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Monday Morning Quarterback IV

Sedona, AZ – By Tommy Acosta …

Last night I went to the movies and saw a commercial titled “Citizen Soldier” played on the big screen prior to the start of the feature film.

It was a commercial encouraging youth to join the National Guard. I watched with curious, detached interest marveling how far the military has come in producing really slick propaganda designed to get the minds, hearts and imaginations of young people pumping and eager to join.

There were scenes of National Guardsmen helping victims of tornadoes and other natural disasters, being there to assist, comfort and aid those suffering calamity. There was a hot-rock band singing the praises of such service.

But that was only in the beginning of the commercial. The theme soon shifted and now we had National Guardsmen in full combat gear charging into battle.

“Slick,” I thought. “Really slick.” I couldn’t help but admire the professionalism and the manner the subconscious message for youth to be a part of it all was delivered.

Then reality struck me. “Kids,” I thought. “Children,” I realized. Then it all hit home.

How many of these kids who joined the Armed Forces did not come back from the excursions in Afghanistan and Iraq? How many parents are spending this Christmas missing sons and daughters they will never see again?

At 18 who really understands reality or what life is all about? Innocents they are and we were at that age, barely able to comprehend the magnificence of life and its meaning. How many of these children were snuffed off this plane of existence by these wars, wars that will never end?

And how many of our youth have come home missing limbs and stable minds, ruined forever by a war they did not start or will never be able to comprehend?

Luckily, my son, of military age, saw early on, on his own, through the mirage foisted on youth by those who take profit from their killing.

“Dad,” he said, when I asked him if he considered joining the military. “Why would I want to kill or get killed for oil?”

I look at his photo and he looks so painfully young, as do those young boys and girls proud in their uniforms. So young… So innocent…

And then we see their official-photos posted in local newspapers after they are killed in action and you realize “My God, they are children.”

The manipulation of the consciousness of populations by those who profit from war is a historical given. There are many who join the military who believe the reasons given to them for war and they are following what they believe.

But for those who joined because they had nothing else going for them, needed an education or the money, the horror they reap can not be quantified.

The death of a child in military combat must weigh the same for a parent whether their child joined out of sense of duty or not. But at least the parent of a killed child who joined out of a sense of duty can be proud their child served their country. Blessed they are to at least have the comfort of that belief to sustain them.

But for parents who see through the propaganda cloud of war profiteers and the profit they reap from torn and shredded flesh, the agony is of a different nature; a much-more bitter fruit to taste and swallow knowing their baby died or was maimed to line the wallets of those who make money from war.

Pray, pray this Christmas for comfort for those who have lost a child to these wars, regardless of why their children joined. And pray for the children who are still there; who have come back maimed; for the souls of those who died; and for those contemplating joining the military.

Don’t waste your time praying for the wars to end. These wars are forever.

How “Merry” should we all be this Christmas, knowing our youth are still in harms way?

It all depends on how aware we remain of the tragedy unfolding for those still there.

Kids are being killed and maimed in those wars every day, even though casualty counts are rarely reported anymore in the media.

Raise a glass, remember them, and toast to their safe return this “Happy New Year.”

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