Apathy and Ignorance: Observations for Canadians that have "opinions" about their military

I've been out of the Canadian Forces for a while now but recently I got into a conversation with a friend about military intervention and the morality of getting involved in other countries business.  I found that most of his opinions were based on some very questionable sentiments.  For example he seemed convinced that soldiers relish war and that we (soldiers) are but a few shades away from feral animals.  Essentially that we are desensitized automatons who will execute questionable orders not because we judge said orders as sketchy but necessary.... but because we are robots incapable of understanding the reality of what we're doing. However a latte slurping hipster who's never travelled outside of his home province can.  So I'm going to put my beret back on for a minute and speak to you all as a soldier.

 

Firstly, understand that very few of us are chomping at the bit to get deployed, for those of us that have been on rotation, we don't look forward to deployment because we know what comes of it.  Family lives are interrupted, stress for the soldier and the people they leave behind goes through the roof and all with the threat of impending death looming overhead for 6 to 12 months in a literal war zone where often times you can't even trust the people you're helping to not attack you with an axe while you are sitting down with tribal elders trying to figure out a better way to deliver clean water and medical supplies to them.

 

So why do we do it?  Well, there are several reasons.  The most of us join either because of family tradition or a legitimate sense of patriotism, a desire to serve our fellow Canadians and a willingness to defend your life with ours if necessary.  This constitutes the bulk of us most likely something like 70 percent.  The next group who clock in at about 25 percent are in it for the pay but even with these people there is still a vague sense of duty in them, after all military salaries aren't all that great unless you climb the ranks or are in a specialist pay category.  Weigh the uninspiring pay against the possibility of death and the military becomes an unattractive  alternative for all but the most financially desperate people.  The last group are the ones that legitimately want to, or rather think they want to, be in a war.  They want to fight and they enlist to make that dream a reality.  This is the remaining 5 percent and honestly most of these numpties do a 180 on their feelings about war the moment they go out on patrol and step into the dark zone (any area of afghanistan outside the 2km perimeter of a major FOB or base, AKA taliban territory) .  Reality comes knocking for these people the moment they hear that first CRACK from a 7.62x39 speeding past them.  They realize this is not a game, it's not 'Call of Duty'.   There's no respawn and you cannot in fact regen your health by taking cover for 10 seconds.  This is war.  It's frantic, bloody and it relentlessly bombards your senses.  Even moments of calm are tainted by the knowledge that at any moment shit could kick off and you might not survive it.

 

For those of you having a difficult time imagining what combat is like, let me offer you an analogy.  Have you ever gotten into a fight or an intense argument?  OK, think back to the moment that either the fight was about to start or the argument got serious....remember that sinking and slightly paralyzing feeling that arose?  That realization that whatever comes next is going to be some completely ad-lib, sketchy behaviour and that you might very well get injured in the process?  OK, hold that feeling and multiply it by about 100, replace "injured" with "killed" and imagine having a diluted version of that feeling floating around in your brain at every waking moment even during your downtime.....that's war.

 

So what does all of this mean for the average civilian sitting at home watching carefully edited news footage of some far off warzone?  Mostly it means you lack the cursory understanding of the factors involved to make any other statement than "I wish this war wasn't necessary".  Anything beyond that is venturing into territory that you know nothing about other than what the media tells you which is, to be honest, mostly lies.  I am confronted on a regular basis by fickle, uneducated civilians seeking to change my mind about the morality of my service.  People that have never tasted battle, never experienced any real hardship and who have little or no understanding of the reality of the situation in places like Afghanistan come up to me and more or less tell me that I'm the bad guy and that we have no right to interfere in the business of our fellow humans who are having severe problems with violent religious based terrorism.

 

On the flipside, you are of course  free to make grandiose statements about "supporting the troops" but just be aware that we soldiers know that's a crock of shit.  90 percent of you don't care at all.  The warm fuzzy feeling you get when you slap a magnetic  "support our troops" bumper sticker on the back of your car is more about you than it is about us, you're signalling to the guy behind you in traffic that you're superior because you "care" about the troops...but you don't.  90 percent of the time that bumper sticker is about your need to virtue signal and has little or nothing to do with any REAL support you have or would give to the troops.  Think I'm being too harsh?  OK then...name ONE Canadian Forces regular force infantry regiment...there's only four....name one.  "Why is that important?" you ask...well generally speaking we are educated about the things we care about, at the very least you could say that an area of interest worthy of a bumper sticker would necessitate some knowledge on the subject, right? I'm going to take a guess that you drew a blank but I bet you could muddle your way through the Big Mac theme song without breaking a sweat so let's not kid ourselves about the priorities of your average Canadian where "supporting the troops" is concerned.  Most of you don't even know the occupation or location of FAMILY in the military....I can't tell you the number of times I've met someone with family in the military that when asked, couldn't even tell me what that serving family members MOC (job) is or where they are posted. Most of you don't even attend any Rememberence Day parade and since I've released from the military not once have I been asked if I wanted the morning of the 11th off to go attend the ceremonies even though my boss knows I'm a vet. Instead I have to ask and am usually met with disbelief and eventually grudging, reluctant permission to use one of my vacation days to go pay my respects to my brothers and sisters.

 

At the end of the day you can mummify your car in magnetic ribbons for all I care.  It doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of you know nothing about the troops you're feigning concern for.  Neither do you have the slightest clue about what we're actually doing when we get deployed but you've never let that stop you from educating us about OUR motivations while parading around your own self validated moral superiority.  Think what you want about us but the reality is that we serve, kill and die for YOU.  We don't have the option to refuse most orders or object to being deployed in the first place.  That's YOUR fucking job.  Where were you in 2001 when JTF2 was first sent to Afghanistan?  What did you do to voice your concern?  Did you protest, or write a letter to your MP?  Did you do ANYTHING other than unload your ideological nonsense onto a soldier that swore an oath to kill and die for you?  If the answer is NO, then you are just as "guilty" as anyone that supported the war, so live with it.  We do, because we have to.  Because we know we may be called upon to sacrifice ourselves for a pile of people that, generally speaking, give zero fucks.