Thoughts on the New War

As an OEF and OIF vet, I’ve seen both wars in one tour. Iraq was first, and this was, of course, the first actual conflict that I participated in. I won’t go into particulars, but it opened my eyes to combat, what little I did anyway. I think Afghanistan was better, but again, despite my efforts, I saw little combat, but worked with my JFOs and Fos, who saw more of the conflict than I did from being in the TOC most of the time. With Iran now, who knows? On one hand, the Iranians have been an enemy of the USA for decades, and more or less justified in that outlook. However, I am concerned about the current administration and how they are conducting it. Trump seems to be throwing out childish, unprofessional tweets. It’s a person who thinks that he’s powerful and isn’t mortal. I may disagree with the Iranians on principle, but on one hand, I don’t or won’t shed tears if they kill Trump in retaliation.

               I know, as a former Soldier, I should stand behind my president in times of war, but this time I’m sitting this one out. Not because he’s a Republican (I didn’t much give a shit who was the president back in 2004 when I landed in Kuwait) or a Democrat. But this history of starting wars for no reason, and even the Pentagon said that they were fighting because Israel attacked, and not a threat to the US. For all the bluster and warmongering that Trump does, he doesn’t realize that he doesn’t need to blow up half the country to get them to the negotiating table. There have been losses, claims, and counterclaims already, on who’s “right”, and who’s wrong. It’s the same all over again, and the WMD excuse is pretty thin, that somehow Iran managed to construct an ICBM, especially when the White House (and Trump himself) claimed that they “obliterated” the country’s nukes. Funny how, leading up to the conflict, they “were a week away from a nuclear bomb,” and we just had to go to war. I think maybe civilian life has made me soft, or whatnot, but I’m tired of the bullshit of just Trump. An adjudicated rapist and child rapist, who’s getting Americans killed because he’s a pedophile and trying to dodge justice.

               It’ll come to pass, either he magically goes to jail or simply dies. For a draft dodger, he seems to like putting our boots on the ground when he made sure that he didn’t have to do that himself. Bush Sr. served, and I can respect a leader who has served more than somebody who decided that he was too good to get down and dirty with the troops five times. But it’s not about Trump even though I like to dislike him (his first term cemented my distaste for him), it’s just fact that we don’t have the leadership to handle the conflict that he created, and hopefully a Democrat can end the war, because thankfully Dems for what their worth, doesn’t do that, and even I appreciate that sometimes, because we’ve had enough of the strain on our country, to get behind somebody who routinely fails the nation.