The daily devotes much of its front page today to a PTSD story about soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is pitched as a benign, help-them-out article, but with the underlying aren’t-you-glad-you-didn’t-join subtext that furthers the civil-military divide explored in this piece by military historian Robert Kaplan who notes:
"I cannot remember how many times a soldier or marine told me that we don’t want to be pitied as victims, but respected as fighters. That respect is not abundant…"
Indeed, it is almost nonexistent among the political and academic elites with whom most journalists identify. So far, Kaplan says, it hasn’t damaged the American military, but he wonders how long it can go on without doing so. He concludes: "…one thing is certain: We’re fated to find out."
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 