FUBAR

I do not know if you have ever heard of a radio show that airs on NPR from the BBC, it is called World Have Your Say and I enjoy the show very much. The idea of the show is to present a popular news item or event that has a global impact and get the opinions and thoughts of people throughout the world. It gives a great perspective outside of ones own box.

Today the show discussed a video that has been released from Wikileaks that is on You Tube and has been seen be a great many people. During the live show, which you can hear yourself, the person who released the video and several guests discussed the events, which are hard to hear and see. It was during this that I heard the following and decided to mention it on my blog tonight.

A retired Navy commander, named Sal, was one of those guests and what he had to say led me to mention this on the blog tonight. He said this, "I do not see that as enjoying what you are doing, or enthusiasm. I see that, I see some young men under a lot of stress under a lot of adrenalin ,realizing that their actions ...can directly or indirectly result in the death of their countrymen... And yes the video is horrifying, war is horrifying... What you hear, it is not enthusiasm, it is not pleasure. It is not happiness. It is adrenalin. These are 18, 19, 20, 21- 25 year olds who see war every single day who have seconds to make a decision...Mistakes happen, these things happen in war, but these things you hear on the video, it is not pleasure it is not happiness, it is adrenalin. They are not college professors, they are not at a poetry reading, they are not playing cricket . They are at war every single day so they are not going to have the language of someone at a horse race..." I tried to capture his words exactly, but it was hard.. please listen to the podcast for exact verbiage - what he said is not on the video, but the podcast.

His point is well made - they are, in my mind, children. So young - and I think (I hope) - before military training, completely naive to this type of behavior. How could they possibly wrap their minds around it. Of course, as someone suggested, they look like they are playing video games - would it not be unconscionable to them to engage in such brutal acts as war demands of them? So yes, SAL - they are not college professors and it is likely that they NEVER will be. Instead they will suffer incredibly high rates of mental illness and post traumatic stress disorder and in my opinion, they will be FUBAR - I imagine you know what the F stands for - Fd Up Beyond All Repair - that is the future for these brave, but forced to be brutal, young men and possibly women.

Here is an article to support the mental health claims that I made. Also you can find the video here and the podcast to the show is here .



.