I\u2019m in the process of reading a very interesting book called \u201cChosen Soldier\u201d, by Dick Couch.\u00a0 It details the selection process and the initial training that goes into the making of a Green Beret.\u00a0 Green Berets are one of the US Elite Special Forces, and are held in high esteem both within and outside the USA.\u00a0 Make no mistake, these men are highly skilled and highly regarded by anyone with a military background.<\/p>\n
Now, I expect you\u2019re wondering why I\u2019m reading this material?\u00a0 What does it have to do with Malmaxa?<\/p>\n
Well, I consider myself a student of human nature. I find the motivations people have for doing things often to be of greater interest than the things they do.\u00a0 I look back on my youth when I served in an army I believe was the best in the world at what it did. \u00a0We were young, patriotic and motivated to defend our country.\u00a0 Before going on a patrol in which I had a premonition of dying, I once wrote a line by Horace in my personal diary.\u00a0 It read \u201cDulce et decorum est pro patria mori<\/em><\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0 Like many premonitions it was proven wrong.\u00a0 However that is not the point.<\/p>\n So, what is the point then?\u00a0 Well, put simply, it is that when I entered military service I truly believed that quote \u2013 it was the principle motivator for my volunteering for service before my allotted time came.\u00a0 Others I knew dodged the bullet by avoiding or delaying service.\u00a0 Back then, I held them in low esteem.\u00a0 Today, I simply accept that they saw things differently than I saw things.\u00a0 Where I believed I was serving the greater good, they believed otherwise. It saddens me to say that I now believe they were more right than I was.<\/p>\n Perhaps neither of us was right, and neither of us was wrong.\u00a0 We just weren\u2019t on the same team.<\/p>\n Nowadays I am adamantly opposed to war, yet I am even more opposed to injustice.\u00a0 Please do not hold the volunteer servicemen and women of any country in low esteem.\u00a0 They truly do serve their people.\u00a0 The ones deserving of your derision are those in power who are willing to sacrifice the lives of these honorable soldiers in unjust wars. And yes, I firmly believe war is never just.<\/p>\n In case you haven\u2019t already looked up the translation of Horace’s quote, and even if you have, here is mine \u201cSweet it is, and fitting, for one\u2019s country to die<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 In Malmaxa there is conflict. There is a war in which people fight and die. And just like here on this planet we inhabit and treat with no respect, the inhabitants of Malmaxa and do not know or ask why there is war.<\/p>\n If you are drawn to National Service then by all means serve your compatriots with pride and honor.\u00a0 But do not serve blindly without question, while believing yourself to be without blame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m in the process of reading a very interesting book called \u201cChosen Soldier\u201d, by Dick Couch.\u00a0 It details the selection process and the initial training that goes into the making of a Green Beret.\u00a0 Green Berets are one of the US Elite Special Forces, and are held in high esteem both within and outside the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[136,182,183,397,451],"class_list":["post-332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heavy-stuff","tag-elite","tag-green-beret","tag-green-berets","tag-special-forces","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}