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Consider soldiers before arguing war

March 15, 2010

Jacob Carpenter

The saying goes that war is hell.

If you still don’t believe that, then pick up “The Good Soldiers,” the 2009 Iraq War novel by Washington Post reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner David Finkel.

During the past few weeks, in between scrambling to finish midterms and enjoying spring break, I squeezed in Finkel’s eight-month account of one Army battalion’s experience during the military surge in Iraq. Finkel’s portrait of the deadly conditions, soldiers’ sacrifices and occasional poignant moments amid the desolation of the Middle East is a searingly truthful document of military life in Iraq.

Although “The Hurt Locker” made headlines for its Oscar triumph and reportedly accurate portrayal of soldiers, the film still has a Hollywood glean compared to Finkel’s 275 pages. In great detail, Finkel narrates the everyday horror faced by members of America’s army. The unknown body found bobbing in a hole of human waste. The late-night mortar and rocket attacks on bases that send soldiers lunging for safety. The cheaply made explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, detonated near military convoys that send molten shrapnel ripping through Humvees, limbs, torsos, battalions and psyches.

Throughout his book, Finkel maintains an impartial eye, never opining about then-President George W. Bush or American politicians or national policy. In that sense, it’s important to make this point: When the public discusses how to approach this country’s military future, let’s first do everything we can to understand the ramifications from political decisions on our soldiers.

There are many reasons to oppose the current military effort. More than 1,000 U.S. soldiers have died from combat wounds since 2001. Tens of millions of dollars are spent every day fighting terror. The governments of Iraq and Afghanistan house corruption that would make Rod Blagojevich scoff.

Yet the reasons for continuing to fight are numerous, too. Those we are battling are part of a group that took American lives, threatened our liberty and hindered our pursuit of happiness. Plus, we haven’t seen a successful al-Qaida terror attack on U.S. soil for eight and a half years.

Many know the arguments for and against war on a basic level. So let’s hold in our hot air and go out to learn about what our soldiers face.

We all should know about the $100 EFPs that destroy millions of dollars in Humvees, the wounded fighters undergoing grueling pain at American military medical centers, the soldier who wrote from Iraq to his wife, “I’m gonna need some help when I get home.” These are just a few of the bits coming from Finkel’s book, and rest assured these only skim the surface of military life in the Middle East. Having done our due diligence, then the public should decide whether to pull out more troops and use more unmanned fighting techniques, or heavily invest in our army to outnumber and destroy the terrorists who so directly threaten us.

Beyond forming our opinions about the war, such an education would galvanize support for our current armed forces. During spring break, I watched more than 350 of America’s finest men (including Private First Class D.L. Carpenter, or as I’ll always call him, “little brother”) graduate from Marine boot camp at Parris Island, S.C. Having nearly finished Finkel’s book, I couldn’t help but imagine these young men going through what I was reading. It left me with this thought: If America continues this fight, rightly or wrongly, let’s do everything we can to protect our men and women in service and get them out quickly — without wavering from the assigned mission.

This thought is best conveyed by Finkel as he read a letter sent to him post-publication from a deceased soldier’s father. According to Finkel, who offered the message during an interview with The New York Times, it read as follows:

“As I was reading (your book) I thought that every American should read this. Our soldiers need to know we support them. People need to know what our soldiers face and deal with each day. People may not support the war itself, they may not have voted for Bush, or may not care about what goes on in other parts of the world. But I feel your book is an important statement about war, about the parents, siblings, wives and husbands left behind, and that a soldier’s fight doesn’t end when he or she returns home.”

Let’s put politics to the side for a moment and find out more about that statement and fight.

Jacob Carpenter is the State News editor in chief. Reach him at carpe219@msu.edu.

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