A Soldier's Lament
By Don
Geagan
As an former solider I know that
nothing is more important to military success than the moral and cohesiveness of
our fighting forces. From the company level, to the brigade, to the division,
this "esprit-de-corps" is the very glue that holds the military together and
determines victory or defeat.
I fear future defeats because of the lose
of this moral. A lose, due in large part, to the growing trend of privatizing
our military forces. With private mercenaries averaging a $1000 dollars a day
in Iraq, while US forces subsist on "standard military pay," the military's
moral is being undermine by the excesses of a free market that it – the
military – is busily and bloodily defending.
Ask yourself. How much would you like
to be payed to get shot at? Standard army pay or $1,000 a day?
No wonder vast numbers of service men and
women are not re-enlisting, deciding instead to sign up with Blackwater for the
"shooters" or Haliburton for the food prep and laundry service -- which also
need armed escorts during transport to and from the Green Zone.
This loss of bars and strips to the
private sector -- and the experience that they represent – is yet another
taxpayer supported perk for the private companies. A perk that weakens our
military and undermines the proud tradition of our military... namely that of
fighting for love of country, instead of
money.
And private mercenaries, unlike
regular U.S. forces – who have to stand and fight – can pick up
their check and leave the battlefield anytime they want. Soldiering should be
left to soldiers who have a love of county and not to war profiteers who have
only a lust for money.
Anything less is
a disservice to our fallen comrades at Arlington and
beyond.
We must stop the privatization of our
military before it's to late.
Reveille
and taps should never be replaced by a corporate bugler, supported by corporate
burglars.
Don Geagan is an
active member of Vet's for Peace.
Posted: Sun - July 1, 2007 at 03:02 PM