Two summers ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit some good friends who had been stationed in beautiful southern Germany, the Bavaria region. The first and most lasting impression were the breathtaking mountains in every direction. For those of us who like to stay active, they just seemed to cry out to be climbed.
During the trip, our friends took us up one of the mountains near their home, it was cold and rainy at the time, but it was worth it. My friend, Rick and I, with his 6-year-old son decided to venture up a bit further and we left our wives and their 14-month-old daughter in a little chalet to drink some hot chocolate. Rick, Nick and I reached the top of the mountain and stepped out on a viewing area to see the country around us... Wow!
As we were admiring the view and chatting about various things, an older couple walked up as well. The gentleman heard us talking in English and walked right up to us. He looked to be somewhere between 65 and 75, but it was hard to tell because Germans tend to be more active than Americans and, in general, live healthier lives.
Anyway, the man walked right up to my friend, VERY close. I thought, "either he's very happy or very angry with us." He asked my friend, in German, if we were American, to which my friend replied that we were. He began to tell us about how, when he was a little boy, right after the end of the war, an American soldier gave him a candy bar. You see, he recognized that my friend was in the military and, in his way, he was saying thank you yet again for the kindness of this one soldier so long ago.
You might not know, but the Germans were told all kinds of lies about Americans during WWII, and so, when our troops occupied Germany, most of them were absolutely terrified. Some German families committed suicide outright, poisoning themselves and their children, rather than face the wrath of the Americans.
But the American soldiers were not monsters. Instead, they were compassionate and friendly, and their honorable conduct shaped the Germans' impression of America for that entire generation. Which is why this gentleman on the mountain with us wanted to come and tell an American soldier of another generation about the kindness that he had been shown as a young boy.
Are US forces trained to do this as kind of a passification technique? No. Our troops are, by nature, protectors of society, and when they see societies struggling, they want to help.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - SFC SKI
We are not all saints, but the soldiers I have served with are some of the finest people I have ever known.
A great post, and a great cause.
Thanks
2 - Mark Edward Manning
Excellent post, David! Thanks for this. Nice to see someone on Blogcritics who's actually got their head on straight. ~ MEM
3 - David Flanagan
Thank you Mark. :-)
David
4 - mike
here
5 - David Flanagan
No thanks Mike.
David
6 - mike
So, in other words, you don't care about troops killed in the line of duty. That attitude is typical of the rah rah support-our-troop-but-don't-care-about-them-as-individuals mentality that characterizes prowars. Disgusting.
7 - Jim Carruthers
You can also contribute here. Support the troops.
8 - Lomu
David Flanagan, you are a breath of fresh air. I will pass the news around and visit the site. Thank you. Very well written article.
9 - Jim Carruthers
Very well written article.
Hey, everybody, gawk at the hu-man desperately trying to tuck their head up their buttocks. Ha-ha.
10 - Ms. Tek
Ferengis!
11 - David Flanagan
So, in other words, you don't care about troops killed in the line of duty.
Actually, I care more than you can possibly know. However, all you want to do is harp on the death toll, which has NOTHING to do with this post!
This post was meant to honor our troops and to support a cause that THEY have started. Its not about politics or death, its about freedom and life, and the fact that our troops are going above and beyond to show love and campassion for the people of Iraq.
If you want to harp on the list of the dead, start another thread.
David
12 - Mark Saleski
oh please, spare us the sanctimonious crap.
do we have to kneel and put our hand over our heart while we read the post?
13 - David Flanagan
do we have to kneel and put our hand over our heart while we read the post?
If you don't want to hear it then go away. Very simple solution, don't you think?
David
14 - Mark Saleski
you just don't get it.
you DO NOT get to tell me or anybody else to go away if we don't agree with you.
you act as though your words and opinions somehow have more instrisic worth. they don't
if we're not showing you the proper respect them maybe you should knock off the king of condescending act.
15 - David Flanagan
you DO NOT get to tell me or anybody else to go away if we don't agree with you.
You are the one who is not getting it this time Mark. This post is not about you or me, and its not about what I think or what you think.
This post is about helping our troops as they help people in need. Our people in Iraq are America's finest, and they are helping to form a nation that could have a positive impact on the world for generations to come!
I wish I could say the same, but I can't. What I can do is support them while they make history and show them the loyalty that they show to their country every day.
Thats not sanctimony, its gratitude!
David
16 - Mac Diva
Go get him, Mark! Look away from David Flanagan even briefly and here he is trying to peddle the kind of mindless drivel that Free Republic cretins cheer. Let him impose this flummery on his fellow Freepers, not us.
The daily efforts to fight back tell a much fuller story about how people feel about having their country occupied than anecdotes about children and candy bars from World War II ever will. And, for me, at least, the picture that will represent the invasion of Iraq in my mind for years to come is of an armless boy whose family of more than a dozen civilians was killed by a U.S. bomb. The boy will haunt us the same way a girl napalmed by American forces, who the U.S. claimed had gotten burned at a barbecue, came to represent what happened to civilians during the Vietnam War.
