I was once assigned on a roster for the graves registration point duty. Actually twice. This involved inspecting identification papers of dead soldiers and the body itself just before it was shipped home. The army was very worried about shipping bodies to the wrong address, or with the wrong name. I had to go to the morgue, aka the graves registration refrigerated trailers, look at the ID papers and take a look inside the body bag to make sure it was the right person. As I said I only had this duty twice, which was enough. Somehow they should make Hegseth do this every time there's a casualty. What a rotten human being.
Hegseth, and Trump, are caricatures of men. Empty, hollow, men who deal in falsehoods and stolen valor. I wonder if, in their heart of hearts, they actually realize this - but, even so, they would never consciously acknowledge this.
The fact that they hold sway over honorable men and women sickens me.
An inspiring, emotional, honest piece of writing/expression.
I know--have always known--that men like Hegseth are addicted to mindless violence but your essay nails in a way that really moved me. And Caine, right beside him, sounds more like a militarized robot than a human being.
I'm from the Vietnam generation (never got drafted and had no reason to join up)--and even then you'd hear all that techno-military bullshit as explanation and justification for out-and-out murder... "We had to destroy the village in order to save it," "Collateral Damage=Dead Children... ...And now--partially, I think, partially because men have played violent video-games for the last twenty years--this heart-deadness has become so much a part of the way these people think and speak, that it's a form of petrification.
The murderous religious zealots in Iran are just mirror images of the video-game-macho-maniacs like Hegseth; different language, different clothes, but the same nutty, hysterical fear of innocence and vulnerability that has characterized this kind of insanity for thousands of years.
These men, on both sides, are afraid of women and children--they hate their own weakness, their own innocence... In their derangement, they believe that if you kill the innocent, then you'll finally succeed in erasing your OWN innocence and fear--become a real man... But innocence can't be erased by Tomahawk missiles, precision bombing or covering or locking up women... We were all children once... We ought to finally understand that and then we will finally grow up...
"Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done.’ My response along with that of the president was simple. Of course we will finish this.”
We have yet to have anyone define what the job is, or what the goals are. The fact that Kegseth is asking for an additional $200 Billion dollars (on top of the ONE TRILLION DoD budget) gives us a clue that it's far from over ---which contradicts Trump's claim that "we've already bombed everything in oblivion"
Dear Shanley, I am sad that you lost an important part of your brother's mind to war. It was criminal that older americans like me did not speak up before sending him off to face the inhumane demands we placed on him. You know that I GREATLY ADMIRE your Mother as well as you. Please offer her my apology for my slothfulness as a citizen for not having spoken up and given her the information my own truncated and sterile military experience had given me. Sincerely, Hal
he probably thinks of himself as following in the tradition of the Gettysburg Address (if he knows what that was). What he forgets is the Gettysburg was a battle in a war with an actual and honorable purpose, not just a sop to Lincoln's ego.
I was a year old when the last honorable war the US fought ended. Basically, over 81 years go.
Thank you, Shanley, for your eloquent refutation of Pete Hegseth's contemptible speech. You and your mom have bravely shared the personal anger, grief, and pain that is the real price of war paid by military service members and their families. That price is always high but when it's paid for an illegitimate war fought simply to stroke the egos of men who will never personally pay that price, the price is obscene.
I was once assigned on a roster for the graves registration point duty. Actually twice. This involved inspecting identification papers of dead soldiers and the body itself just before it was shipped home. The army was very worried about shipping bodies to the wrong address, or with the wrong name. I had to go to the morgue, aka the graves registration refrigerated trailers, look at the ID papers and take a look inside the body bag to make sure it was the right person. As I said I only had this duty twice, which was enough. Somehow they should make Hegseth do this every time there's a casualty. What a rotten human being.
Hegseth, and Trump, are caricatures of men. Empty, hollow, men who deal in falsehoods and stolen valor. I wonder if, in their heart of hearts, they actually realize this - but, even so, they would never consciously acknowledge this.
The fact that they hold sway over honorable men and women sickens me.
Neither of them is self-aware.
An inspiring, emotional, honest piece of writing/expression.
I know--have always known--that men like Hegseth are addicted to mindless violence but your essay nails in a way that really moved me. And Caine, right beside him, sounds more like a militarized robot than a human being.
I'm from the Vietnam generation (never got drafted and had no reason to join up)--and even then you'd hear all that techno-military bullshit as explanation and justification for out-and-out murder... "We had to destroy the village in order to save it," "Collateral Damage=Dead Children... ...And now--partially, I think, partially because men have played violent video-games for the last twenty years--this heart-deadness has become so much a part of the way these people think and speak, that it's a form of petrification.
The murderous religious zealots in Iran are just mirror images of the video-game-macho-maniacs like Hegseth; different language, different clothes, but the same nutty, hysterical fear of innocence and vulnerability that has characterized this kind of insanity for thousands of years.
These men, on both sides, are afraid of women and children--they hate their own weakness, their own innocence... In their derangement, they believe that if you kill the innocent, then you'll finally succeed in erasing your OWN innocence and fear--become a real man... But innocence can't be erased by Tomahawk missiles, precision bombing or covering or locking up women... We were all children once... We ought to finally understand that and then we will finally grow up...
"Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done.’ My response along with that of the president was simple. Of course we will finish this.”
We have yet to have anyone define what the job is, or what the goals are. The fact that Kegseth is asking for an additional $200 Billion dollars (on top of the ONE TRILLION DoD budget) gives us a clue that it's far from over ---which contradicts Trump's claim that "we've already bombed everything in oblivion"
Dear Shanley, I am sad that you lost an important part of your brother's mind to war. It was criminal that older americans like me did not speak up before sending him off to face the inhumane demands we placed on him. You know that I GREATLY ADMIRE your Mother as well as you. Please offer her my apology for my slothfulness as a citizen for not having spoken up and given her the information my own truncated and sterile military experience had given me. Sincerely, Hal
"Whatever makes a soldier sad, will make a killer smile." Leonard Cohen, "The Captain."
I see you. I hear you. 💔
he probably thinks of himself as following in the tradition of the Gettysburg Address (if he knows what that was). What he forgets is the Gettysburg was a battle in a war with an actual and honorable purpose, not just a sop to Lincoln's ego.
I was a year old when the last honorable war the US fought ended. Basically, over 81 years go.
Thank you, Shanley, for your eloquent refutation of Pete Hegseth's contemptible speech. You and your mom have bravely shared the personal anger, grief, and pain that is the real price of war paid by military service members and their families. That price is always high but when it's paid for an illegitimate war fought simply to stroke the egos of men who will never personally pay that price, the price is obscene.
Oh that those cosplaying warmongers could spend a few minutes with your powerful words.
I appreciate the insight, the unmasking of Hegseth. I can no longer listen or watch his performances. Your analysis is spot on.