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What Joining an Army Can Teach You
NMB, Florida March 19, 2002 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
WHAT JOINING AN ARMY CAN TEACH
The stark contrast between two cultures may be seen in why young people
choose to enroll in an army. In the U.S. only a few seek a life-long
career. Reimbursement in the form of the security of high pay is not a
chief goal for those wishing to invest in a military future. Some take this
path as a way to become citizens. Others sign up as a way to become
upwardly mobile from lives of poverty and unequal opportunity.
On the other hand this picture may be contrasted with the army assembled by
Osama bin Laden and others who saw the force they were assembling as greater
than its individual parts. It was necessary to train the volunteers to die
and to expire in the great ideal to bring down the U.S. and Israel.
Something beyond the selfish needs of individuals was expressed as the Will
of Allah through verses in the Koran.
Both armies teach war to its recruits. It is highly significant that the
Army of the U.S. holds out the promise that its training can be used in
times of peace in useful and constructive occupations. Opportunities to
study and advance by going to schools provided by the military -
particularly in the Navy - are many and are pushed to enhance the lives of
the individual. There is a difference here.
The Crusade to retake the "Holy Land" and its Capitol, Jerusalem, is joined
curiously in Afghanistan. The Muslim Army of the al Qaeda focused on the
Taliban to allow it to study, learn, train and build not only a fighting
force but an assemblage of martyrs who would not live to seek peace-time
employment. There is a definite difference here.
It seems self-evident that veterans of the U.S. forces assembled to combat
terrorism can also conduct peace. The military tactics of the armies of
Mohammed include secret cells to spread terror and destruction at the heart
of its enemies' civilization. There is no discernible plan for a good and
new world after they win by destroying us. When our soldiers come home they
expect to start living the lives promised when they joined the service. Can
the martyr soldiers of bin Laden go home again?
Carol's Evaluation: 9 out of 10.
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