17 - Sandra Smallson
The man gets praises and some criticism. He responds in Post 11 with what in my opinion is a decent explanation of what his initial post is about.
( In the midst of all this we have Jim carruthers hearing of a vacant position for a headless chicken, stumbling in to criticise somebody saying.."very well written article" -lol..and thereby, clearly outlining his outstanding qualifications for that vacancy. The world has gone mad )
MARK SALESKI: you DO NOT get to tell me or anybody else to go away if we don't agree with you.
you act as though your words and opinions somehow have more instrisic worth. they don't
if we're not showing you the proper respect them maybe you should knock off the king of condescending act.
SANDRA: Does he not? Surely, he does. This is a practice on this site. Given down from founders to contributors. Why should Flanagan not act the same? Though, I am not sure if that is what he meant when he said go start another thread.
And please don't crack me up Mark:) Of ALL the people on this site, it is Flanagan that you think acts as though his words have more intrinsic value than everybody elses? hmm..I guess it's all a matter of perception.
I am not even going to go into the king of condescending act because THAT truly is a matter of perception. Clearly you think Flanagan has succeeded in coming off like that whereas I did not read the post with that mind set since I agreed with his sentiment. I haven't found anyone at blogcritics condescending because I haven't thought anybody or come to find anybody to be of that level to condescend towards me or anybody else for that matter.
Macdiva, The boy will not haunt us. His name is Ali. He is now a British citizen. He has met his hero David Beckham. He has a new arm. We were led to believe he had no family left. He has lots of family left and they are all coming over here to be British citizens. He does not want to go back to Iraq ever, he says. He wants to live in the UK. Yes. So, let me assure you, he is not going to haunt us in the sense you imply.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who have gone the appropriate route to obtain UK citizenship. There are thousands of asylum seekers being refused and sent back to persecution. There are thousands of patients who have been waitng for years for prosthetics. Ali has got an arm back. He will get his family who number in the tens over here(we were led to believe they were all dead ofcourse) and he will be a British citizen and live off my taxes for a long period of time. I'm not mad, I'm just telling it like it is. I do not think all that is worth losing an arm, but what has been done for him afterwards is clearly evidence of the message in David's post in the first place. Before the current misinterpretation of its message.
The problem I've noticed is that once we disagree with an opinion, we think we have carte blanche to misinterprete it as much as possible just to try to emphasise how different it is from our opinions. Therefore, justifying why we disagree and why we have posted as we have. We are all prone to this. Ofcourse, I hardly fall in that category:) Not on tis site anyway. Very easy to spot the point here. In this particular case though, I think that is what has happened.
18 - Mark Saleski
i don't feel i have carte blanche to misinterprete posters i don't disagree with.
and i'm not misinterpreting was david flanagan is saying...i'm just not agreeing with it.
further...what i most object to is the notion that i must agree with it, and that if i don't i'm somehow wrong.
screw that!
while our boys are supposedly standing up for what's right and true...we have president bush visiting southern new hampshire...and before he shows up we have the police sweeping through to ensure that protesters are moved at least two blocks away, so that neither the president nor the news media will see them. this, in the name of 'security'.
sure it is.
this is the 'freedom' our boys are protecting?
19 - David Flanagan
and before he shows up we have the police sweeping through to ensure that protesters are moved at least two blocks away, so that neither the president nor the news media will see them. this, in the name of 'security'.
The irony of this statement Mark is that this is a tactic that Bill Clinton perfected during his two terms as President.
Would you like some cheese with that whine? ;p
As for any people who disagree, my question is, how can you disagree with me regarding the heroism of our troops? If they are misused by politicians, the critique the politicians, but the theme of this post is very simple:
We need to praise our troops for their heroism, we need to support them both abroad and at home, and we need to help them as they reach out to a people faced with the challenges of shaping a new way of life after 35 years of brutal rule by one of the worst dictators ever.
So, who agrees with the statement I just made here? If you think our troops don't deserve our support, then please explain why.
Thanks.
David
20 - JR
David Flanagan: Our people in Iraq are America's finest...
Well, there it is. Attention all you fire fighters, school teachers and EMTs! David Flanagan has passed judgement: you are all second-rate heroes. Sorry, no parades for you.
21 - Jim Carruthers
Mr. Flannel-man I'm sure the badge of "hero" from a right-wing internet keyboard jockey will make up for the bad pay, poor work conditions and what is only marginally better than working for Wakenhut.
Essentially the military are just armed thugs to enforce state power. There's nothing heroic about it, it's just a job, and like the guy who gives enemas to elephants at the circus, a generally shitty job. Or is that guy at the circus a "hero" too?
