And some of our soldiers are still writing about it. And they are still young, brave, and altogether admirable: Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: iWar
I know people care about the iWar. But not enough, given the circumstances. Not even close. Agree or disagree with the war, I don't care - just give a fuck. Be able to find Basra on a map, know that the Tigris isn't some sort of unholy crossbreed found at the San Diego Zoo, try to figure out the difference between a Sunni and a Shi'a even if it conplexes and perfuses your mind beyond repair. I wish I could issue some loud, righteous proclamation here about the repercussions of such continued resounding American apathy, but who are we kidding? The warrior caste is simply too small nowadays, and too proud. There will be no reckoning for all of this. We'll fight the fights not because we necessarily want to, but because no one else will. We were bred to protect. Even if we're protecting nothing more than an isolationistic yawn prefacing the continental slumber history demands occur after protracted warfare.
Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: House of the Holy
The now of nowness kicks. It fucking sucks carrying half your body weight in armor plating all the time, dripping with sweat and anger and impatience, rifle dangling at the low ready like a forgotten ornament on the backside of a Christmas tree. I know. Why does this country always smell like literal shit? Why can't we use our aforementioned rifles? Why do I get the feeling that the conclusion to this war has already been written, and the soldiers are the only ones who haven't read the ending yet? I do not know. How did I help the counterinsurgency today? God only knows. Those are bitches of the now. They are trivial, fleeting, and banal. And no one cares. Fuck the transient. What really matters is how this moment survives into something beyond time and beyond me and beyond you and beyond this. Hence the clouds. Hence the puff. Hence the horizon.Hence the holy.
Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: iWar
iWar. Fitting, in that succinct, catchy pop culture kind of way. Perfect for this Era of Irony. No LOL-erskates for the whYkids, but they'll get over it. iWar. It's not my phrase, though I appreciate it and am happy to Oscar Wilde it. I got it from an article about blogging in the Iraq War that quoted me in it. Bask in the shameless self-promotion. To be fair, I don't think it was the reporter's phrase either. It begins with "i," so Apple Computers probably has a patent on it. Just like iPod, iTunes, and iRack.Posted by Vanderleun at April 25, 2008 2:37 PM | TrackBackI War. Subject. Verb. Where's the object? We're still looking for it, five years later. How's that for iRony?....
iWar. Mine, not yours. This war. My War. Our War. We War. I War.
You peace. Out.
Here's a secret, though. I'll let you in on it, if you promise not to tell the chickenhawks or Jody or the Spooks. Sand castles can be rebuilt. The surf can destroy the castles, but not the sand itself. No one and no thing can destroy the sand but myself. And that won't happen anymore. I will rebuild my sand castle, someday, somewhere else, somewhere where I think the surf can't find me. In a lagoon where peace is stillness and stillness is peace. Alone, under the red hot moon. Fighting to fight, finding a noble cause in an ignoble world. And tucked away in the deepest dungeon of the castle, where no one will be allowed to go, not even me, will be a piece of scrap paper with the address to this blog site written in smudged ink on it. My link to this iWar, where I finally stumbled into an adventure that I couldn't sleep off. The last link to a life with consequences.
Man, those really hurt!! I have tears in my eyes!
There's poetry, pathos, humility and pride all rolled into one beautiful post. Thank you, Gerard!
Oh, you just discovered the LT?
He's a very interesting fellow.
Posted by: Eric Blair at April 25, 2008 8:20 PMIt is true that I am lagging. But with something north of 31 billion web pages, I have to lag sometimes.
Posted by: vanderleun at April 26, 2008 1:31 AMWhat burns me up is that not only does the MSM try to keep us from seeing the truth in Iraq, but they probably do an even "better" job of preventing those soldiers over there from understanding the true depth of love and appreciation most Americans have for what they are doing. That REALLY pisses me off!
I think we need a "National Punch a Journalist Day". Or Month.
Posted by: sherlock at April 26, 2008 9:07 AMMade a visit to his blog. I will be back. Doesn't it hack you off when someone has such a way with words - and appears to be quite noble in spirit as well? I don't really know the LT but he's given me enough to make me feel that I know him. Thank you for calling him to our attention. He plays with words the way a jazz musician would use the notes between the notes the rest of us would play. Um, ahh...well, you know what I mean. God bless the LT. and those he leads. There's a special place for the complicit journalists that do their best to hide his kind from view.
Posted by: stratrat at April 27, 2008 4:48 PM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.