we were soldiers

i never was a soldier,
but everyone should see this movie:

we were soldiers
the story behind it
granted i found this on the web, i stick with the story it tells

i just watched the movie again. ended up in tears sobbing (again)

before i say anything else, i acknowledge and appreciate that im in a position where its very easy to judge; im white, female, upper middle class, im 25, im never going to war. that simple. all i can do is watch movies, read books, and try to guess/empathize about something i'll never know.


lord knows there's been a hundred and one vietnam movies, but this one is different.
for the time it spends on the experience of the vietcong, and for the time it spends on the experiences of the wives.
for me that made it more human and real (?), not just a firefight, but a fight against men, men who had wives, and families.
men who were in the war, because they were the right age and healthy. not necessarily because they were meant to be warriors.

how many poets, artists, writers, teachers were lost?

so i cried and cried watching this movie. what made me sadder was,
what did these men die for? yes theres a wall in dc. what for?
such a wall should change the world, teach us
however, the 'great war' would teach humanity about war,
WW2 was supposed to have been the final word
in illustrating the boundaries of human cruelty.
yet? what have we NOT let happen in the years since?

i grew up with this really naive idea
i remember seeing the berlin wall come down, end of the cold war and
all that good stuff. so i thought hey maybe, thats it, no more conflicts,
maybe no one i know will ever have to fight,
maybe i'll never feel torn,
maybe it is all going to be alright.
maybe we are evolving, and progressing
to this new point in the 21st century
where all of these issues will seem so dated;
such as war, organized religion, etc

backlash has been bad

journo in the movie says to mel gibson-character,
i dont know how to tell this story,
mel gibson-guy says,
you have to, you have to tell the story of my boys.
cause thats how he saw them, as his own.
when did it become ok for generals to email in their orders?
i mean really, wasn't there a time in warfare when to be a proper general, you were the one leading the charge? or was that just 'braveheart' romanticism?

again im commenting on something i know little about,
but there's gotta be a difference between sending yourself into battle,
your son into battle, and some kid.

oh so aoife you were watching a movie about vietnam and so thought of iraq.
well no. and yes. different situation.
however some basics, what are people dying for?
what are they dying for? oil? democracy?
ok and there politics start to show
but still, what is this bloodshed i read about everyday in the paper about? why?
somewhere mentally we made it ok for __ people to die in iraq? daily?

why can't diplomacy rule? versus bodycounts?
i don't know, much easier to critique and comment if not involved
its so easy to do; like a game of hide and seek,
the leg is sticking out under the curtain, there she is!
end to a rambling, probably very boring post is,
i can only hope that this age does not create its own 'we were soldiers'