Going back to the Future…
Hey Y’all,
Welcome to our new Facebook friends and welcome back to our old blog friends. I am going to start a new (or old) series taking us back to why this site was started. Today is 7 March, 2019 and exactly 16 years ago, I wrote a post about how the Iraq war started for me and about 200 other friends. Our experiences all vary slightly, but in a very real sense we shared the same life. But our first experience of war was not the nations first experience of war. That war began on 11 Sept 2001. And today, 7 March 2019, that war is still going.
Maybe not as intense or involving as many Americans, but it is still going all the same. I have friends who deployed in 2003 and who still serve in the military. And in the very near future, their children will be eligible to serve with them in the very same war. Eternal War, Perpetual War or Constant War is not good or healthy for you and me. It doesn’t matter if you served or not. It is a thorn in the side of freedom and a drag on the nation.
I started writing these posts for my children so that they would know who Dad was before they were born. They are still not old enough to fully comprehend what I am writing but all of you are. I have lost touch with so many of you through the years, mostly my fault and many of you have asked what happened. Well life happened. No worries. But for four years of my life, 2003-2007, this is what I was doing. For many of my friends, they continued doing things like I write about as recently as six months ago. I am not a hero or anything more than a quitter. I walked away from the service in 2007.
They are the real heroes because they could have left with me but they didn’t. They stayed in, they served their country with honor and dignity. They deployed time after time. Month after month. Year after year. And they still do it today. I have been out thirteen years and they are still fighting for us. I have about two years worth of stories that I am going to start re-blogging. In a few months, if you are still reading, please know that you are only about a third of the way through my war experiences. And you are only about a tenth of the way through their war experiences. Perpetual War lasts for a long time, almost like forever.
So please excuse me if I laugh when a Republican tells us that we need to start another war. Please excuse me when I cry when a Democrat tells me that we need to send in a peace keeping force. Please excuse me when I don’t vote how you think I would or how I don’t get worked up over whatever the topic of the day is or how the best time of my day is when I don’t watch the news. I only did four years of war and I have been out of the Perpetual War business for thirteen years and I am still tired…
That guy does look tired, maybe his son’s soccer team is losing a playoff game. Photo from Tom Statig Photography
Wow, I had no idea all that was inside me but its out now. I promise that I will try to not be as political next time. Also, I read this post and I really think my writing has greatly improved. I hope you enjoy the journey.
This guy looks much happier. I choose to be him. photo from rob akers.
robakers 
Rob, I’m glad you wrote this… I think we all get complacent and don’t realize the continued impact because it feels it has just always has been. Hard to imagine this has been going that long. I wonder when the children of those who are fighting now, will know what they are fighting about, when this continues… or why it started, or why they are fighting.
Karlene,
I know what you mean. The kids who are turning 18 at the end of this year are eligible to join up to fight in a war that started after they were born.
And today, some General who was a young Captain testified to Congress that we are not close to defeating ISIS. Not sure what the right answer is, but I think I know what the wrong answer is.
There are some great flying stories coming in the next several months. And some not so great ones too..ha ha.