History nerd me is wondering if he’s half-remembering something he was told about Little Round Top/Star Wars Episode III, and conflating that with Stonewall Jackson’s death at Chancellorsville.
Normal human me completely agrees with you. Even just within the American military tradition, it’s rarely the troops who saw the most death, or the officers who sent the largest number of them into it, who are the most gung ho about glassing countries and being badasses.
There are things, even flawed things, that might be worth fighting for, but nobody should ever be happy about it. And maybe this is a bit paternalistic of me, but if there are 20 year old idiots who think otherwise, then it’s up to their leaders to protect them (and everyone else) from those strong little boys’ worst instincts. If you make it into middle age and haven’t learned that, you’re probably a bad person.
There are things, even flawed things, that might be worth fighting for, but nobody should ever be happy about it. And maybe this is a bit paternalistic of me, but if there are 20 year old idiots who think otherwise, then it’s up to their leaders to protect them (and everyone else) from those strong little boys’ worst instincts. If you make it into middle age and haven’t learned that, you’re probably a bad person.
My russian ass felt this quote like a chainsaw insertion. Too many friends and relatives became too enthusiastic about the war overnight, after the first shock we all felt ended it’s grip. Some of them do know history, had served in the army to know how shit it is, and yet they start to feel like brave soldiers of fortune, thankfully, from their sofas and toilets mostly.
This war happened just at a time when most WW2 vets died, most Afghan\Chechnya vets retired and got out of picture, so there is no one to tell the bloodthirsty youth what’s the war is. I guess, US militant proud boys had the same boost.
History nerd me is wondering if he’s half-remembering something he was told about Little Round Top/Star Wars Episode III, and conflating that with Stonewall Jackson’s death at Chancellorsville.
Normal human me completely agrees with you. Even just within the American military tradition, it’s rarely the troops who saw the most death, or the officers who sent the largest number of them into it, who are the most gung ho about glassing countries and being badasses.
There are things, even flawed things, that might be worth fighting for, but nobody should ever be happy about it. And maybe this is a bit paternalistic of me, but if there are 20 year old idiots who think otherwise, then it’s up to their leaders to protect them (and everyone else) from those strong little boys’ worst instincts. If you make it into middle age and haven’t learned that, you’re probably a bad person.
My russian ass felt this quote like a chainsaw insertion. Too many friends and relatives became too enthusiastic about the war overnight, after the first shock we all felt ended it’s grip. Some of them do know history, had served in the army to know how shit it is, and yet they start to feel like brave soldiers of fortune, thankfully, from their sofas and toilets mostly.
This war happened just at a time when most WW2 vets died, most Afghan\Chechnya vets retired and got out of picture, so there is no one to tell the bloodthirsty youth what’s the war is. I guess, US militant proud boys had the same boost.