a dead horse, but I fully agree with all you have said on the Marines incident, including “Foolish actions, especially of those who are supposed to be professional and disciplined troops and commanders, are distressing to we the civilians they are representing”
My comments on your comments were only intended to clarify my position on the “heroes” issue of 18 months ago.
Peace.
Stars and Stripes? Who the hell cares what “Stars and Stripes” writes? Who the hell cares what this “Moran” says? I don’t. I could care less about what some E6 thinks. This is a national issue not some squad exercise. Moran should care about what I think!
I care about what my Congressman and Senator are going to write back to me after I give them both barrels over this, and, so will the local newspapers. This kind of crap has been happening way to much and I want to see some friggen General before Congress explaining why the Marine Corps is a bunch of lunatics! People have got to start paying hard for this stupidity. Our signature upon the Geneve conventions is not wasted ink and the people in the military need to know and respect every damn word of it!
The reaction to this seems to be a little overboard. In the panorama of possible war crimes this seems to be much closer to bad manners than anything else. It is not a crime, it is a breach of discipline.
Marines are trained for assault. Discipline is crucial to this role. This is a failure of these Marines in the most basic level of what it means to be a Marine. It is a failure of their commissioned and non-commissioned officers to maintain discipline. But it is not a crime justifying the vitriol that it has been heaped on it.
Well I’m sorry if I assaulted you/your article Dorian. We’ll just chalk it up to marine training.
My contention is that the Marine Corps has a long history of instilling sadistic behavior in the young people we send them. In this there is no doubt, it’s been well documented. When it started I’m not sure, but sadistic training has been the result of many incidences involving the Marine Corps, not just this one. It is the leadership that causes this behavior and nothing else. Cannot be anything else. Our youth are not raised to be sadists.
If you train your people in the reasons why this behavior is unacceptable, they won’t do it. If they care about their country, they specifically will not do it. If the Marine Corps leadership specifically cared about our country more than it’s self promoted bad-ass reputation, it would not allow this sadistic behavior to exist within it’s ranks bringing shame upon OUR reputation as an honorable nation.
We don’t need to dehumanize our enemies in order to kill them. Their threat is good enough reason. If we dehumanize the enemy, then why should we accept their surrender or resist slaughtering their families?
I thought you of all people would understand that. We may have to send our Marines to Ecuador one day.
There’s a lot of stupid response to this. It immediately makes people wonder, is this more stupid political correctness or some “need” to apologize for our winning?
(that includes maybe not wanting to anger the Arabs who control so much of our oil imports)
They are not Arabs “Brewhouse” they are Afghans and they have no oil.
Allen hides comfortably behind the shield the US military provides for his nauseating liberal drivel. He’s never put his pathetic life on the line for anyone and thinks he has the right to pass judgment on those who do. Pick up a rifle and show us all how to soldier you coward.
Milo-
Oh yes Milo. During the Vietnam war, Thundering Third, 1st Marines.
First rifle was an M14, then an M16.
MOS 2531.
My life has been on “the line” for many, many years.