First Drill as a Lieutenant
Posted 09-25-2006 at 02:18 PM by AEON
It looks like I am leading First Platoon. I just met my Platoon Sergeant for the first time. Good man. He has a scar on his neck – he took a sniper round in Iraq that went straight through his throat. The amazing thing is – after he was shot and bandaged up, he stayed for the remainder of the tour. America is blessed to have such men “over there” to make things safer “back here.” And I am honored to be leading such men. I was a little intimidated by these battle hardened troops when I first reported. But now I am just motivated to take care of them, get them trained, and make certain Uncle Sam keeps his end of the bargain (pay issues, education, promotions…etc)
It seems FYM has taken a turn more conservative as of late. I’m not sure if it is just a trend because certain people or posting more – if there really is an ideological shift that FYM merely represents. Being a conservative, I certainly hope that the latter is true. I firmly believe our entire civilization is at risk – and if more people do not open there eyes and admit it, then we are certainly doomed.
It seems FYM has taken a turn more conservative as of late. I’m not sure if it is just a trend because certain people or posting more – if there really is an ideological shift that FYM merely represents. Being a conservative, I certainly hope that the latter is true. I firmly believe our entire civilization is at risk – and if more people do not open there eyes and admit it, then we are certainly doomed.
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Comments
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It must be very humbling and inspiring to work with people who set such an example. I didn't notice your previous entry up until now but it's interesting that you compare the import of this in your life to your conversion experience. My younger brother, who'd always been observant and all that but never seemingly very "religious," actually decided he wanted to become a rabbi while serving at Bagram (he went through college on a ROTC scholarship). He's already serving as a lay rabbi, though on account of not having much prior preparation for that (he'd been studying for an engineering career previously) he still has a long way to go before completing his semikha (ordination studies). I'm not sure to what extent the desire to preach and the military leadership interest overlapped for you.
Would you be sent overseas with your platoon if they are deployed again? I'm not clear on what exactly your job entails.
I do think there are more conservative posters contributing regularly to FYM now than there were earlier in the summer. I think this is a very good development so long as the majority of people on both "sides" lean towards constructive interaction (asking questions, etc.) rather than soundbite rhetoric and flamebait. It is lamentable that nbcrusader seems to have disappeared.
I wonder though if you may be misreading strong objection to (some) perceived implications that Islam is merely a grubby second-rate death cult, as indicating an unwillingness to acknowledge that Islamist terrorism is a serious international problem. I've not seen any FYMer take the latter stance. What there is considerable disagreement on (in FYM as elsewhere) is what the best battery of strategies for addressing that is, and in particular whether the war in Iraq really warrants being billed as the centerpiece of a constructive anti-terrorism strategy (as opposed to other reasons for invading).
Posted 09-25-2006 at 09:09 PM by yolland
