The War

There’s a 6-part documentary running on PBS called “The War”. It’s simply incredible. It takes the accounts of World War 2, both overseas and here at home, and puts an insightful, human face with what usually winds up being nothing more than high patriotism and casualty numbers or weaponry stats.

The most amazing part of this documentary is the way the veterans talk about feeling like expendable cannon fodder or their own mock bravery, unabashedly. I’ve served in the military and even went overseas (but I’ve never been deployed during a conflict) and I can’t help but feel like the military has always had this way of inflating the troops with high emotionalism and/or false pretenses, right before it does something that would to the normal person seem insane (i.e. charge into battle with guns ablaze, running 5 miles or more up steep hills with a boat on your shoulders, push-ups, etc.). That’s not to take away from the acts of bravery those people accomplished in face of adversity. I’ve always supported our military, but I’m not above questioning or critiquing the policy makers jockeying from the desk that get our men and women killed, especially since they don't personally suffer from the mistakes they've made.

Anyway my point was that you don’t have to be a military or history buff to appreciate this documentary. It portrays the sobering reality of death in what most considered a “good fight”, while pointing out that war and everything it embodies, especially the suffering, is timeless. War is a terrible thing. We should honor those who are willing to pay such a high price to preserve our way of life and yet seek every possible avenue to avoid putting them in such a perilous position ever again.