WAR! Huh, what is it good for, absolutely nothing! Say it again… (As sung by Edwin Starr in 1970).
So, there you have it. A simple answer to an age-old problem. The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for The Temptations but didn’t become a big hit until Starr’s version in 1970. In that song Starr sings of how “War can’t give life, it can only take it away…”
It seems our country has been at war since I was born. The Korean War had just ended in 1953. The US started supplying aid to the French to assist them in Vietnam in 1950 and the first US troops were killed in Vietnam in Saigon in 1959. The major US involvement did not start until President Johnson took office after Kennedy was assassinated. Vietnam started winding down under Nixon from 1969-1973 when the Paris Peace Accords were signed but, while the US troops were departing the North Vietnamese were still plotting to overtake South Vietnam.
After Vietnam the US was involved in The Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), The War in Afghanistan (2001-2021), The Iraq War (2003-2011) with other conflicts in Grenada (1983), Panama (1989) and interventions in Somalia, Libya, and ongoing counter-terrorism operations in various locations (Per Google AI).
A strong argument can be made that many, or at least some, of the wars the US has become involved in were not necessary. I can’t say that I am convinced that every military action taken by the United States was necessary.
I felt the pain of war in many ways. As a child, I was told that my mother’s cousin served in the Navy and was lost at sea. His ship was never located. I knew my dad served in India and various aunts and uncles served in WWII. Naively, I did not expect war to interfere with my life for, surely, we had learned our lesson as a country.
I was told that two of my three older brothers planned to enlist to serve in Vietnam when I was in 8th grade. They chose the week of my birthday to sign their papers. One signed the day after my happy occasion and the other went in the next day. My parents drove them both in on their fateful days and, as I recall, there was no birthday party for me that year- the whole family had something much more important to think about.
After they shipped out, I spent a lot of time climbing as close to the top of a tree in our front yard as I could and just watching the house as I thought of my brothers and prayed for them. Pete was in Vietnam and Pat was stationed in Thailand. Pete seldom speaks of his time in Nam. He was assigned as an IT repairman and, in that assignment, drove alone in a Jeep from one town I heard about on the daily national news to another.
I was writing a book, and I begged him to give me some story about his time in Nam. He then, hesitantly told me that he experienced enemy mortar attacks and, on one occasion, lost the only other member of his unit. They were assigned as AM & PM workers. On one gruesome day his PM partner was late returning the Jeep they shared, which was not an unusual occurrence. Pete took another vehicle from the motor pool and started on his assignment. A short distance away from the base he observed what was left of their Jeep lying on its side after being hit by an enemy mortar round with his partner lying close by. After determining his partner was beyond help, he called his supervisor and was ordered to complete his assignment.
The draft ended after my 17th birthday. I told my brothers I would still enlist, and they explained to me that there would be thousands of troops returning to muster out and, basically, more hands on deck than were required. Pat warned me, “You’ll be cleaning sidewalks with a toothbrush” just to keep you busy.
I am not in favor of war.
As much as I hate war, I believe, that it is foolish to be unprepared for that eventuality.
If we look at the history of the world as we know it there has always been violence; from the very first siblings on! If you think about it, Cane and Able could be considered the first World War- because half the known residents of the world, at that point, were involved in combat.
I feared for my brothers’ lives for the 4 and 5 years they were gone. I don’t want anyone going through that. I don’t want anyone to lose a child, sibling, relative or friend of any kind to war!
I understand that there is evil in the world. I understand that we can’t be Switzerland. I fear for our safety and have for years. Iranian leaders call the US and Isreal “The Great Satans” I don’t want to see them with a nuclear arsenal, do you?
Trump bombed Iran’s nuclear facility recently to prevent them from building a nuclear arsenal and I’m glad he did. There are mixed reactions about that decision largely along party lines- Who’d a thought?
Will that action bring us closer to yet another war? Were we already at war with Iran? Listening to their rhetoric, it seems we were! Is it possible to stay out of war?
I think since Iran first started calling the United States the Great Satan they have been at war with us. For that reason, I don’t think its possible for any action we take to bring us closer to a war we are already in!
I believe staying out of war is an impossible goal.
I will readily admit that the US has gotten in more conflicts than it needed to. Every fight is not our fight, and I voted for Trump because that was his stand. With that being said, I’m glad he helped Isreal out with this.
I quoted Edwyn Starr’s lyrics on war above and, I feel I must disagree with those lyrics. War can’t give life, but it certainly can preserve it. What if Iran were to declare war on us and we refused to participate?
I’m pretty sure that, believing we are the great Satan and all, they would have their war anyway. Have you seen how they treat people they don’t like? Did you miss the coverage of the unprovoked attack on Israel in which Hamas took hostages, raped & murdered citizens? It was reported that they even raped corpses and tortured and killed old people and children! I ask again, how do you think we’d fare if they came after us and we refused to participate? Have you seen any of their public beheadings?
China and Russia both got aggressive during Biden’s administration by threatening to attack lands they had their eyes on Tawain and The Ukraine. China held off, but Russia did not. I believe that both of those countries are prepared for war and, unfortunately, we are not!
America was once the greatest military power on Earth. I do not believe that is currently true. Per recent reports our nuclear weapons have not been upgraded since the 1940’s. Our navy is in a similar situation. In the last four years our armed forces have put more emphasis on becoming culturally diverse than preparing for the possibility of war. To make it worse. When it was necessary to “gear up quickly” during WWII we were an industrial giant and had no problem taking care of that business.
Currently we are not that prepared. Most of our steel mills are closed. The bulk of our manufacturing is now done overseas, and our workforce is not what it once was- I hope I’m wrong, I’ll bet I’m right!
I’m hoping President Trump can Make America Great Again real soon because I’m not sure we have as much time as we need.
Thank you for reading, please comment