Those poor, crazy bastards...

I wonder sometimes if the people who run the media, whoever that is; and the people who make the movies, whoever that is, have any knowledge or experience with the military? Seriously, do these guys even know anyone in the military? Or is there some agenda here to make the military seem like a mismanaged, uncaring, refuge of last resort for the desperate, hopeless trash of our society?

I believe that most of the American people hold the military in high regard. I believe that the people I meet on the street who thank me for my service and shake my hand really mean it. And I believe that those folks are still in the majority.

That said, there are an awful lot of people who are clueless about the military. These people all seem to be getting on the air lately.
Like this quote from Rep. Charles Rangel, the draft guy:
"I want to make it abundantly clear: If there's anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq."


And this goes unchallenged. I have soldiers in my platoon who are doing whatever they can to get deployed to Iraq. I suppose they would be written off as stupid or crazy by the leftys. There's no way that they could be patriotic, could they? No, patriots are the ones holding the protest signs, right?

And I already wrote about Senator Kerry's comments in a previous rant. But this is more about the way Soldiers are portrayed in the media and the movies. I heard a heartbreaking story on NPR today about how Soldiers at Ft. Carson are not receiving the mental health care they need. How they are hounded out of the service if they complain about PTSD. Poor, crazy bastards.

There is a movie coming out about a Soldier who comes home from the war and goes nuts and shoots some stuff up. Poor, crazy bastard.

Rangel and Kerry tell us that no one WANTS to be a Soldier, we are forced to do it by poverty or stupidity. Poor, crazy bastards.

Other than showing how poorly Soldiers are treated, the only stories I can find about the military in the popular media are accounts of crimes committed by us. So we are all victims or criminals.

I suppose I could read "Soldier of Fortune," maybe they are doing stories about individual acts of heroism in Iraq, or portraying Soldiers as something other than witless victims. But I shouldn't have to.

It's as if we are not allowed to see our own military as the good guys. But if we are not the good guys, who is? And if we put this much time and effort into convincing ourselves that NO ONE should serve in the military, how are we going to respond to the NEXT 9/11 type attack. (Because there will be a next attack.)

If we have no military who will WE turn to for protection? A hollywood special effects artist? I wonder if an impassioned George Clooney speech would stop a car bomb?

If we are not the home of the brave, we will not stay the land of the free.