WWW, or World Wide Warriors

--fr. Maus, A Survivor's Tale,
Art Spiegelman

And anything that happened
to me afterwards,
I never felt the same about again
--Guests of the Nation,
Frank O'Connor

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love
--An Irish Airman Forsees His Death,
W. B. Yeats

Save my soul from evil, Lord
And heal this soldier's heart
--I'm Done with Bonaparte,
Mark Knopfler
__________________

We as a society have crossed a frontier fraught with tanglefoot and minefields aplenty when we are comfortable with the concept of Long Wars and being called a "warrior" nation.

Soldiers -- even Reserve Forces -- have morphed into warriors, while the concept of the citizen soldier has been relegated to the dung heap of history, or so it seems. The acceptance of hatred as a basis of and motivator for war fighting was one of the first indications of the change.

Along with hatred comes the inevitable dehumanization of our adversaries, and the choice of vindictive and punitive war blithely as a first response. Soldiers need not act humanely if their opponent is not human. Opponents in past wars were seen as men; today, they are vilified and vermin-ized.

Can we define what we are or are becoming, as a society?

• How do we define "warrior hood?"

• How do we define "soldier"?

• Is warrior hood a valid designator for the soldiers of a liberal democratic nation?

• If we are a warrior nation, why not create a mercenary Foreign Legion?

• Is the warrior's code of conduct the same as that for a soldier?

• Is warrior hood compatible with the 21th century?

What are your thoughts on the matter?


NEXT: Sin, Sin, Sin!