Although nobody has left a comment on the blog, I’ve received a stream of e-mails regarding my disagreement with the bumper sticker. If you read yesterday’s entry you’ll see that I decided to cut the owner some slack. Look I know what the BS implies – had it not been for soldiers we may be speaking German or Japanese instead of English. Well that the BS implies that is a big part of what fuels my disagreement with the comment. It plays right into the history clichés that many people fall back on. In this case the cliché is that our past enemies sought to extinguish the English language. The fact is that neither the Japanese nor the Germans tried to make their respective languages the requirement in lands they occupied. It is a fact that both countries were ruled by brutally suppressive regimes that dictated policies based on horrific ideologies. Language elimination wasn’t part of their agenda though. A good example of what I mean comes from the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. In an attempt to win the “hearts and minds” of the people they let Tagalog (native language of the Filipinos) become the official language instead of Spanish. Alright before I get too deep in the weeds on this subject I’ll sum it up. It’s historically incorrect to say “if you’re reading this in English thank a soldier”. To correct the bumper sticker would require rewording it to say “if you’re reading this in freedom thank a soldier.” I’ll patiently await further comment on this. I hope I’ve finally clarified enough.
Monday proved to be uneventful. Four of my soldiers left to start a 4-day pass in Qatar. However, their flight was cancelled so I’m not sure when they’ll leave. Fortunately, their pass just gets pushed back to reflect their actual departure date. I spent most of the morning answering e-mails and talking on the phone. There wasn’t anything urgent requiring my attention. We did have the random IDF attack. There were also the ubiquitous controlled detonations. The main objective of everyone was to avoid the sweltering heat by hanging out in AC. I did make it to the gym as usual.
Two soldiers I’ve come to know are redeploying this week. One of them had been the DJ for the various MWR karaoke events. The other was an MWR regular who simply loves to sing. I attended the karaoke night at MWR East to see them off. There was a large crowd and a lot of Joes singing (most very poorly). I dedicated “Good Riddance” by Green Day to Aaron and John. Then I wished them happy trails and departed. I wasn’t in the mood to stay out late. It was good to see them one more time before they left. It’s also good to know they both made it through their year unscathed. Both of them had been through at least one IED. Their units’ respective missions required repeated trips outside the wire. Yet they both were always happy, upbeat, and fun to be around. You’d simply never know from being around them the type of stressful work they were required to perform daily. That’s why Joes are my heroes.
My bed and AC made short work of me once I got back to the hooch. I was out in no time. On to Tuesday….
Monday proved to be uneventful. Four of my soldiers left to start a 4-day pass in Qatar. However, their flight was cancelled so I’m not sure when they’ll leave. Fortunately, their pass just gets pushed back to reflect their actual departure date. I spent most of the morning answering e-mails and talking on the phone. There wasn’t anything urgent requiring my attention. We did have the random IDF attack. There were also the ubiquitous controlled detonations. The main objective of everyone was to avoid the sweltering heat by hanging out in AC. I did make it to the gym as usual.
Two soldiers I’ve come to know are redeploying this week. One of them had been the DJ for the various MWR karaoke events. The other was an MWR regular who simply loves to sing. I attended the karaoke night at MWR East to see them off. There was a large crowd and a lot of Joes singing (most very poorly). I dedicated “Good Riddance” by Green Day to Aaron and John. Then I wished them happy trails and departed. I wasn’t in the mood to stay out late. It was good to see them one more time before they left. It’s also good to know they both made it through their year unscathed. Both of them had been through at least one IED. Their units’ respective missions required repeated trips outside the wire. Yet they both were always happy, upbeat, and fun to be around. You’d simply never know from being around them the type of stressful work they were required to perform daily. That’s why Joes are my heroes.
My bed and AC made short work of me once I got back to the hooch. I was out in no time. On to Tuesday….
3 comments:
To correct the bumper sticker would require rewording it to say “if you’re reading this in freedom thank a soldier.”
Ditto, well said.
THANK YOU FOR THE CLARIFICATION. PEOPLE, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THE GERMANS NOW SPEAK GERMAN IN PEACE AND THE JAPANESE NOW SPEAK JAPANESE IN PEACE THANKS TO THE EFFORTS OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO WERE OUR FATHERS. HOPEFULLY SOMEDAY THE SAME CAN BE SAID OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
Germany’s goal in WWII may not have been to make everyone start speaking German but it would have definitely been a byproduct had we lost.
I agree that we are not fighting to protect anyone’s right to speak a particular language but I don’t think that is what the bumper sticker meant. To me, it means we should thank a soldier that we are not speaking German or some other language courtesy of some random tyrant.
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