Peace is our dream but is war our reality?

SPC Charles Brown — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 04:28:04 -0400

I have stated many times that the life of a Soldier, Sailor, Coast Guards, Airman/woman, and Marine is one which is governed by the idea that Peace is our dream, but War is our reality.

What do you all have to say on the subject? Is it accurate or inaccurate? Please defend your position on the topic, and be nice to each other.

Response by MSG Wade Huffman made Sep 3 at 2014 7:34 AM

MSG Wade Huffman — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:34:48 -0400

Good question; I think Douglas MacArthur said it best..."The soldier, above all others, prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."
And to my friends in the sister services; although the word 'soldiers' is used in the quote, I believe it applies to all of us equally!

Response by TSgt Terry Hudson made Sep 3 at 2014 7:46 AM

TSgt Terry Hudson — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:46:46 -0400

Accurate! War is definitely our reality.
-War is human nature. Not saying the human race can't sit down and hash things out by talking. Some people just have certain differences and that clash. It sucks that they clash the way the do but thats just the way it is.
-People join the military for many different reasons. School, family tradition, bad economy, give back to the country, and many other different reasons. But they're all aware of what they're getting themselves into before signing the dotted. Well most. I had one airman tell me she's never going to deploy. I told her she really doesn't have an option, either she goes or gets out the military and she started crying. I didn't mean to be harsh but this is the military suck it up!
-I joined to get out of the community I was in and sense then I've developed a great since of pride. I love my country and I am proud to be a service member. I hope to bring and keep peace in my country. I hope someday the whole world would have peace.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 3 at 2014 8:46 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 08:46:14 -0400

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)

Response by SFC William Swartz Jr made Sep 3 at 2014 9:04 AM

SFC William Swartz Jr — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:04:13 -0400

I think it is an accurate statement/view on things SPC Charles Brown, I had no illusions as to what I was getting myself into when I enlisted back in 1987 at the tail-end of the Cold War. It really pissed me off during DS/DS when I would hear individuals bitching/whining about "...this isn't what I signed up for, I signed up for the college money!" I really wanted to cause physical harm to those individuals and had it not been for the fact that I was driving for the 4th ID Chief of Staff at the time, I may well have. I remember being so frustrated because I was a combat arms Soldier and I couldn't even volunteer my ass to get over there and you had these whining little punks/punkettes that I had to listen to.....I know that there are/were recruiters that may have "lied" about the possibility of one having to go to war, but come on people, what the hell do/did you think was the point of having an Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps??

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Sep 3 at 2014 10:42 AM

LTC Paul Labrador — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 10:42:52 -0400

I would go further and state that it is not peace that is the natural state of societies but war. If you look back throughout history, long stretches of peace are somewhat rare and only acheived through the decisive completion of war.

Response by MSgt Roger Lalik made Sep 3 at 2014 2:45 PM

MSgt Roger Lalik — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:45:04 -0400

As long as someone has what someone else wants there will be war. It's human nature unfortunately.

Response by SGT James Elphick made Sep 3 at 2014 3:39 PM

SGT James Elphick — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 15:39:13 -0400

I think this is correct for the most part, however I would change out the word 'war' with the word 'conflict'. I think there is an important distinction between the two that informs how we, as a nation and armed forces, have handled our latest engagements. War is a large word conjuring images of massive armies doing battle across vast landscapes which are often utterly destroyed afterwards. It has a sense of totality not seen in lesser engagements. Conflict on the other hand is more all encompassing and I feel better represents the nature of how battle has persisted between states and non-state/rogue state actors. If you look at the battle history of the US most of the conflicts we have found ourselves in have been low-intensity or short duration, not the huge wars of the first part of the 20th century. And I think because we have a tendency to call our current operations 'Wars' we have a tendency, as a fighting force, to treat them as such as opposed to the small-scale conflicts that they should have been.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 4 at 2014 7:45 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 19:45:31 -0400

With a world that doesn't really want peace yes war is a reality. Not sure if we will ever fix the problems that trouble the world. Many folks want us to mind our business to not get involved. They don't want us to be the worlds police. But many countries look to America to make the tuff choices. To fix the worlds problems. Somebody has to stand up to the Putin's, ISIS, ISIL, Somali Pirates etc. Granted we are not doing a good job today but in time we will. Because someone must for the sake of life as we know it. So that thing we seek most peace will elude us.

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Sep 10 at 2014 11:32 AM

MSG Brad Sand — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 11:32:31 -0400

Si vis pacem, para bellum...and Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus was not the first to record such a statement.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Sep 10 at 2014 2:56 PM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 14:56:40 -0400

Humans are a violent, aggressive, territorial species of animal. So long as there are ways we can classify people as "other", we will kill each other to protect our "tribe" however we choose to define it. Whether it's nation, race, religion, etc... it's all just a subconscious atavistic offshoot of tribalism.

We will consume and expand. That's just our species doing what it does. No more, no less. We accomplish some beautiful things as a species too, I don't deny that, the duality of our nature is an interesting thing.

Response by SSG Laureano Pabon made Sep 10 at 2014 3:31 PM

SSG Laureano Pabon — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:31:23 -0400

In 1976, I took an Oath that I re-read again and again, this is what I was focusing on:
( I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.) "The Code of Military Justice" I looked into it and I found the code of conduct.
All I did was read the 1st and got a very clear understand of what I swore into.
"I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

However the way I read it was "I am an American fighting man, I serve in the forces which guard my country and way of life, I am prepared to give up my life in there defense".

Peace is our dream, but the reality is we served in a force that is designed to fight a war and win, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
I can say that we were prepared for war but not ready.
So when I re-read my oath for the last time, I put the whole picture together and I understood. Remember back in my days we didn't have the world wide web, but we did have books and I got my chance to read almost all of the title 10 USC in the post library. I was a PFC at the time.

Response by SPC David S. made Sep 11 at 2014 1:04 AM

SPC David S. — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 01:04:55 -0400

I would agree based on the fact that those of us who have served in combat truly know the horrors of war and honorably seek peace. But as we all know some like to do things the hard way and that's where we come in.