It helped me reevaluate why I think they way I do about certain policies and personal beliefs it help strengthen my convictions, but soften my argument. My hats off to all of my classmates and incase I did not get a chance my personal thanks to any one who has severed in the military I thank you for taking up the bonds of liberty and carrying them on for a new generation!

I leave you with a quote form Thomas Paine

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, which can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

I did not always agree with what was said in class or in blog’s, but I do respect the different opinions since they are well thought out I hope you all stay true to the passions you find most dear to you! This goes for Dr. Rozema as well I thought you class was one of the best I have had in my college career I thank you for pushing me past my comfort zone and making me a better student. Good luck to everyone in your careers and may God bless you all in what you chose to do with your life!

Sincerely

Michael   

http://kerijaynes.uniblogs.org/2008/03/19/the-american-public-indifference-concerning-todays-soldiers/

http://palmeral.edublogs.org/2008/03/25/the-past-repeats/

http://tumac.edublogs.org/2008/02/18/an-anonymous-end/

http://ullreyg.edublogs.org/2008/02/06/media-battle-30-seconds-of-good-2-hours-of-bad/#comment-9

http://collijes.learnerblogs.org/2008/02/06/why-become-immune/#comment-4

http://roodme.edublogs.org/2008/03/26/dealing-with-the-effects-of-war/#comment-2

http://rooyj.edublogs.org/2008/03/26/the-relief-from-war/#respond

http://thirdsquad.uniblogs.org/2008/04/11/stories/#comment-10

http://whitepe.edublogs.org/2008/03/26/something-for-everyone/#comment-6

http://alpersa.edublogs.org/2008/02/06/let%e2%80%99s-portray-war-how-it-really-is/#comment-19

Anything that is in italics is the original blog.

Anything in bold is new and added to join it to the class and the ideas shared within the class.

Well hello there blog fans today is a special day because I am ready able and willing to go off like a 100 megaton bomb that is one big ass explosion!

I guess I really should have done this about a week ago, but for some reason I waited I think it was so that I could calm down and think. So that my words did not just role out of my mouth and into my keyboard making me seem stupid or crazy I want my words to be hard hitting and hopefully a little infectious. If not then I do hope they at least make you think and feel for a brief moment in someone else shoe’s namely mine.

I guess I did this much like both Vera Brittian and Tim O’Brian they had thoughts and experiences that need time to find the write words.

“For nearly a decade I wanted, with a growing sense of urgency, to write something which would show what the whole War …Has meant to the men and woman of my generation”

“On occasions the war was like a Ping-Pong ball. You could put a fancy spin on it, you could make it dance.”

I felt I need to say something give my spin so many times about the anti-war movement I didn’t because I know it will seem like anger or as some have stated hate, but it is not its my feelings towards something I am passionate about, only this time I waited for the words to come to me so that others might see my side if only for a moment and I believe this is what these writers want as well.

Let me fill you in on a few things I go to a very liberal university right in the middle of one of the most conservative counties in the country. Now I have no real anger towards those whose opinions differ from mine other then I think for the betterment of our country that their ideas are wrong for it. However there is something that is going on here and around the nation and that is the anti-war movement! I will be totally blunt this sickens me not because of their protesting, it an important right in this country to be able to have those protest. What does make me ill is they have lost sight of what is really at stake in the War on Terror. The fact is they are protesting the wrong thing most of the protest that I have seen have been for us to stop the war in Iraq!

The funny thing is we are not at war with Iraq! Since March 20^th of 2003 out troops have been in a theater of operation in a much large conflict just like in World War II there was the European and Pacific theaters with this war there is Iraq and a Afghanistan theater and in this war there will be other theaters to come.

Many would say that we as a nation are at war and it is called the Iraq War that is more of a media spin (MORE ON THAT LATER) this spin can be seen in many ways, but the law only sees it one way

“Public Law 107-243 107th Congress Joint Resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq. H.J. Res. 114 www.c-span.org/resources/pdf/hjres114.pdf“

There is not a formal declaration of war with Iraq when I was thinking about this as I was going over it was drawn to some of what O’Brian said

“I did not want to die. Not ever. But certainly not then, not there, not in a wrong war”

Who decides if it is a wrong war the Congress and the President both bodies who are elect by the people you really want the War over change them! But in 2004 we kept the President 2006 we changed the Congress who can change the law about the war, but did not instead extended it and continued its funding.  

What really infuriates me is the fact that many of those who are against the war have forgot that the war did not start on March 20^th of 2003 or October 7, 2001 in Afghanistan! It started on a September morning in 2001 when as a nation we came under a brutal and well thought out plan of pure hate and anger. This was not an attack with bunch of bombs or hail of bullets; no it was a one of cowards, men who twisted the ideals of others from thousands of miles away as they sat in safety and basked in their evil plans!

You see even I had forgot that a bit so I did something I went to youtube and watched it again and felt that numbness and the tears the weld up and ran down my cheeks. To see the planes, the buildings burning and to watch as they come down again and to feel my stomach twist into a knot! To hear our nation anthem played by the UK during the changing of the their guards, and to mourn not for soldiers, but for countrymen. Have we let time soften us to the fact that we are at war not with people, but with men who hate what we live for? So then next time you get up and feel that the war is wrong remember that those we are fighting hate the fact that you can protest the war that they STARTED. When you go to work, take your kids to school, chose the way you want to worship, shop where you want, buy the things need and want and all the other things you do is what the want to destroy! They see your life as a disease you ideas as propaganda they find you as the most evil thing on the planet someone who does not agree with them!

