Untitled attachment

@WashedOutGundamPilot @BigTLarrity I met a air cavalry guy who was out in the last part of 'nam. Dude's soul had the quality of driftwood, hardened, worn down, and sun dried. Created an omnipresent feeling of sadness around him, even though he himself wasn't an unhappy person.

GWOT did that to a lot of guys too, when the subject comes up they're like drains on energy, everything out there siphoned something out of them that they siphon out of the surrounding air. I can't truly explain it, but its a quality I'm sure anyone familiar knows about.

During the big wars, WW2 in particular, participation was so ubiquitous that nobody really noticed a major change, because everyone was that way. Nobody talked about it because they didn't need to, every one of their cohort knew. When they sent their sons and grandsons off, they didn't feel the need to explain it, they expected that they'd come back to a society colored by universal participation in war, understanding and in many ways more empathetic than the trite star spangled façade propped up in the early aughts.

Partial participation in brutal overseas conflict drove a divide deep between the civilian and soldier, whereas universal service had blurred the line between the two (how different is an arms maker from a logistician, and how different is a field logistician from a soldier, etc.).

Military chic, like the veteran's struggle, likewise hasn't changed much in teleological character since Vietnam, a fashion statement disguised as a political and social one, on the backs of brutalized boys. A narcissism and export of violence and revolution by those incapable of them. The vets I know in this milieu hate war fetishism and chic, for this reason.

Public

Notices where this attachment appears