22 - Lomu
( In the midst of all this we have Jim carruthers hearing of a vacant position for a headless chicken, stumbling in to criticise somebody saying.."very well written article" -lol..and thereby, clearly outlining his outstanding qualifications for that vacancy. The world has gone mad )
Now, that there, is hilarious.
Flanagan, I think Bush has far more protesters than Clinton ever did. Why do Republicans always counter a Bush criticism with something about Clinton? Answer me that.
23 - Jim Carruthers
Sweet jumped up jeebus on a pogo stick, lomu, or whatever your name is, at least when I'm drunk, I try to not post, not that I succeed, but at least I try.
So your point is? Ah, who gives a crap. I don't.
lomu just serves to point out how ignorant most people in the States are, and how dedicated they are proving it to the rest of the world.
24 - Mac Diva
I'm glad to hear Ali is doing better, Sandra. His story became obscure once he had left Iraq. However, I believe the trauma of what he has been through, including seeing his parents and siblings blown up, will leave lasting psychological scars. Being doubly armless will be a lasting problem, too.
My core criticism of David Flanagan is that he knowingly posts disinformation. That misleading material is groomed to serve the desires of a fundamentalist Christian Bush lover. The information that would complete the picture Flanagan is painting is purposely omitted. Most of the time, the omitted information is more important than what he says. This entry is a good example. Spain has decided to withdraw its troops from Iraq for the very good reason that the Iraqis see the U.S. and its cohorts there as occupation. In response, they maim and kill those occupiers whenever they can. It now appears that sympathetic terrorist attacks will occur in the home countries of the occupiers. One can read Flanagan's long-winded entry and have no idea what is really going on in regard to the occupation of Iraq. In fact, one could read a dozen entries by Flanagan on the subject and still not know. That is because Flanagan will not tell. The facts don't fit his agenda, so he ignores them.
Jim's point about the military consisting disproportionately of people who would have a hard time getting work in our depressed economy is important, too. Many of those troops, disproportionately minority and/or working-class, are there because they need a paycheck, even a small one, not because they believe in this war. The imagery Flanagan is painting of troops is very misleading. Warriors? Heroes? Ambassadors? Don't forget Shanghaied, Wounded and, most of all, Dead.
25 - Sandra Smallson
It is all a matter of perception. I read David's post. If troops have set up a charity for Iraqi children, that is fantastic news. If he has a story to tell about how after decades, somebody came to thank a soldier for something that was done in the past, that is sweet.
My point is, how do we get from THIS post, to all the points you have made? I have probably read some of David's posts, I do not remember. I did not enter this discussion with the mind set that it is a Pro Bush Christian that has posted this. I do not care. I am Christian and I am anti-Bush. I still supported the War. People are different.
Disinformation is paraded on this site all the time. People pick the information that best suits their point of view. It is human nature.
I do not see why you feel that the information about Spanish troops being pulled out was relevant to this particular post. Are the troops not heroes because the Spanish are pulling troops out? As for the Spanish, they are making a grave mistake that they will live to regret if indeed the new Socialist govt does pull the troops out. They haven't yet. In my opinion, the Spanish were very unwise to let terrorists dictate their democracy. Still, they have chosen this new Govt. The Socialist party never supported the war. You want to tell me that they think the right thing to do is to withdraw their troops from Iraq? Is that supposed to stop further terrorist attacks? If it's not Alquaeda, it will be ETA. Just a few weeks before the attacks, an ETA attack on the trains was aborted. Either way, Spain will have to deal with terrorists.
They have been living with Basque seperatists for years. So, whats the message the Spanish are sending to terrorists? You can influence our democracy. You can scare us. You can control us. Never a more cowardly act by the Government of a nation.
There have been many Wars since time, Macdiva. I am sure not all those who fought in those Wars, believed in those Wars. Yet, they fought in the war. It did not prevent them from being heroes. The Iraq war is no different. It is not unique. Whatever the reason for joining the Army, you do not join on the condition that you will only fight the Wars you believe in. Personally, i would like to think some join the Army because it is what they WANT to do. They want to fight for and defend their country. They are not in the business of Politics.
I fully understand your points though I disagree with them. I still do not see what they've got to do with this particular topic. If David spreads disinformation, then it is up to those who read to make up their own minds from what they know. I can not start worrying about them. Which is why I abhor journalists who have a problem with distingusihng their opinions from fact, when they write. They write their opinions like it is fact. Totally irresponsible and oblivious to the fact that there are, sadly, some out there who use others say so as their own opinions. I have come to realise that it is pointless to worry about them. Its their life. I have my life.
I have never formed my opinions by what somebody else says. I form my opinions from what I know. It may be right, it may be wrong, but it is MY opinion based on what I know and not something a supposed know-it-all claims. If I do not know anything about it, then I have no opinion on it. It's as simple as that for me.