I thought about this poem, which I published a few years ago, when I heard President Obama's speech about bringing the troops home, and the republicans objections to his ideas:
Rules of Engagement
It's becoming more common:
Rules about when, where, how, and against whom military force should be used, are decided by well fed parents, reclining in comfortable chairs, living in gated communities with their well manicured lawns,
while their sons and daughters are safely tucked away in plush dormitories, on expensive colleges and universities, as privileged children, whose biggest concerns are finding a date for the weekend and wondering what type of designer clothes are appropriate for their beach party with their friends, while spending monthly allowances that are larger than the annual salary of a marine lance corporal ¾ even when his family get additional help in the form of food stamps.
It is becoming less common:
Rules about when, where, how, and against whom military force should be used, receive little or no input from parents, who lost a sibling in Vietnam or an uncle in the Korean Conflict. It is becoming less common for parents, who saw "Grandfather" returned from WWII without a leg, to have a voice in the national rules of engagement. It is becoming less common to see veterans, who worked diligently with their fellow veterans to establish American Legion Posts that served at the patriotic and moral centers of their communities, to have a voice in the national rules of engagement. It is becoming less common for community leaders, who worked with local churches and veteran groups to promote moral values, respect of community and the responsibilities of citizenship ¾ especially service to the nation and the price of freedom, to have a voice in the national rules of engagement.
It should be:
Rules about when, where, how, and against whom military force should be used, should be made by parents who are too nervous to eat, too worried to sleep, too close to a state of shock to socialize, who goes to work with a knot in their stomach and a lump in their throat ¾ completely stressed out because their precious children have just completed Basic Training, Boot Camp, Advance Individual Training, and
all training necessary for combat duty, which means that they will be deployed any day now.
"We should stay the course in Afganistan," for example, takes on new meaning when it's your child that will be doing the staying!
