The View From Here: Complaints drain morale in Iraq
The military families who are griping the loudest about how long their soldiers have been deployed in Iraq should be seen as promoting major distractions and draining troop morale more than anything else.
No matter what the stance on the war in the civilian population, soldiers are trained to be there, regardless of gripes. It really doesn’t matter how they view any war, or anything else, for that matter.
Most members of the military know it when they sign up that their chances of being called up to serve in a war is real and yet, they still volunteer. Perhaps they feel that day will never come, and it’s likely that it won’t. But the reality is always lurking and the training missions that are so focused upon military “readiness” remind them every day that war is never not an option.
So it always amazes me to read about how the military is “destroying” the family unit when everybody knows going into it being deployed is a possibility. Soldiers know being deployed to a foreign country to fight a war that may or may not have public support is a possibility, and they don’t have much choice about what their future plans are after they sign on the dotted line and swear an oath to the United States of America. They get used to and are trained to accept limited choices.
It is also a surprise to hear so much noise from those associated with the 3rd Infantry Division who want their loved ones to come home. It’s a natural and understandable reaction to want them to return, but they really aren’t doing anybody any good by creating more drama.
As someone who married a soldier, I am familiar with the feelings that accompany a deployment, or at least the potential for one. As a former soldier, I’m also familiar with the feelings of leaving loved ones behind. And as far as being a dependent goes, I know the old saying that if the Army wanted to give my husband a wife, they would have “issued him one in basic training.”
The saying is meant tongue-in-cheek but there is also an undercurrent of truth to it. The main message was the Army didn’t, at that time, want distractions from the missions no matter what they were.
Realizing that hurt, but it’s something I learned to deal with because I quickly learned there was very little I could do about what my husband did or did not do at work.
It’s been eight years that have passed since I was the dependent, and a few more since I lived alone in a foreign country barely able to communicate in society, six months pregnant, while my husband was sent to various training assignments for weeks at a time.
It was a lonely, frustrating time. The threat of his unit leaving, as it was on alert to go to Bosnia often, constantly lingered. It was stressful and painful, but I can’t see how calling the company commander, or anyone else to complain, would have helped anyone. The spouse would have been blamed for not preparing family members for deployment potential. I have actually seen that happen.
As far as the 3rd ID, I can’t imagine anyone serving in an infantry unit who dismisses the possibility of going to war and sticking around for awhile. In my day, peace time was spent preparing for war time.
Plans go awry in the military. So when promises are made to have soldiers home at a certain time, don’t count on it. No matter how difficult, dwelling on it and shaking things up isn’t going to make loved ones come home faster. It will make soldiers less effective in doing their jobs because they are distracted by people beckoning them home, and that would seem to make the mission last even longer for all concerned.
(Amy Satterwhite is a reporter for the Standard. She can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)