I e-mailed Nik Antovich after reading his article “Enjoy freedom? Thank the United States Armed Forces” (ODE, Nov. 13) to ask if he had served in the military. He responded that he has not served, nor is he planning to. This was strange, seeing as he was so enthusiastic about war’s unrivaled role in giving us freedom. I guess you don’t have to be willing to risk dying for your country in order to recommend that others do… but it sure would add some legitimacy to your argument.
Why is it that some of war’s biggest cheerleaders have never tasted combat, let alone even served in the military? George Bush avoided Vietnam and then shirked his National Guard duties; while Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, and almost every well-known conservative pundit has never served in the military. To be fair, the one conservative Antovich does name (former Attorney General John Ashcroft) is actually a decorated combat veteran… no wait, it turns out that he too was never in the military! Nevermind. It’s funny, because even oft-maligned lefties like Jimmy Carter and Gray Davis had very respectable military careers.
I’m not sure if Antovich is up on his current events, because this is an odd time to extol the virtues of war. War is hell. It should be used only as an absolute last resort. Yes, there have been times in U.S. history when war has been necessary. There have also been times when war was not necessary. And there have even been times when war created more problems than it solved. If you’re new to the subject, you probably shouldn’t look to Antovich’s egregiously over-simplified feel-good history lesson for enlightenment.
Antovich’s article partially draws attention to the debt of gratitude we owe the U.S. Armed Forces, and I appreciate that. Our soldiers deserve all the respect in the world. That’s why we should think twice before we ask them to give their lives.
“I confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting – its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers… it is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated… that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation.” – General William Sherman, Union Army Commander, May 1865.
Mike Ober is a graduate student at the University