Being that our pool is a pain in the ass to heat, we kept the keys from our old apartment and every so often we sneak up there and pretend that we still live there by interspersing our poolside conversation with complaints about the apartment complex and general disrepair of the area.
So anyway, we took the kids there yesterday and we ended up being there at the same time as a couple of (very obviously) military personnel were spending their Sunday poolside as well. This is a snippet of the conversation we overheard.
Airmen 1: “I’m so sick of these anti-war protestors. I think they should be arrested and killed.”
Airmen 2: “ I don’t know dude, I mean, kill them? They have a right to protest. I mean it is America you know.”
Airmen 1: “ Yeah but how did they get that freedom? I’ll tell you how; War, that’s how.”
Airmen 2: “That’s true, dawg.”
They went on to discuss putting together their power of attorney, wills, and assigning their death benefits to the appropriate family members. Making sure that they had gotten the correct amount of anthrax immunizations, etc.
For all of their 20-something bravado I could feel the fear coming off of them. They spoke of shooting at anything that didn’t have a stars and stripes logo on their sleeve. They spoke of a commanding officer that had opened up on a building in Kosovo and ending up killing 12 women and children in the resulting fire fight. It was unclear whether or not the women and children were shooting back or not. I'll go out a limb and here and say "no they probably were not."
I got the distinct impression that their view of what they were volunteering for was tainted with dreams of medals and bragging rights. That the actual act of being a soldier and what that required of them was lost somewhere in their training.
While Mary was chomping at the bit to explain to them that their worldview and perhaps their scrutiny of history was a little skewed she decided that it was not the best day to enter into that particular political discussion.
As we left the pool I wished them luck and told them to keep their heads down. They looked really scared for a heartbeat and thanked me. I felt like I was saying goodbye to my brother Bill again. It was a strange day.
Posted by shawn at March 24, 2003 08:06 AM