Bill Moyers had a guest on last night on public television who had written a book about the private contractors (Blackwater being the most infamous) that the United States Government uses as security in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of these private soldiers of course is secret, but the writer on Bill Moyers estimated there are over 400,000 of these private soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, because of the lack of enough military personnel to perform the task the military needs to perform the US Government has had to privatize its wars.
This is a damming critique of the all volunteer American military. Not its performance on the battlefield, but of the concept that says a nation like ours can effectively honor its world wide military commitments with an all volunteer force. Bringing back the draft probably is not the answer either. One reason is because drafting only men would definitely be sexual discrimination. No politician is going to support a bill drafting women.
At least not yet.
Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: Afghanistan, all volunteer, Bill Moyers, Blackwater, book, draft, Iraq, men, military, politican, private contractors, private soldiers, Public Television, secret, security, sexual discrimination, United States Government, wars, women, writer | Leave a Comment »
Vietnam War Veteran Saved By Writing Flash Fiction
Just came back from my walk. It’s another warm and sunny day in Pittsburgh. I walked through the campus of the University of Pittsburgh and through Schenley Park. Joggers were jogging and students were sunbathing.
From Schenley Park I ended up in South Oakland and back on campus. So, for the hell of it I decided to walk through Wesley W. Posvar Hall. I wore a Pitt baseball cap and a Pitt t-shirt but for good measure I checked my wallet to see if I still had my Pitt I.D. Yes I did. If security stopped me I could at least claim that I was an alumnus, graduating class 2006 of the MFA fiction writing program.
Walking through campus really brought back memories. My memories of Vietnam and my memories of being an undergrad and then a graduate student at Pitt from 1999 to 2006 all went into my ebook. Writing the stories about Vietnam was mainly therapy. The stories based on being at Pitt were about fun. Download your copy of Compressionism: The Pittsburgh Stories now.
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Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: alumnus, campus, dowload your copy, eBook, fiction writing program, flash fiction, fun, graduate student, graduating class of 2006, joggers, jogging, memories, MFA, Pitt baseball cap, Pitt ID, Pitt t-shirt, Pittsburgh, Schenley Park, security, South Oakland, stories about Vietnam, students, sunny day, therapy, undergradue, University of Pittsburgh, Vietnam War veteran, Wesley W. Posvar Hall, writing | Leave a Comment »