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Ron Jackson's Perspective
The Sunday Journal -
Think
Kankakee, Illinois
August 14, 2005
We become
anesthetized |
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A gallon of gas for $2.25 doesn't seem to faze me anymore. I'm used
to it now. I know. The gas companies knew that would eventually
happen. That's why the price of gas can increase by as much as 25
cents per gallon between fill-ups. When it drops by 25 cents, I am
conditioned to think how fortunate I am to have it at this "low"
price.
It seems the death toll of our troops in Iraq have the same
effect. After almost two thousand deaths since the mission was
accomplished, our military death reports seem only to make headlines when there are five or more
deaths in the same day. If it's fewer than five, it may make the
back page in a two-inch column.
Two to three American military deaths per day have become the
norm. However, when 14 troops are killed in one day, that becomes
big news, and we are then publicly reminded of the wonderful
sacrifice they have paid.
In a one-week period, 23 Marines were killed. Nineteen of
those were from the same unit based in Brook Park, Ohio, a suburb of
Cleveland. Brook Park has a population two-thirds the size of the
city of Kankakee. Imagine the impact if 19 young men and women from
this area were killed in one day.
Fourteen of those Marines were killed August 3 when a bomb hit
their amphibious (water) assault vehicle (AAV). Although we have
been fighting a war in a desert, our Marines are still using armored
vehicles built for combat in and near water. By design, the Marine
AAV is much lighter than the tanks used by the U.S. Army infantry
because it must stay afloat when transporting troops from ship to
shore. The AAV was made to be dropped from ships and travel in
water at speeds up to 6 mph. It rolls on tracks instead of wheels,
and its top ground speed is 30 mph. It was not built to operate in
sand and mountain terrain.
Responding to the largest single daily loss of
American troops since this war began, President Bush said, "These
terrorists and insurgents will use brutal tactics because they are
trying to shake the will of the United States of America."
Because I am 350 miles from Brook Park, Ohio, and did not
know any of the 19 Marines personally, I guess my will is still
intact. However, I do wonder why our armed forces are not using
those brutal tactics of the insurgents and terrorists. After two
plus years, we should be shaking somebody's will.
Every single American death in this war should shake our
will. If we ever took notice of the thousands of men and women who have
returned from this war so mentally and physically destroyed, we
would be shaking our fists.
The descriptions we get of the insurgents remind me of this
country's first military. Our forces were made up of rag-tag units
of determined men who would do whatever it took to establish and
control its own government. Maybe if we approached this war as if
our freedom was really at stake, we would shake the will of the
insurgents for a change.
Webmaster's Note: This column was originally
published on August 7, 2005.
For unknown reasons, The Journal chose to rerun the column with a
new title. |
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