The Good Soldier

War is always the same; a waste of human life, property and time. Sometimes war is a necessary evil, as in World War 2, or to actually defend your country from invasion by a foreign force. However, the vast majority of wars are generally caused by economic or political power grabs by unscrupulous individuals. Many participants, as in countries, get dragged into wars though alliances with allies. The soldiers from these countries are dragged into conflicts they practically have no knowledge of, such as WW 1, The Vietnam War, The Korean War, and various other wars. All wars are justified by their native countries, but may or may not be justified by the individuals who have to fight them. All wars in a combat zone are pretty much the same; long periods of inactivity punctuated by short periods of violent activity where one does not know if they will survive or not. The stories of these young men all run through a common theme; war is always uncertain, as life is uncertain. But the uncertainty of war is far more intense than the uncertainty of day to day life during peacetime. Some individuals actually become addicted to this intensity, and miss it when they try to transition to civilian life again. Most, however, do not miss war a bit. A sobering documentary that should be seen by all young men who are considering any participation in the military.

I've just seen a shortened (about 50 minutes) version of this film on the PBS-TV show "Bill Moyers' Journal" and all I can say is I'm overwhelmed. The film features veterans from various American wars from World War II to Iraq War II, and shows that despite whatever justifications are hauled up to defend this war or that war, war itself is fundamentally wrong and a perversion and destruction not only of human life, but also of what it means to be "human" and what we like to think separates us from the animals. The stories that especially moved me were those of Will Williams, an African-American who served two tours in Viet Nam, and when he came back from his first one he was so appalled by the sight of anti-war protesters he wanted to kill them and so he volunteered for a second tour so he could kill people legally; and Jimmy Massey, who served in the most recent Iraq war, came to the conclusion that the U.S. was committing genocide and made the mistake of telling that to his superiors. No one who sees this film with an open mind will ever again be able to maintain the illusion that war is somehow ennobling; instead of building the human character (as is the old-time myth), war turns people into psychopaths and leaves the country that sent them to fight with the problem of dealing with them once they get back and have a hard time turning off the impulse to kill. President Obama should be forced to watch it before he makes up his mind whether or not to send any more Anerican servicemembers down the rat hole in Afghanistan.