This war is not like others it not about resources, it not about fascism, it is not truly about political ideology, and it not about religious zealots. Sure many of those have some factors, but the truth is it about your very existence as an not even an American, but as some one who has FREEDOM, COURAGE, AND THE RIGHT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE!

Now I am smart enough to know that not everyone even my friends will agree with me, but go back to 9/11 and relive that pain the shock, the horror, cry and feel the lost and wonder who and why. Be a bit angry am I saying that we need to live at that moment in time NO! Living there would not be wise, but forgetting it is not wise either THE WAR WAS NOT STARTED BY US!

The similarities between my words and those in the letters in the book Since You Went Away from the onset of World War II for America was well I thought fascinating 

“I’ve just been listening to the radio. I’ve never been so blue or heartsick as I am right at the minute.”

“Everyone is talking of war, war, war!”

“To say we were all stunned to hear the terrible news of Sunday last over the air is putting it mildly”

These words seem so similar; did we not have this same dedication after 9/11? Yes we did what changed for many it the fact that not a quick war many who are leading the charge for the anti-war movement are in there 20’s the only war then know is the Gulf War that last 100 hours that is a rarity. Most wars have names some show the length 100 years War the Seven Years War. What would have the out come of WWII been if the public had lost it focus in spring of 1944 would have D-Day been a joyous day?

So why should we stop it (the war) I feel for those who have lost family I know how many have died the media will not let us forget, but they will let us forget the first strike against us.

Now back to media look at the headlines from the last few days:

“U.S. Deaths in Iraq War Reach 4,000; Green Zone Is Shelled”

“Antiwar activists march on Pentagon”

“Wisconsin Army Recruiting Center Vandalized”

Where are the headlines about 9/11 there are none unless it deals with celebrity, money, conspiracy, or how we as a country our wrong for being upset by the attack still.

“Oscar-Winner Marion Cotillard Thinks 9/11 Was a Conspiracy”

“Families Settle Claims In Attack on Pentagon”

“Stop Getting Mad, America Get Smart”

So as this war goes on please remember why we fight the armed forces of the United States are an all volunteers some before 9/11 and after some before Afghanistan and after and some before Iraq and some after! Those who have gone and will continue to go know why AND THEY REMEMBER that is why the go!

So from now on I am going to expand something I have done I make sure I shake the hand of every person I see in uniform and say thank you NOW every time I see a anti-war person I going to ask when did the WAR start and if they say anything other then 9/11 I just inform them they are mistaken and start my own rally to remember 9/11 the being of the War not in Iraq, but the War against LIFE!

Now let make sure you understand me I see myself as a patriot I would go as far as to quote Vera Brittian and say that I believe in  “the bloodthirsty armchair patriotism” not that war is the answer, but when it is brought to your front door you must fight it. President Theodore Roosevelt said, “speak softly and carry a big stick” the world knows we have that stick, as a nation we must stay united when that stick is swung. Does this mean I feel that that war is just well if O’Brien touches on that:

“When a nation goes to war it must have a reasonable confidence in the justice and imperative of its cause”

Those we elected made a decision and we as a nation have had ample opportunity within are legal scope to change that leadership we did not. So it not up to me if I feel it just that duty falls to the hands of the historians I have twice said that war is theater and I finish by going there again. The title of my blog is War conflict with life? Well I now see that war and peace are the antagonist and protagonist of life the questions we are stuck with as mankind is which one is which, is war a period between peaces or is peace a period between war?

Testament of Youth Vera Brittan

Since You Went Away: World War II Letters from American Women on the Home Front Judy Barrett Litoff David C. Smith

The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien

Washington Post

Fox News

Names are powerful history and war a filled with them so I took the time to looked back over Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and put the names in a new perspective.

Bill the Pilgrim: if you look at this and the book you see he is taking many journeys during the book from home to war, from the earth to another planet, within time, and inside him.

Roland the Weary: some one who is tired and weak, but ironically thinks he is the strongest of them and even in death is so weak he blames another for it.

Edgar the Derby: a man racing against time most arguably the strongest of men who dies for the weakest of reason in a race that he could not win.

To have these names to go with the characters seems fitting it puts another layer into the story. I think Vonnegut must have researched these names for sometime. And unlike the other names these are ones that seem very appropriate. History has away of seeing things a bit askew. It makes me ponder if the practice of giving a title comes with the job a leader does would any of the world leaders of today have one and what would the titles be?

Military History Podcast 

Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut

The first site was easy it has been part of my life in one form or another for a long time. That would be the Washington Post this paper has been my newspaper since I was in my late teens use to get it every afternoon. Now I get it on the web I like the writers plus I am a big fan of politics and it is at the heart of all American politics both domestic and aboard. In reality I have 3 different links for the Post the main page. Then I also have military and Iraq sections.

For my google search I picked Iraq war it part of are vernacular now it comes up almost everyday in hundreds of ways it has become almost and afterthought to some. I have two military blogs one by a woman and one by a man both of them are Marines. I picked them because I have a special place for the Marines, I was not one, I do have many friends who have been that been out of the daily military life for years and still call themselves Marines. The old motto “once a marine always a marine” seems to ring true. The other reason for me is the for the most part are the first to fight for America and the last to leave. That just speaks to me about the code that they must embrace.

And as my military pod cast I pick one on military history since for the most part we are kind of doing that we are seeing history with words why not with sounds as well, and least but not last I put Fox News on it as well just to see if I would get anyone’s attention with it. Well those are my sites and the why’s behind them maybe also just a little insight to me have fun and I will see you in class.