Gentlemen,
I often speak to folks about the morality of war, violence, and humanity. When my two sons were young teenagers they would play "first person shooter" video games and one day I sat them down and asked them to take several points into consideration.
The games they played had opportunities to collect a limitless supply of ammunition, first aid caches for healing, do-overs, and some other type of advantage that in reality are unrealistic. I told them to take into consideration that in real life that there is no do-overs. In reality, you're not sitting in cushy chairs drinking soda and eating chips (unless you're an Air Force or Navy UAV pilot). If you're the grunt on the ground (which I have been), you're in the hot, humid, stinky mess in which you can't just shut off or "pause" and go do something else for a while. The vomit, the defecation, sobbing of the wounded both physically and mentally. At the end of the day, somebody "ain't" coming home and you don't know, friend or foe, civilian or soldier, who it may be.
The same goes for re-enacting. I re-enacted for a number of years. I was a hardcore re-enactor as a private infantryman. Yeah, for a time I was a tank company commander but my ego didn't ride on the rank I had on my re-enacting collar. I am now almost 49 years old, 5'11", and 200 lbs but can pass for someone 35. I consider myself too old and too fat to properly represent the demographics of the Civil War soldier. This is especially true for the Confederate soldier which the majority of my ancestors were.
We have too many "War Voyeurs" in our society today. It cynically amuses me when I hear "leaders" and "politicians" talking smack about going to kick someone's ass that neither they nor ANYONE in their families have made the commitment to serve their country and even more so, chose a military occupational specialty where the likelihood of loosing one's life to direct fire was a possibility. Sorry Navy and Air Force. I ribbed my Joint Force co-workers when I served side by side with them at strategic headquarters.
Now don't get me wrong! We need to kill the bad guys but we need to do it unleashed. Put the vote to it like the Constitution requires. Put up or shut up and then start drafting our nation's male and females to show the commitment.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the books by LTC (RET) Dave Grossman; On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society and On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace. Everyone in the nation could benefit from his second book right now Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence published in 1999. OH! And I highly recommend everyone reading the U.S. Constitution.
Oh, and one of my sons has made the decision to follow in my footsteps in spite of my discouragement. I have had very few heroes in my life but seeing his rising selfless service shows that maybe, maybe we have hope as a nation.
Respectfully,
Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)
M.A. Military History - Civil War Concentration
Research - Preservation
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html
Athens, Tennessee