Ken Burn's and "The War"

This morning on my way to work, I was listening to Opie and Anthony and their guest Ken Burns. Ken Burns does some documentaries, which his latest is called, “The War”. There was some interesting discussions with O&A about what people know about the wars, and what they don’t know.

Just this weekend, we had a guest over at our house and I got in a discussion with him about WWII, and Afghanistan, and in the discussion Russia was brought into the discussion. My friend insisted that Russia had sided with Nazi Germany, and that Russia and Nazi’s had fought together and not against each other. Now, I don’t like arguments, and I am not a history buff, and if I am not 100% I tell people that I am not. In this case I was not 100% but I did say that I was 80% sure that Russia and Germany fought each other. I even brought up the movie “Enemy at the Gates” and said that it was a movie specifically about the two powers fighting. I also mentioned how Germany was split up with the Berlin Wall, and how Russia felt they were owed East Germany because of what happened to Russia during this war. Ken Burns mentioned this exact thing as well, talking about how most high school students have no idea about World History and U.S. History. Jay Leno’s “Jay walking” on the Tonight Show has also hit on this subject of how stupid our fellow countrymen can be. They also touched on the war today, and how few people know anyone that is in Iraq today, unless it is specifically a military town or community. Here I am, a U.S. Marine, and I know plenty of people in Iraq, not to mention, plenty who have come back. This really did make me think this morning about my most recent Marine Corps Birthday Ball where I just about cried. The Birthday Ball was in San Antonio, and was actually on November 10th. San Antonio has several different hospitals, not to mention one of the biggest military hospitals, with one of the biggest military burn units in it, BAMC (Brooks Army Medical Center). Some of the guests at the Ball were Marine and Navy personnel who had returned from Iraq with a little less than what they went with. I shook and hugged my heros, my brothers, my friends. Some with mental instabilities, others with missing limbs, or sever burn marks, each and every one of them had their uniform on and stood proud with it on. I know that most people do not want to see these men, in fear that they would become depressed, but the fact is most of these men are not depressed, but they are happy to be alive, and to have given as much as they did. My unit in the Marines, has some fellow brothers with purple hearts all over the place. It’s nothing to brag about, but most of the guys I work with in my unit have a purple heart. Some, you can tell who has it, and others you would of never guessed. Each time I see one now, I ask them about the story, some will talk about it and others won’t. For the most part, they want to talk about it though. My suggestion is for everyone to start asking their neighbors and friends about these things, find out who they know who has served in this war, find out who has come back on their feet or in a box. Whether you agree with the war or not, we should still talk about it. During WWII it was shocking to people if you didn’t know someone that was in the war. During WWII, everyone gave something, everyone was involved. Please get involved with the military members in this war, during this holiday season ship something to a stranger overseas, donate money to reputable organizations, have a military member that is away from home over for dinner.

I suggest that you should surprise yourself and do something that you would normally not do.

Visit your local military community website to get more information of events going on around you!