Carrying ordnance off a mountain in the Bamyan province.
Beautiful use of vocabulary, I know. But if I added in there how I really felt I would need to utilize several more four letter words. Before I tell you why I am so pissed, disgusted, disappointed, etc., let me give you a little background on me.
I am a combat veteran, I served in Afghanistan, and I love being an American citizen. However, as a former military journalist and current writer, I will tell you…the media lies.
No duh, right?
We all know this fun fact, but shockingly enough, we still eat it up.
My significant other is also a combat veteran. He was an infantryman in Iraq. When we started dating, one of the first conversations we had was on political affiliation. I had always assumed that I was a republican since I love guns and I don’t agree with abortion. I’m pretty sure these two things are the key component to a republican card, right? After careful consideration of these views, it seems as though I am not a republican, because of my reasons behind these stances. I don’t love guns because I assume that someone will take away my right to bear arms if I do not exercise my rights, I love guns because they are fun to shoot and I like to hunt animals to fill my freezer. Elk is delicious. I do not disagree with abortion because of extreme religious beliefs, I just disagree with killing humans in general. So, it turns out that I sit closer to the left than I initially thought.
The instigator for this post was a Facebook “funny.” I have a number of friends that have eaten up the media hype for so long that they actually believe that all Muslims would like to kill Americans because we are some sort of white devil. Just like extremist Christians that burn down abortion clinics and protest funerals, there are extremist Muslims that also take a violent stand on interpretations of the Quran. Not all Muslims would like to kill Americans. And just for the record, we don’t stand there with white flags in our hand wondering why the world hates us so much. Our government has manipulated and funded the vast majority of conflicts overseas with little to no remorse. Heck, with little to no acknowledgement. Look into the amount of foreign aid given to Israel as compared to the rest of the world’s developing countries. This link will help with the education process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuI5GP2LJAs
The video is rather long, but eye-opening. It is crazy that this video has less than 50k views when hateful videos get so many more. The truth is harder to swallow than the media hype. Shockingly enough, America isn’t the worldwide humanitarian it is painted to be.
Ignorance
Okay, so back to the “funny.” I pulled up my Facebook, and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A death video. One of my friends had posted a video of a man who was trying to fire an RPG and it exploded on him. He died instantly. Guts and gore to boot. Which explains why all of the single-cell hillbillies liked the video, shared it, and commented on it’s hilarity.
The video had no context attached to it. The viewer has no idea who the guy is or who he is firing at. Even if there was context attached, someone died. That man is someone’s son, brother, husband, or father. How can death possibly be so funny that you may, “pee your pants,” laughing?
My tour in Afghanistan was one of the most rewarding times in my military service. I was lucky enough to be allowed the choice to find my own stories and embed myself wherever I saw fit. Most of the photos featured in this post are from the time that I spent with the New Zealand soldiers and U.S. Army while they worked with locals to build hydroelectric plants, roads, and tend to orphanages in the Bamyan region. Nothing changes a narrow world view like playing soccer with Afghan orphans. Some of them are missing arms, some legs, and eyes due to mines and explosions. What cold hearted son of a bitch could laugh at a kid’s father dying?
Two Afghan orphans posing on a motorbike. Bamyan 2007
The Reno Experience 