Today’s NY Times has a flattering profile of Shannon Kent, a 35-year old woman in the US Navy, who was killed last month in northern Syria:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/us/shannon-kent-military-spy.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Apparently, much about her military career has been kept more or less secretโsince she was working on various โSpecial Forcesโ operations.
She seems to have been a woman of considerable talent. The Times writes:
Chief Kent spoke a half-dozen Arabic dialects and four other languages. She was one of the first women to complete the rigorous course required for other troops to accompany Navy SEALs on raids. She could run a 3:30 marathon, do a dozen full-arm-hang pull-ups and march for miles with a 50-pound rucksack.
She did this while raising two boys, now ages 3 and 18 months, and, for a time, battling cancer. But what was she given an opportunity to do with those talents? Put simply, to find the imagined or real enemies of the US state and to find out what they knew and, when needed, to kill them. That hardly seems to be a worthwhile life for such a woman or for anyone. So many other things that she might have done!
Iโm sure that the husband she leaves behind will mourn her and miss her terribly and, in all likelihood, be proud of what she did. And, eventually, her two boys will hear the stories about their mother and be both sad and proud.
But, as hard as it might be for her husband and kids to hear, Iโd argue that it was a waste for her to die doing what she was doing. Thatโs not why weโre born into this earth. This nation has sacrificed far too many of its young and talented people to defend a world order that deserves no defense. Itโs way past time to say โNo more!โ
Rabbi Ben Ammi, now deceased, was the leader of a group my big brother still associates with. They call them selves (variously), The African Hebrew-Israelites, the Original African Hebrew-Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, The Kingdom of God, etc.
Well, regardless of his former affiliation, “Abba,” as his followers affectionately referred to him, coined a phrase that I think is very appropriate for our times: “Seize the power to define.”
Like, what is a “hero?” Vietnam Vets complained, when they returned from Nam, that they were not give the hero’s welcome that they “deserved.” They were, in fact, booed by those late ’60s, early ’70s anti-system crows that would gather at airports to “welcome” the Vets back, but not as heroes.
We keep being asked [Actually, it’s damn near DEMANDED of us] to “honor or Vets,” for serving their country. Years ago, I came to the conclusion–which I still hold–is that Vets who participated in physical war must NOT be honored. There is enough information around for them to have found it. There are enough people around for them to have encountered, who, no doubt, would pull their coats about what The System’s wars are really about.
And even if they don’t hear about the evil of our corrupt politicians in fomenting war, they STILL should NOT be honored. Because that is where their lesson would begin. It has to begin SOMEWHERE. Otherwise we repeat the same thing, over and over again
People join the Army for many reasons. A tiny minority do because they want to kill or hurt people. But most donโt. They join because they live in rural or economically depressed areas (such as Duchess County, where this woman lived) with few alternative opportunities; they want to see more of the world or escape trapped, dead-end lives. Iโve run into many vets over the years who credit the Army for saving them from drug-dealing or drug using and downward slide into prison or early death.
Once in the Army, the military destroys all individuality and reduces recruits to interchangeable, uniform units. Yet it also creates, again for the worse reasons, comradeship and self-discipline. โBadโ institutions can have good effects and to ignore this paradoxical aspect is, I believe, to lapse into moralizing sentimentality. Malcolm X, for instance, if he hadnโt been incarcerated would have just been Malcolm Little, an anonymous, two-bit street hustler. Prison made him who he became.
The Army, to its credit -and unlike the American Leftโs favorite redoubt, the university – doesnโt ask what degrees or credentials you have; it ruthlessly and opportunistically exploits abilities regardless of past education. Now we donโt know enough of this womanโs background โ maybe she had an advanced degree in Arabic before enlisting – but is more likely that her fluency in Arabic and her other multiple skills came as a result being in Army.
Just as few join the Army to kill, few join expecting to get killed. Most soldiers secretly think it wonโt happen to them. Of course, we will never know what went on inside this womanโs head. But to call her death a โwasteโ? Tragic yes, but a โwasteโ . . . maybe not.